Alibaba has pledged 100 billion yuan ($15.5 billion) to support President Xi Jinping’s campaign for “common prosperity.” This is the latest major pledge from a Chinese company to back President Xi Jinping’s campaign.
The tech behemoth announced on Friday that it would spend the staggering sum by 2025 on five priorities: technological innovation, economic development, “high-quality employment,” supporting vulnerable communities, and establishing a special development fund.
The company also outlined ten specific goals it intends to pursue, ranging from increasing technological investment in the country’s less developed regions to improving the welfare of gig economy workers to accelerating small business and agricultural growth.
“Alibaba is a beneficiary of the strong social and economic progress in China over the past 22 years. We firmly believe that if society is doing well and the economy is doing well, then Alibaba will do well,” he said in a statement Friday.
“We are eager to do our part to support the realization of common prosperity through high-quality development.”
Alibaba will also establish a “Prosperity Advancement Working Committee,” which will be led by Chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang.
After the news was first reported by state-run newspaper Zhejiang Daily, Alibaba’s stock closed slightly lower in New York on Thursday. On Friday, the company’s Hong Kong shares fell 3.5 percent.
It announced last Tuesday that it would donate $372 million to the development of China’s agricultural sector and rural areas, with a total donation of 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) planned.
The decision was significant for the US-listed company, which had made its first profit as a public company in the June quarter.
Last month, Tencent (TCEHY) announced that it would devote 50 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) to achieving Beijing’s “common prosperity” goal. The company stated that it would work to increase poor people’s income and address educational disparities, among other things.
