China’s Alibaba to offer $144 million in subsidies as shopping suffers

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s Alibaba Group will provide 1 billion yuan ($144 million) in spending subsidies for a March online shopping festival to counter the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

Alibaba’s announcement, made in a social media post on Thursday, comes as the e-commerce giant wrestles with depressed consumer spending in China, which is in a state of semi-quarantine as a result of the coronavirus epidemic.

(Reporting by Josh Horwitz; Editing by Alexander Smith)