On the evening of May 14, Alibaba Group's financial report for the fourth quarter and full year of fiscal year 2024 showed that Alibaba's board of directors has approved the payment of dividends for fiscal year 2024, including annual regular cash dividends and one-time special cash dividends, with a total dividend of approximately US$4 billion. At the same time, Alibaba continues to implement the share repurchase plan to continuously enhance shareholder returns, demonstrating its full confidence in future development.
According to financial reports, the amount of regular cash dividends for fiscal year 2024 is $0.125 per common share or $1 per American depository share; the amount of one-time special cash dividend distributed as a disposal of income from certain financial investments is $0.0825 per common share or $0.66 per American depository share, respectively. Both are paid in US dollars to common stock holders and American depository holders.
This is the second time Alibaba has announced an annual dividend. The total annual dividend for fiscal year 2023 is approximately US$2.5 billion.
Alibaba continued to implement the share repurchase plan this quarter. As of the quarter ended March 31, 2024, Alibaba repurchased 524 million shares of common stock (equivalent to 65 million American Depositary Shares) for a total of US$4.8 billion, according to the share repurchase plan. The repurchase effort was significantly greater than in the previous quarter. Alibaba's tradable shares declined by 2.6% in the quarter after considering shares issued under the employee stock ownership plan.
For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, Alibaba used a total of 12.5 billion US dollars to repurchase a total of 1,249 billion shares of common stock (equivalent to 156 million American depositary shares). After considering shares issued under employee stock ownership plans, the fiscal year repurchases reduced Alibaba's tradable shares by 5.1%.
Xu Hong, Chief Financial Officer of Alibaba Group, said, “Alibaba Group's strong performance this quarter, with revenue growth of 7% year over year. Our strong investment in strategic priority businesses has begun to pay off, and we are confident in our business prospects. We will continue to deliver on our promise to enhance shareholder returns.”