Excerpts from an article in the online edition of The Standard about 28 mins back:

Alibaba's Ma warns of tough times ahead:


Workers of Chinese online retailer Alibaba.com have been warned by the company's founder to brace for difficult times as the global economy struggles. "The whole economy does not look optimistic. The coming winter will be even longer, even colder and even more complicated than people expect," said Jack Ma, chairman and chief executive of Alibaba. Ma, in an internal e-mail to rally staff, urged workers to face up to the challenges positively and use them as a learning opportunity. The company reportedly has US$2 billion (HK$15.6 billion) of cash reserves that may help it through difficult times.