---
title: "Ant Profit Drops 79% As AI Spending Accelerates"
type: "News"
locale: "en"
url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/286351586.md"
description: "Ant Group's profit dropped 79% to 375 million yuan ($55 million) as it invests heavily in AI across various sectors. This follows a 91% decline in the previous quarter, raising concerns among Alibaba investors. Ant is diversifying beyond fintech, investing in digital health care and robotics, while facing regulatory challenges. Its international arm generated $3 billion in revenue in 2024, hinting at potential IPO prospects. However, Ant's valuation has significantly decreased to $79 billion, far below its previous $280 billion valuation during its IPO attempts."
datetime: "2026-05-14T03:21:10.000Z"
locales:
  - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/286351586.md)
  - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286351586.md)
  - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/286351586.md)
---

# Ant Profit Drops 79% As AI Spending Accelerates

Ant Group's profit slide is becoming harder for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. investors to ignore as the Jack Ma-backed fintech continues to pour money into artificial intelligence across health care, large language models and payment services. Ant contributed 375 million yuan, or $55 million, of profit to Alibaba, which owns one-third of the company. Based on Bloomberg calculations from Alibaba's earnings report, that implies an estimated 1.13 billion yuan in profit for the three months ended Dec. 31, down 79% from a year earlier. The pressure also follows a 91% profit decline in the previous quarter, suggesting Ant's AI push may still be weighing on near-term earnings.

The bigger story is that Ant is trying to build a new growth engine after a regulatory crackdown that wrapped up about two years ago. The company, best known for operating Alipay, has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into digital health care, built robots, and expanded its global unit in cash management. Ant last year showcased its first humanoid robot, which can provide medical consultation and perform basic kitchen tasks. Its health care app AQ served 140 million users as of September, giving investors a clearer view of how aggressively Ant is trying to move beyond its traditional fintech base.

Still, the path forward could remain uneven. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Francis Chan estimated that Ant's online loan business likely posted moderate growth after Chinese regulators restricted its lending capacity, while Ant's 50%-owned consumer finance affiliate, Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance Co., has an estimated lending capacity of as much as 620 billion yuan. Ant's Singapore-based international arm generated $3 billion of revenue in 2024, potentially paving the way for an IPO, and people familiar with the matter have said the division's revenue grew about 25% in 2025. For investors, the question is whether AI, health care and international payments can possibly rebuild momentum after Ant's valuation fell to about $79 billion in a 2023 share repurchase proposal, far below the $280 billion valuation attached to its attempted Shanghai and Hong Kong IPO in late 2020.

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