China's Alibaba to offer $144 mln in subsidies as shopping suffers

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. ($1 = 6.9326 Chinese yuan renminbi)