Kenneth Fong: My first question is regarding Pinduoduo domestic business. Can management share your view on the overall consumption market in the upcoming year? What are the new trends that you’re seeing in the first quarter? My second question is on the shareholder return and margin. In fourth quarter, the company achieved a decent profitability in the best drop of intensified competition and rapid growth of your global business. Can management share your view of how we should think about the margin in 2024 and going forward? And meanwhile, on shareholder return, we saw that you have a very strong balance sheet and then cash flow given peers have announced large increase in share buyback and dividends. Do we have similar plans?
Jiazhen Zhao: This is Jiazhen. Let me take your question on the consumption market. In the past year, we actually clearly felt that depth with and also the resilience of the China consumer market and we are very confident in its future. And also from the activities we see on our platform, we clearly feel the improving consumer sentiment and we look forward to seeing that trend continue into this year with the support of more macro policies. We see many long-term driving forces behind the positive consumption trends. And first of all, consumers have desired for a better life which lays a solid foundation for consumption growth. And secondly, we see new retail formats and business models emerge with the technology innovation which also drives online penetration of retail sales.
This supports the industry’s [indiscernible] prospects as well. And thirdly, we see tremendous potential in a large number of quality national brands and agricultural products. And this also offers further opportunities for our platform. And in this favorable consumption environment, we will continue our investment to enhance our service capabilities, collaborate with more merchants to serve our consumers well and also improve the platform ecosystem. And by doing so, we hope we can create greater value for our society. Thank you.
Jun Liu: Ken, this is Jun. Let me take your question about the profitability and shareholder return. Well, regarding profitability, we always emphasize though we are still in the development stage — not our priority. Considering our current stage of development, our strategic focus remains on the high-quality development of the platform. So we will focus on building the platform’s long-term value which is consistent with the interest of our investors. Over the past years, guided by our strategy of high-quality development. We have made for investments in key areas. For example, we have continued to give back to consumers to deepen our mindshare. We also remain committed to R&D which R&D [indiscernible] in RMB10 billion for the second consecutive year.
This investment have yielded favorable initial returns. Moving forward, we will continue to make a decisive ambition investments where we see long-term ROI potential. And our business execution cycle is affected by various factors and may not align with our financial reporting cycle. Profitability on a quarterly basis, we are in eligibly fluctuate based on the different investment opportunities we identify. So the financial results in Q4 may not serve as a benchmark for future quarters. And regarding the share repurchase and dividends, you’re basically asking about our overall capital allocation which is also affected by the stage of forward department. Each company is at a different stage of department. And for us, we are still in the investment phase.
So we — our current focus is still to invest in our long-term value.
Operator: Your next question comes from Thomas Chong with Jefferies.
Thomas Chong: My first question is that we saw your global business has gain good momentum in the past year. Could you please share any of your view on the future plan for global business. Moreover, the market also pays attention to the company’s position on compliance. How would the company balance legal and compliance with your business development? My second question is about domestic competition. In the past year, many of your major competitors have pivoted in their strategies, putting more emphasis on price competitiveness, how does the management will be positioning of your competitors? Are you concerned that it might impact the market share of Pinduoduo? How do you adjust your own strategy in such [indiscernible].
Lei Chen: Thomas, this is Chen Lei. Let me take your question on global business. Our vision for global business is to utilize our supply chain and technological capabilites to bring outstanding merchants and high-quality products all over the world to global consumers, helping consumers from all backgrounds to achieve their dreams. Currently, the business view at a relatively early stage, taking many uncertainties and challenges ahead. To address these uncertainties, we must constantly improve ourselves with a genuine desire to learn from consumers in the market, we’re actively seek more innovations in technology and operation models to increase market competition and overcome challenges. As I mentioned earlier, despite shifts in the market environment and competitive landscape, consumers demand for more savings and better services is universal.
Therefore, we will be dedicated to integrating our high-quality development strategy in global operations and be prepared for long-term investments. We have confidence in the unique value of our platform and welcome like many partners to join us in creating more value for consumers globally. You also mentioned compliance, legal and compliance has always been fundamental to our business. It’s a big part of our strategic planning and the management team has put in extensive efforts in this area. Last year, we established a legal and compliance committee chaired by myself to reinforce our legal and compliance capabilities across regions. Through our continued efforts, we enhanced our internal compliance mechanisms and processes. With the humble attitude, we strive to stay abreast of the latest industry laws and regulations and maintain communication and cooperation with regulatory bodies in the countries where we operate.
