Alibaba founder Jack Ma says the sales data for Singles' Day is accurate, denying rumors on Chinese social media about this year's record tally for the Alibaba-led shopping day.
(Abacus is a unit of the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba.)
“I guarantee you that in the age of data and the internet, every [cent] is extremely accurate,” Ma said in a speech that was a top trending hashtag on Weibo.
The rumors started because the final tally for this year's Singles' Day was 268.4 billion yuan (US$38.4 billion), which matched one netizen’s prediction in April.
In response to the accusation, Alibaba’s Tmall also said on its official Weibo account that the person who started the rumor should be held accountable. Tmall reportedly also posted a statement that said the company had taken legal action, but the post appears to have been deleted.