The new chief executive of Alibaba.com held his first conference call with reporters on Thursday and left listeners scratching their heads when his remarks about the company’s revenue forecast didn’t seem to add up.

Jonathan Lu took his post at Alibaba.com, which operates websites that connect buyers and suppliers, after former CEO David Wei resigned following a fraud scandal in February. Mr. Lu was thus handed the weighty task of rebuilding the company’s credibility and guiding it through an in-progress business transition, entailing a new focus on boosting revenue per user rather than raising the raw user numbers that have fueled growth in recent years.

Mr. Lu, who is also CEO of Alibaba.com’s sister company Taobao, an online shopping website, made a quiet debut as Mr. Wei’s replacement. Having just taken the job, he didn’t speak to reporters in March after Alibaba.com announced a set of financial results. He participated in a call with analysts that reporters were allowed to listen in on, but left most of the talking to Chief Financial Officer Maggie Wu. Alibaba.com declined to make him available for interviews.

Two months later, during Thursday’s conference call on the company’s first-quarter financial results, Mr. Lu seemed more comfortable speaking about the company. But his remarks on revenue growth quickly became a source of confusion.

“We forecast that basically, it’s possible the growth rate of 2011 revenue─overall revenue, may be about the same as 2010, flat,” he said early in the call, speaking in Chinese. He proceeded to emphasize he meant “revenue” and not “revenue growth” would be flat.

The comment came as something of shock given the company’s recent results. Alibaba.com notched revenue growth of 29% in 2009 and 43% in 2010.

But in response to a later question, Mr. Lu said revenue growth for the rest of the year would be “about the same” as the 25.5% growth Alibaba.com logged in the first quarter hardly flat growth even by China’s high-octane standards.

When asked to clarify, Mr. Lu gave a more noncommittal answer: “This year’s revenue will still grow, but the growth will be relatively mild… Overall, 2011 revenue will have some growth compared to 2010.”

After the call, the company was quick to send a clarification statement, but it also seemed to differ slightly from the earlier remarks. “We expect revenue to grow, but the rate will not be the same as in the previous years. The view of the revenue for coming quarters would be relatively flat compared to Q1, but it will represent continued growth from 2010,” the statement said.

While the conflicting statements seem to be the result of a simple miscommunication, the confusion highlights the size of the challenges Mr. Lu may be facing as the head of both Alibaba.com and Taobao.

Mr. Lu’s background differs substantially from that of his predecessor. Mr. Wei, who spoke English on results conference calls and often accepted interviews. Mr. Wei had been chief financial officer and president of Kingfisher PLC’s home-improvement retailer, B&Q China, and worked at other large companies, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, before joining Alibaba.com.

That big-company resume contrasts with the more entrepreneurial background of Mr. Lu, who was a lobby manager at a hotel before he started his career in technology by co-founding a network-communication company.

Mr. Lu’s conference call isn’t the only communications breakdown to be associated with the Alibaba name. Yahoo, which owns a roughly 40% stake in Alibaba.com parent Alibaba Group, revealed earlier this week that the Chinese company had transferred ownership of an online-payment unit to a separate entity controlled by Alibaba Group Chief Executive Jack Ma. Yahoo said Thursday it was notified of the move on March 31 seven months after it was completed, without the knowledge or approval of Alibaba’s board or shareholders.

Alibaba said it moved ownership of the unit, Alipay, in response to rules issued last year by China’s central bank that could potentially bar foreigners from owning controlling stakes in Chinese Internet-payment services.

周四，阿里巴巴网络有限公司（简称阿里巴巴）新任首席执行长首次召开记者会，但他谈及公司营收预期的内容时似乎有些自相矛盾，令听众们一头雾水。

今年2月阿里巴巴曝出欺诈丑闻后，前CEO卫哲辞职，陆兆禧接掌大权。陆兆禧自此被交代了两项重任，即重建公司的公信力并引导公司完成正在进行的业务转型，这就涉及到要将重点放在提高每个用户的平均收入，而不是近年来刺激增长的原始用户数。

Alibaba.com Ltd. via Bloomberg阿里巴巴CEO陆兆禧.陆兆禧同时也是阿里巴巴姐妹公司淘宝网的CEO。他的首次亮相很低调。3月阿里巴巴公布一系列业绩结果后，当时刚刚上任的陆兆禧未与记者交流。他参加了与分析师的电话会议，但大多都是首席财务长武卫在讲话。阿里巴巴拒绝让他接受采访。

两月后，在上周四公司为公布第一季度财报而召开的电话会议上，陆兆禧似乎更自如地谈起了公司。但他有关收入增长的讲话迅速引起记者的困惑。

他在会议开始不久时用中文说，我们预计，2011年收入的增长率──整体收入，可能会基本与2010年持平。他继续强调说，他是说“收入”而不是“收入增幅”会持平。

鉴于该公司近期的业绩显示，2009年公司的收入增长率是29%，而2010年的是43%，他的这一表述令人感到意外。

但在回答随后的一个问题时，他说今年剩余季度的收入增长率会与阿里巴巴第一季度25.5%的增幅“大约相等”，也就是说今年的收入不会持平。

当被要求澄清时，陆兆禧给出了更含糊的回答：今年的收入仍会增长，但增幅会较小……整体来说，2011年的收入与2010年相比会有一定增长。

会后，公司迅速发出了一份澄清声明，但似乎也与之前的讲话略有出入。该声明说，我们预计收入会增加，但增幅不会和前几年一样；与第一季度相比，未来几个季度的收入增幅可能较小，但会比2010年有持续增长。

造成上述说法互相冲突的原因尚不清楚，但似乎只是传达有误。这种混乱状况突出表明，作为阿里巴巴和淘宝网两家公司的CEO，陆兆禧可能面临着巨大挑战。

陆兆禧的背景与前任CEO卫哲迥异。卫哲在业绩报告电话会议上讲英语，并经常接受采访，在加入阿里巴巴之前，他曾任Kingfisher PLC旗下家装零售商百安居中国（B&Q China）的首席财务长和总裁，也曾在普华永道（PricewaterhouseCoopers）等其他大公司工作过。

卫哲的大公司背景与陆兆禧的创业背景形成鲜明对比。在与人合伙创建一家网络通讯公司从而展开在科技领域的职业生涯之前，陆兆禧是一家酒店的大堂经理。

阿里巴巴网站的母公司阿里巴巴集团在上周成为了焦点。持有阿里巴巴集团约40%股权的雅虎（Yahoo）上周说，阿里巴巴集团将在线支付业务支付宝的所有权转给了一个由阿里巴巴集团首席执行长马云控股的独立实体。雅虎上周四说是在3月31日获悉此事的，而事情发生是在七个月前，并且未通报阿里巴巴董事会或股东，也未告知董事会或股东，并得到他们的批准。阿里巴巴说，转移支付宝所有权是为了响应去年中国央行发布的规定，根据规定，央行可能限制外资持有中国互联网支付服务的控股权。