But today, the once-prolific sector has reversed course: startups and tech giants alike have been reeling the past year. In the last quarter of 2018, WeChat owner Tencent saw net income fall by a third, and e-commerce giant JD.com lost $700 million. Alibaba forecasts that, this year, its sales will drop over 20 percent. And across publicly listed technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) companies, last year’s earnings dropped 140 percent from 2017 — a larger plunge than any other Chinese sector.