Following a record-breaking listing on the New York Stock Exchange in September that raised $25bn, Alibaba's share price rose to $119 in November but since then has dropped as low as $58.14 before closing at $65.86 on Monday.  Many of Alibaba's employees are shareholders and the share price fall has hit morale hard. But Mr Zhang delivered a stern reminder to employees on Tuesday to take a long view of the company's prospects.  "Alibaba's values are reflected in the pursuit of our dreams and to create value for our customers. Our values do not waver with the fluctuations in stock price," he said.  Alibaba places bet on bricks and mortar China slowdown hits phone shipments Why worries about China make sense  "Let us remember to keep our eyes on the true prize, which is serving our customers . . . Serving our customers is the path to success to creating value for our shareholders and ourselves," he continued.  Read MoreWhat stock rout means for tech IPOs  He added that Alibaba is "fighting just this one battle; we are in it for 102 years to win the war", referring to founder Jack Ma's speech last year in which he said the company would exist for at least 102 years.  Mr Zhang also emphasised the company's strong bank balance. "Alibaba Group has hundreds of billions in cash reserves, robust cash flow and a scalable profit-generating business model. We are methodically and aggressively pressing forward with our plans for the future. We have faith in the Chinese economy, and we have faith in our team and partners."  Since January Alibaba's shares have been declining over worries about the regulatory environment in China, missed earnings forecasts and concerns about counterfeit goods on Taobao, its flagship online ecommerce platform.  The domestic stock markets in China and concerns about the long-term health of the country's economy have added to these pressures in recent weeks.  Alibaba also faces the expiration of a big lock-up next month when large investors, including Japan's SoftBank, and certain employees will be allowed to sell stock for the first time.  The company's share listing was the largest ever on the New York Stock Exchange and made more than $300m for the underwriters, including Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley.  Alibaba is the second high-profile tech company to fall below its IPO price after Twitter on Thursday also dropped below the price at which it floated in 2013.
Alibaba chief executive Daniel Zhang has told employees to "forget about the share price" and focus on their jobs. The FT reports.