Alibaba holiday-quarter revenue disappoints

[SAN FRANCISCO] Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's quarterly revenue fell short of analysts' expectations, showing signs of a slowdown in the Chinese e-commerce company's growth during the hard-fought holiday shopping season.

Revenue rose 40 per cent to US$4.22 billion in the December quarter, missing the average analyst estimate of US$4.45 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

But margins on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization bounced back after a decline in the previous quarter to 58 per cent from 50.5 per cent in the July-September period.

REUTERS