Alibaba's Q2 profit down, revenue up; cloud arm set to take centre stage

Hong Kong

CHINESE e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding on Thursday reported a 55 per cent rise in second-quarter revenue, beating analyst estimates, on the back of core online sales and strong media and entertainment growth. Revenue reached 34.3 billion yuan (S$7 billion) for the three months to Sept 30, compared with the 33.9 billion yuan average of 24 analyst estimates surveyed by Thomson Reuters. Net income attributable to shareholders fell to 2.97 yuan per share, a 67 per cent drop from 8.87 yuan per share in the year-earlier quarter.

China's largest Internet company reports just a week before Katy Perry and other stars headline a launch party for the annual Singles' Day online shopping extravaganza. Yet it's the less flashy Internet-based computing un…