Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's revenue jumps 32%

[SHANGHAI] Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba saw its revenue jump 32 per cent year-on-year for the quarter ending in December, it said in a statement Thursday, despite slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy.

Alibaba, which dominates the consumer-to-consumer market in China, said revenue reached US$5.33 billion in the December quarter, beating an average forecast of 33.2 billion yuan in a survey of analysts by Bloomberg News.

Investors have hammered the New York-listed shares of Alibaba as a proxy for China's falling growth, weakening currency and domestic stock market turmoil.

China's economy grew 6.9 per cent in 2015, the slowest rate since 1990. Fourth-quarter growth alone slowed to 6.8 per cent, its worst since the global financial crisis in early 2009.

"Alibaba Group had an outstanding quarter, reaching a milestone of over 400 million annual active buyers and continuing our unrivalled leadership in mobile," Alibaba chief executive Daniel Zhang said in the statement.

Alibaba said its net income attributable to shareholders more than doubled, surging 111 per cent on the year to US$1.93 billion for the three-month period.

Its closely-watched gross merchandise volume (GMV) - a measure of value for online sales - was US$149 billion for the period, up 23 per cent year-on-year.

The quarter included China's November 11 "Singles Day", said to be the world's biggest online shopping spree, when Alibaba saw US$14.3 billion worth of goods settled through its online payments unit.

AFP