Alibaba’s second quarter revenue grew 71% to $1.08 billion from $631.2 million. Net income jumped to $273 million in the three months ended June 30, from $118.9 million in the same period a year earlier. The big jump in the China-based e-commerce giant’s earnings highlights the rapid shift by many Chinese consumers to the Internet for goods, away from traditional bricks-and-mortar stores.
In May, Alibaba took its business-to-business operation, Alibaba.com Ltd., private to improve the quality of the platform and integrated it with Taobao and Tmall, China’s biggest online shopping websites by sales. Taobao and Tmall forecast handling about 1 trillion yuan, or roughly $160 billion, worth of transactions this year for an array of goods, including clothing, furniture and electronics.
The sites made up 76% of e-commerce transactions in China in the three months ended Sept. 30, according to research firm Analysys International. However, their market share has declined in the past few years as other websites, such as Beijing Jingdong Century Trading Co.’s 360buy.com, have gained popularity.
Yahoo still has a stake of about 23% in Alibaba after it sold around half of its 40% share in the company in September.
Source: 4traders.com
