Alibaba Surpasses 3Q Estimates With 41% Climb in Revenue

On Jan. 31, Alibaba Group announced its financial results for the quarter ended on December 31, 2018.

For the past quarter, Alibaba has achieved a revenue of 117,278 million yuan ($17,057 million), with a 41 percent year-on-year growth.

December quarter summary financial results of Alibaba (Source: Alibaba)

According to the New York Times, “Its revenue was slightly below analysts’ expectations, growing 41 percent, its slowest pace since early 2016, reflecting both the sheer size of the company and widening troubles in the Chinese economy, the world’s second largest.”

Consumption growth remains strong, with Tmall physical goods paid Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) up by 29 percent year-on-year. Another highlight of the forth quarter would be the double eleven global shopping festival, when Cainiao, the logistics arm of Alibaba processed over 1 billion delivery orders.

The core commerce revenue has increased by 40 percent, reaching 102.8 billion ($15 billion), while customer management revenue is up by 28 percent.

Alibaba revenue by segment for the periods
Alibaba revenue by segment for the periods (Source: Alibaba)

The revenue generated from cloud computing increased 84 percent year-on-year to 6,611 million yuan ($962 million). Revenue from digital media and entertainment increased 20 percent year-on-year to 6,491 million yuan ($944 million), while revenue from innovation initiatives and others increased 73 percent year-on-year to 1,333 million yuan ($193 million).

The annual active consumers on Alibaba‘s China retail marketplaces reached 636 million, an increase of 35 million from the 12-month period ended September 30, 2018. Mobile monthly active users (MAU) in China retail marketplaces reached 699 million in December 2018, an increase of 33 million from September 2018.

Income from operations was 26,798 million yuan ($3,898 million), an increase of 3 percent year-on-year. Adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA)increased 13 percent year-over-year to 40,708 million yuan ($5,921 million).

Net income attributable to ordinary shareholderswas 33,052 million yuan ($4,807 million),and net incomewas 30,964 million yuan ($4,504 million), representing a year-on-year increase of 37 percent and 33 percent, respectively.

Alibaba December quarter 2018 earnings
Alibaba December quarter 2018 earnings (Source: Alibaba)


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