Alibaba fourth quarter revenue jumps

Alibaba has named a new CEO on the same day it announced a 45 per cent jump in revenue on the back of strong mobile growth.

Chinese e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba Group's revenue jumped 45 per cent on strong mobile growth and more active buyers in the fiscal fourth quarter.

The company also on Thursday named a new CEO and said it planned a hiring freeze for the fiscal year.

Sales beat expectations, and the company's shares rose 7.5 per cent in premarket trading.

Alibaba went public in September to much fanfare as investors sought to tap into the rapidly growing Chinese middle-class consumer class.

Its e-commerce platforms including Taobao and Tmall make up 80 per cent of Chinese e-commerce.

Net income for the three months ended March 31 fell 49 per cent to 2.87 million Chinese yuan ($A580.60 million), or 1.12 yuanper share, from 5.66 billion yuan, or 2.37 yuan per share, last year.

Revenue rose 45 per cent to 17.43 billion yuan, from 12.03 billion yuan last year.

Gross merchandise volume, or the total amount of goods sold on Alibaba's platforms, rose 40 per cent from the same period last year. Annual active buyers rose 37 per cent to 350 million.

The company also said Daniel Zhang, chief operating officer, will become CEO effective Sunday, replacing Jonathan Lu, who will become vice chairman.

Zhang has been at the company for eight years. He has been chief operating officer since 2013.

Alibaba, based in Hangzhou, China, wasn't planning on adding new staff to its 34,985 workforce in fiscal 2016, but said it will "continue to bring in the necessary talent to enable us to execute our growth plans."

Shares rose 7.5 per cent, or 6 per cent, to $85.92 in premarket trading. The stock is down about 23 per cent since the beginning of the year.


Share

2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world