Alibaba takes hit as growth cools
Profit in the quarter ended 30 June doubled to $4.97 billion (30.8 billion yuan), mainly due to one-time gains of $3.9 billion from the sale of its stake in film unit Alibaba Pictures.
But Alibaba shares tumbled nearly five percent in pre-market New York trade, on disappointment over revenue growth.
The company said revenue, which excluded one-time gains, rose 28 percent from a year ago to $3.27 billion (20.2 billion yuan), below analysts' expectations of $3.39 billion.
Barclays' analysts said the results were "slightly softer than had been expected given the already lowered consensus estimates".
The rise in sales was driven by retail trade in China, which accounted for 78 percent of revenue in the first fiscal quarter, the company said in a statement.
Chief executive Daniel Zhang said the company had "a strong quarter and we continued to build the foundations for future growth".
He added that "we are excited about our top strategic priorities, including internationalisation, winning in mobile, expanding our ecosystem from cities to villages, and investing in core technologies that will propel our cloud computing business."
Chief financial officer Maggie Wu said Alibaba was generating more revenue from users of mobile devices in China.
She hailed "significant progress monetising our mobile traffic, with our mobile revenue exceeding 50 percent of our total China commerce retail revenue for the first time".
The company also said it authorized a $4 billion share buyback plan over two years.
Separately, Alibaba said it had reached a deal with Macy's to bring a selection of the US retailer's merchandise to Chinese consumers.
"Macy's is one of the most iconic brands in the world and we are honored Macy's China Limited has chosen us as their exclusive partner to grow their business in China," said Zhang.
Under the agreement, Macy's China subsidiary "will launch an exclusive online flagship store" on Alibaba's Tmall retail platform, a statement said.
Founded by Jack Ma in 1999, Alibaba is China's biggest e-commerce company but is seeking to expand beyond its traditional business.
The Chinese company and Amazon are considered competitors in some areas but unlike the US firm which makes its own e-book reader, Alibaba has no products of its own and simply provides a trading platform.
Source: I-Net Bridge
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