Alibaba revenue jumps as it sees more shoppers
Chinese e- commerce powerhouse Alibaba Group said Thursday that its revenue jumped 45 percent on strong mobile growth and more active buyers in the fiscal fourth quarter.
The company also named a new CEO and said it planned a hiring freeze for the fiscal year.
Sales beat expectations, and the company’s share price rose.
Alibaba went public in September to much fanfare as investors sought to tap into the rapidly growing Chinese consumer class. Its e- commerce platforms, including Taobao and Tmall, make up 80 percent of Chinese e- commerce.
Net income for the three months that ended March 31 fell 49 percent from last year to $ 463 million ( 18 cents per share). Excluding onetime items, profit was 48 cents per share. Analysts had expected 43 cents.
Revenue rose 45 percent to $ 2.81 billion. Analysts had expected $ 2.72 billion.
Gross merchandise volume, or the total amount of goods sold on Alibaba’s platforms, rose 40 percent from the same period last year. Annual active buyers rose 37 percent 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, 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.”
Alibaba Group Holding stock closed up $ 6, or 7.5 percent, at $ 86. The stock is down about 23 percent since the beginning of the year.