Alibaba surpasses Q3 revenue forecast amid pandemic-driven jump in e-commerce
- by Nick Cohen
- in Industry
- — Feb 4, 2021
Ma's appearance in a live-streamed video conference in January - after several months out of public view - has helped quell talk of worst-case scenarios for his business empire.
On Tuesday, the company said it was "fully cooperating" with the investigation, by the State Administration for Market Regulation. "They have breathed new life into China's economic reforms".
Alibaba Cloud posted positive adjusted earnings during the quarter thanks to economies of scale with quarterly revenue growing 50 percent year-on-year to 16.11 billion yuan.
Alibaba's post-COVID-19 Singles Day sales event, the world's biggest online shopping event that eclipses the sales of USA shopping holidays Black Friday and Cyber Monday, registered total sales of $74 billion in November.
Alibaba's total revenue rose 37 percent to 221.08 billion yuan (US$34.24 billion) in the three months ended December 31, above analysts' estimates of 214.38 billion yuan, according IBES data from Refinitiv. Alibaba said it processed 583,000 orders per second during the 11.11 event.
Ant Group, the financial affiliate of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba, has reportedly reached an agreement with Chinese regulators over the company's status.
The Covid-19 pandemic encouraged many Chinese to also have meals delivered to reduce their movements outside.
In the third quarter of its staggered fiscal year, the Wall Street-listed group reported a profit of 79 billion yuan ($12.2 billion), a 52 percent increase year-on-year. Alibaba's meal delivery service Ele.me saw its number of daily users rise 30 percent during the quarter compared to the same period in 2019.
Payments using Ant's non-collateral credit in Alibaba's China marketplaces represent only a very small percentage of total credit granted under the platform, Zhang said.
Some market participants had been speculating Ant might be forced to spin off portions of its business, which now looks unlikely, said Shujin Chen, Hong Kong-based head of China financial research at Jefferies Financial Group Inc.
Ma, who has been keeping an uncharacteristically low profile these past three months, was also conspicously snubbed this week by his omission in a state media list of entrepreneurial leaders.
Last year, outspoken real estate tycoon Ren Zhiqiang was jailed for 18 years on alleged corruption charges, months after penning an essay critical of the Communist Party.
