Alibaba earnings show its more than just an online bargain hunter's paradise
Alibaba has released its quarterly earnings for the period ending December 31, showing the company is more than just an eCommerce giant.
January 24, 2017
Alibaba has released its quarterly earnings for the period ending December 31, showing the company is more than just an eCommerce giant.
Revenues for the quarter were reported at roughly $7.76 billion, a 54% year-on-year increase, with the core eCommerce business accounting for around 87%, though there were also strong gains in the cloud computing unit and digital entertainment.
Like Amazon, Alibaba has risen to dominance in the eCommerce arena before using its substantial digital capacity and reputation to move into new areas. The cloud computing business saw a 115% year-on-year boost to $254 million taking the total number of customers to 765,000, while digital entertainment grew 273% to $585 million. Alibaba may still be considerably reliant on the core business unit, though the cloud and digital entertainment units are contributing more than chump change.
“We reported another excellent quarter, with robust revenue growth of 54%. With three quarters of the year coming in ahead of expectations, we are adjusting up our 2017 fiscal year revenue guidance from 48% to 53% year-over-year growth,” said Maggie Wu, Chief Financial Officer of Alibaba Group.