X
Tech

Alibaba doubles monthly users as net income falls due to IPO

Costs related to Alibaba's IPO have blemished a set of results that saw increases in users, revenue, and merchandise purchased.
Written by Chris Duckett, Contributor

Alibaba Group is now able to claim over 300 million active annual users, and has seen more than $90 billion of merchandise purchased through its marketplaces.

The company announced in its results for the September quarter that it now has 217 million active monthly mobile users, up 138 percent on the 91 million at this time last year, who are responsible for purchasing 36 percent of the goods bought on Alibaba.

Revenue for the company increased 54 percent to $2.7 billion for the quarter, for which mobile accounted $606 million, while net income for Alibaba fell by 39 percent to $494 million.

The reasons for the net income decrease were pinned on expenses related to share-based compensation for employees prior to the company's September listing on the New York Stock Exchange, as well as consolidation costs of newly acquired businesses and increased marketing spending.

"Our business continues to perform well, and our results reflect both the strength of our ecosystem and the strong foundation we have for sustainable growth," said Alibaba Group CEO Jonathon Lu. "On our China retail marketplaces, gross merchandise volume for the quarter increased 49 percent, and annual active buyers increased 52 percent year on year.

"We are also encouraged by continued improvement of mobile monetisation, which demonstrates the strong commercial intent of our users."

In recent days, Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Apple CEO Tim Cook said they are open to a partnership involving their respective mobile payment systems: Alipay Wallet and Apple Pay.

Australian e-commerce platform Bigcommerce has already inked a deal with Alibaba that will see Bigcommerce's e-commerce platform integrated with the buyer and supplier network of Alibaba.

In late September, Alibaba announced that it would pay $457 million for a 15 percent stake in hotel tech company Beijing Shiji Information Technology.

Editorial standards