When Yahoo reported its 2Q 2013 earnings several hours ago with revenue that came in slightly below expectations, in stark contrast were Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba’s impressive results.
Alibaba is required to report its earnings to Yahoo because the US company has a 24 percent stake in the Chinese firm. Alibaba’s net income for the quarter jumped 189 percent year-on-year to reach $680 million, while revenue climbed 71 percent to hit $1.38 billion. Yahoo’s net income attributable to Alibaba leaped 203 percent to $669 million.
Alibaba has been strongly tipped to float on the Hong Kong stock exchange before the end of the year in a move that could value the firm at $70 billion — and its earnings this quarter is a testament to the strength of the company’s growth, piling on expectations for its initial public offering.
Newly-installed Alibaba Chief Executive Jonathan Lu has pledged to continue the e-commerce giant’s recent string of big investments as it maintains focus on improving its services for mobile. Lu wants Alibaba’s service – and in particular its two biggest businesses: virtual ‘mall’ for brands Tmall and eBay-like Taobao marketplace – to make better use of customer data to provide a more unique and tailored user experience.
The <3 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
This year so far, Alibaba has grabbed 18 percent of microblogging service Sina Weibo with a $586 million investment and bought 28 percent of mapping firm Autonavi for $294 million. Just yesterday, the company confirmed it had invested in outbound travel site Qyer.com to boost its Taobao Travel e-commerce service.
Image Credit: Peter Parks via AFP/Getty Images
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.