Chinese tech giant Alibaba’s quarterly profit shrinks 29%

AFP | Beijing

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba reported a 29 percent fall in quarterly profit as it battles sluggish consumption during an economic slowdown. Net income attributable to shareholders came in at 24.3 billion yuan ($3.3 billion) in the quarter ending June 30, Alibaba said in a corporate filing, down from 34.3 billion yuan in the same period in 2023.

Alibaba runs some of China’s most popular e-commerce apps and its performance is widely considered an indicator of broader economic trends. China released another series of disappointing indicators yesterday, despite recent government measures to boost growth. Alibaba’s revenue for the first quarter was 243.2 billion yuan, up four percent from the previous year.

But revenue from core shopping platforms Taobao and Tmall was down one percent, which Alibaba said was “primarily due to the increase in investments in user experience”. “In this quarter, we continue to invest for growth in our core businesses while reducing losses in other business units through operating efficiency,” chief financial officer Toby Xu said in the filing.