Alibaba matches third-quarter estimates with strong year-end sales

Alibaba matches third-quarter estimates with strong year-end sales

Alibaba Group Holding on Wednesday matched Wall Street expectations for third-quarter revenue, on strong year-end sales, highlighting the success of its strategy to attract cost-conscious consumers.

U.S.-listed shares of the company were up 5.6% in premarket trading.

The company's revenue was 280.15 billion yuan ($38.58 billion) for the three months ended December 31, compared with 279.34 billion yuan expected by 17 analysts polled by LSEG.

Chinese retailers such as Alibaba have slashed prices and intensified promotional offers to revitalise consumer spending and drive sales at their core domestic e-commerce business.

Healthy demand from international markets and increased spending by customers towards the year-end helped the company boost its sales and achieve stronger financial performance.

China's annual Singles' Day sales event, a nationwide shopping festival in October and November, often viewed as a barometer of consumer sentiment, ran longer than previous editions and led to a 26.6% rise in sales in major e-commerce platforms, according to data provider Syntun.

Alibaba said 45 brands - including Apple and Xiaomi - surpassed 1 billion yuan in gross merchandising value, a commonly used measurement for online sales, during the Singles' Day sales period.

Alibaba's domestic e-commerce business Taobao and Tmall Group produced revenue growth of 5% for the quarter.

Alibaba has kicked off 2025 as a winner in China's AI race, drawing in investors with strategic business wins. Its share price has risen over 40% since the beginning of the year.

Alibaba said that in the December quarter, AI-related product revenue maintained triple-digit year-over-year growth for the sixth consecutive quarter.

The inclusion of Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma in a meeting of private enterprise leaders chaired by China's President Xi Jinping this month, and photos of Ma shaking hands with Xi, has further raised investor confidence in Alibaba.

Alibaba said it is teaming up with Apple to power iPhones sold in China with its AI solutions, solidifying its foothold in a market where homegrown rival DeepSeek is making waves with cost-effective models.

Alibaba unveiled an upgraded version of its Qwen 2.5 AI model in late January, saying it outperforms DeepSeek-V3.

($1 = 7.2613 Chinese yuan renminbi)