Alibaba drives quarterly revenue despite Chinese economy

China’s sluggish economy didn’t stop Alibaba from increasing revenue by 55% for the September quarter.



The Chinese e-commerce company hit $5.1 billion (U.S. dollars) in revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2016, a 55% increase compared to the same time-frame in 2015. Meanwhile, revenue from the company’s core commerce division was $4.2 billion, a 41% year-over-year increase. Core commerce is comprised of social commerce, the company’s direct-to-consumer Tmall commerce site, and its 11.11 global shopping festival, a 24-hour annual shopping event that happens on China’s Singles Day.



“Alibaba Group had a great quarter,” said Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group. “Our results reflect our increasing ability to monetize our 450 million mobile users through new and innovative social commerce experiences.”



The pure play’s 450 million mobile monthly active users (MAUs) is an increase of 23 million mobile shoppers over June. Meanwhile, annual active buyers on its China retail marketplaces reached 439 million, an increase of 5 million from the 12-month period ended in June, a company statement said.



“Our highly profitable and cash flow generative core commerce business enables us to invest in our future growth areas of cloud computing, digital media and entertainment and innovation initiatives,” said Maggie Wu, CFO, Alibaba Group. “We expect each of these businesses to drive long-term value for both our customers and shareholders.”