Poised for Breakup, China’s Alibaba Finishes Year With $10 Billion Profit
variety.comPatrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Alibaba, China’s e-commerce and entertainment giant, announced net profits of $10.6 billion for its financial year to the end of March, a year-on-year increase of 39%.
The rebound was achieved on revenues of $126 billion that were up by just 2%. Using the group’s preferred non-GAAP measure to exclude extraordinary items, net income rose by a smaller 4%, but weighed in at over $20 billion.
The importance of the overall figures has been rendered moot by Alibaba’s end of March announcement that it plans to transform itself from an operating company into a holding company, by allowing each of its six divisions to go their own way. “[The] board has approved the process to start external financing for Alibaba International Digital Commerce Business Group; exploration of an IPO for Cainiao Smart Logistics Group; and execution of an IPO for Freshippo,” the company said on Thursday.
Alibaba has media and entertainment operations and holdings that include China’s number three long-form video streaming platform Youku, one of the country’s two largest cinema ticketing agencies (Taopiaopiao), a web browser, ownership of the South China Morning Post newspaper in Hong Kong and various holdings in cinema operators and film production companies.
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