Alibaba record revenues overshadows all forecasts. for the quarter

Alibaba, the Chinese internet group recorded its biggest quarterly rise in revenue since its initial public offering in 2014, as revenues were up 60 per cent year on yearto Rmb 8.58bn ($5.6bn) for the three months to the end of March, overtaking all market forecasts. Mobile monthly active users reached 507m.

Alibaba shares were up 37.5 per dent for the year to date, fell 1.4 per cent by mid-morning in New York trading yesterday.

Founded by Jack Ma, who worth according to Bloomberg $38.3bn, is among the world’s 10 most valuable companies with a market capitalisation of $301bn. Jack Ma unseated Wang Jianlin as China’s richest man.

Alibaba also announced a $6bn share buyback, to put dampers on the impact of stock based compensation.

Retail and e-commerce accounted for 67 per cent of revenues, down from 76 per cent last year quarter. Alibaba also reported gross merchandise value of $547bn for the full year, up 22 per cent.