According to an article published on the Wall Street Journal, "Alibaba's net profit for the quarter through June surged to $707 million from $273 million for the same period a year earlier, according to a presentation slide from Yahoo, which holds a 24% stake in the Chinese company".
Alibaba's revenue for the second quarter rose 61% to $1.737 billion from $1.077 billion a year earlier, while its operating profit more than doubled to $856 million from $372 million.
Alibaba's revenue for the second quarter rose 61% to $1.737 billion from $1.077 billion a year earlier, while its operating profit more than doubled to $856 million from $372 million.
Alibaba's strong earnings—with an operating profit margin of 49%—come at a time when the company, based in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, is planning to go public in what could be the largest Internet IPO since Facebook.
According to analyst estimates, an Alibaba IPO could value the company at $70 billion or more, and raise about $10 billion.
By some measures, Alibaba is the world's largest e-commerce platform, as the total volume of merchandise being handled on its online shopping sites is larger than Amazon inc and eBay Inc
Still, Alibaba's revenue is much smaller than its U.S. peers in part because its business model is different.
Alibaba's biggest business is Taobao, China's largest online marketplace, where 7 million merchants—mostly small businesses—list over 800 million items. While Taobao doesn't charge commissions on the transactions made by the merchants, Taobao can make money because most merchants pay to advertise on the site as they try to attract consumers''.
