Alibaba Reports Strong Net Profit Gain, Slower Revenue Growth In 3Q

Chinese ecommerce company Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. reported net profit of $792 in the third quarter. Revenue increased 51 percent to $1.78 billion, significantly slower than the 61 percent growth reported in the previous quarter. For the third quarter of the previous year, Alibaba reported a net loss of $246 million, due to the $550 million charge to purchase some of its shares from Yahoo Inc., which currently owns 24% of the Chinese online company. Alibaba, whose coming IPO is expected to value the company at more than $100 billion, outpaced its competitors Tencent Holdings Ltd., which grew 34 percent; and Amazon.com Inc., which reported revenue grew 24 percent.