ArrowArtboardCreated with Sketch.Title ChevronCrossEye IconIcon FacebookIcon LinkedinIcon Mail ContactPath LayerIcon MailMenu BurgerPositive ArrowIcon PrintIcon SearchSite TitleTitle ChevronIcon Twitter

Welcome to our new website

As well as being able to load content faster than ever before, you'll now find it's much easier to find all the content you need about the Asian business world.

Retail Trade

Alibaba Group Holding

  • 168.61 USD
  • +2.46
  • +1.48%
  • China
    Feb 15, 2019
  • Ticker
    NYS(BABA)
  • Prev. close
    166.15
  • Market cap (USD)
    427,326.12M
  • Shares
    2,571.92M

In the news

Company Background

Alibaba Group, set up in 1999, is China's largest electronic commerce company. Its head office is in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Having grown into an enterprise handling a wide variety of businesses ranging from cloud services and finance to media, besides e-commerce, the company listed on the New York Stock Exchange last year.

Founder Jack Ma, who first used the Internet in the U.S. in the mid-1990s, created in 1999 a website to support e-commerce. His company had initially focused on business-to-business transactions, before opening the Taobao online shopping site for individual users in 2003.

Thanks to the rapid spread of the Internet and expanding consumer spending in China, the users of Taobao soared at a fast pace. Today, Taobao.com for consumer-to-consumer deals and Tmall for business-to-consumer are two pillars of Alibaba's operations. The number of annual active buyers on Alibaba sites has reached 350 million.

Increasingly, more online shoppers are shifting to smartphones. Alibaba is been pushing ahead with efforts to attract smartphone users primarily by improving the convenience of the AliPay online payment system. As a result, the mobile monthly active users of its sites have reached close to 300 million in number. The company intends to enhance its financial business with Alipay at the center as well as to step up its cloud, information technology and big data businesses.

The company raised around $20 billion through its initial public offering in New York in 2014. It is acquiring other companies with the money raised. In August this year, Alibaba bought the majority of new shares issued by China's second biggest retailer, Suning Commerce Group, for 28.3 billion yuan, becoming the second largest shareholder in Suning. In China, Tencent and other local rivals are reinforcing strategies to erode Alibaba's dominance in e-commerce.

After failing to pass university entrance exams twice, Jack Ma once gave up going higher education and worked as a driver. A self-made man, he enjoys strong popularity among Chinese.

Business Summary

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. engages in providing online and mobile marketplaces in retail and wholesale trade. It operates through the following segments: Core Commerce; Cloud Computing; Digital Media and Entertainment; and Innovation Initiatives and Others. The Core Commerce segment comprises of platforms operating in retail and wholesale. The Cloud Computing segment consists of Alibaba Cloud, which offers elastic computing, database, storage and content delivery network, large scale computing, security, management and application, big data analytics, a machine learning platform, and other services provide for enterprises of different sizes across various industries. The Digital Media and Entertainment segment relates to the Youko Tudou and UC Browser business. The Innovation Initiatives and Others segment includes businesses such as AutoNavi, DingTalk, Tmall Genie, and others. The company was founded by Chung Tsai and Yun Ma on June 28, 1999 and is headquartered in Hangzhou, China.

Financial Highlights

Mar 2018 USD
Revenue37,762.20M37,762.20M
Gross Profit20,657.05M20,657.05M
Operating income10,654.07M10,654.07M
Income before tax15,149.63M15,149.63M
Net income9,654.58M9,654.58M
EBITDA13,956.26M13,956.26M
Diluted EPS3.693.69
Dividends Per Share00
Total Assets114,005.27M114,005.27M
Total liabilities44,135.13M44,135.13M
Total equity58,169.49M58,169.49M
Operating cash flow18,886.83M18,886.83M
Currency in USDCurrency in USD

Historical Data

USD
 Mar 2014Mar 2015Mar 2016Mar 2017Mar 2018
Revenue 8,576.00M 12,300.08M 15,903.10M 23,521.83M 37,762.20M
Gross Profit 6,340.85M 8,115.85M 10,040.48M 14,047.89M 20,657.05M
Operating income 4,077.61M 3,762.46M 4,650.03M 7,261.50M 10,654.07M
Income before tax 4,377.83M 5,217.73M 12,809.52M 8,921.24M 15,149.63M
Net income 3,808.27M 3,915.96M 11,235.92M 6,490.78M 9,654.58M
EBITDA 4,347.78M 4,475.09M 5,692.49M 9,369.61M 13,956.26M
Diluted EPS 1.54 1.56 4.38 2.52 3.69
Dividends Per Share -- 0 0 0 0
Total Assets 17,939.31M 41,267.79M 56,376.70M 73,547.54M 114,005.27M
Total liabilities 11,374.95M 15,704.65M 17,713.06M 26,508.45M 44,135.13M
Total equity 6,390.82M 23,525.60M 33,630.55M 40,897.00M 58,169.49M
Operating cash flow 4,525.82M 6,790.19M 8,936.54M 11,937.69M 18,886.83M
 Mar 2014Mar 2015Mar 2016Mar 2017Mar 2018
Revenue 8,576.00M 12,300.08M 15,903.10M 23,521.83M 37,762.20M
Gross Profit 6,340.85M 8,115.85M 10,040.48M 14,047.89M 20,657.05M
Operating income 4,077.61M 3,762.46M 4,650.03M 7,261.50M 10,654.07M
Income before tax 4,377.83M 5,217.73M 12,809.52M 8,921.24M 15,149.63M
Net income 3,808.27M 3,915.96M 11,235.92M 6,490.78M 9,654.58M
EBITDA 4,347.78M 4,475.09M 5,692.49M 9,369.61M 13,956.26M
Diluted EPS 1.54 1.56 4.38 2.52 3.69
Dividends Per Share -- 0 0 0 0
Total Assets 17,939.31M 41,267.79M 56,376.70M 73,547.54M 114,005.27M
Total liabilities 11,374.95M 15,704.65M 17,713.06M 26,508.45M 44,135.13M
Total equity 6,390.82M 23,525.60M 33,630.55M 40,897.00M 58,169.49M
Operating cash flow 4,525.82M 6,790.19M 8,936.54M 11,937.69M 18,886.83M

Valuation Measures

Mar 2018
PER48.53
ROA10.29%
ROE19.49%
Operating margin28.21%
Profit margin25.56%

Key executives

  • Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yong Zhang
  • President & Director: John Michael Evans
  • Chief Financial Officer: Wei Wu
  • Chief Technology Officer: Jian Feng Zhang
  • Vice President: Lei Wang

Shareholders

  • T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. (2.1%)
  • Baillie Gifford & Co. (1.7%)
  • BlackRock Fund Advisors (1.7%)
  • The Vanguard Group, Inc. (1.4%)
  • Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd. (Investment Management) (1.1%)
  • SSgA Funds Management, Inc. (1.0%)
  • HSBC Global Asset Management (UK) Ltd. (0.9%)
  • Capital Research & Management Co. (Global Investors) (0.8%)
  • OppenheimerFunds, Inc. (0.7%)
  • Fidelity Management & Research Co. (0.6%)

Contact Details

Related Companies

  • Ejoy Technology
  • Beijing Century Xinfei Hygiene Materials Co. Ltd.
  • Beijing Xiansheng Internet Technology Co. Ltd.
  • Alibaba (Chengdu) Software Technology Co., Ltd.
  • Tian Tian Ting Dong
  • Alibaba Health Big Pharmacy Pharmaceutical Chain Co., Ltd.
  • Hangzhou Ali Venture Capital Co., Ltd.
  • Chin Huei Plastic Industrial JSC
  • Ali JK Nutritional Products Holding Ltd.
  • Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. /Bus (2)/
  • Beijing Pony Media Culture Development Co. Ltd
  • Alibaba (China) Co., Ltd.
  • Celia Safe, Inc.
  • Nimbus Development, Inc.
  • South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd.
  • Poyang Lake In Jiangxi Province Honor Pearl Co. Ltd.
  • Zhejiang Lynx Technology Co. Ltd.
  • Alibaba Group (U.S) Inc.
  • Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund
  • Alibaba.com Singapore E-Commerce Pte Ltd.
  • Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (Investment Management)
  • Beijing One Cloud Technologies Co., Ltd.
  • Alibaba.com India E-Commerce Pvt Ltd.
  • Data Artisans GmbH
  • Ali JK Investment Holding Ltd.
  • Jade E-Services Pakistan (PVT) Ltd.
  • Hangzhou Alimama Technology Co. Ltd.
  • Taobao Holding Ltd.
  • Ali Wb Investment Holding Ltd.
  • Beijing Zhuoyi Xunchang Technology Co. Ltd.

Competitors

  • Amazon.com, Inc.
  • Tencent Holdings Ltd.
  • Alphabet Inc. Class A
  • Yandex NV Class A
  • NetEase, Inc. Sponsored ADR
  • Baidu, Inc. Sponsored ADR Class A
  • Aurora Mobile Ltd. Sponsored ADR Class A
  • Orange SA
  • Sogou, Inc. Sponsored ADR
  • VeriSign, Inc.
  • Acorn International, Inc. Sponsored ADR
  • Sohu.com Limited Sponsored ADR
  • SINA Corp.
  • Booking Holdings Inc.
  • Etsy, Inc.
  • Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings Inc Class A
  • TripAdvisor, Inc.
  • 21Vianet Group, Inc. Sponsored ADR Class A
  • ChinaCache International Holdings Ltd. Sponsored ADR
  • iQIYI, Inc. Sponsored ADR Class A
  • eBay Inc.
  • Phoenix New Media Ltd. Sponsored ADR Class A
  • Hong Kong Television Network Ltd.
  • iClick Interactive Asia Group Ltd. Sponsored ADR
  • PT Matahari Department Store Tbk Class A
  • Global Top E-Commerce Co. Ltd. Class A
  • Guangdong Sky Dragon Printing Ink Group Co., Ltd. Class A
  • JD.com, Inc. Sponsored ADR Class A
  • Eastern Media International Corporation
  • MercadoLibre, Inc.

Copyright © 2019 FactSet Research Systems Inc. All rights reserved.

Last Updated on 15 Feb, 2019

You have {{numberArticlesLeft}} free article{{numberArticlesLeft-plural}} left this monthThis is your last free article this month

Stay ahead with our exclusives on Asia;
the most dynamic market in the world.

Stay ahead with our exclusives on Asia

Get trusted insights from experts within Asia itself.

Get trusted insights from experts
within Asia itself.

Get Unlimited access

You have {{numberArticlesLeft}} free article{{numberArticlesLeft-plural}} left this month

This is your last free article this month

Stay ahead with our exclusives on Asia; the most
dynamic market in the world.

Get trusted insights from experts
within Asia itself.

Try 3 months for $9

Offer ends January 31st

Your trial period has expired

You need a subscription to...

  • Read all stories with unlimited access
  • Use our mobile and tablet apps
See all offers and subscribe

Your full access to the Nikkei Asian Review has expired

You need a subscription to:

  • Read all stories with unlimited access
  • Use our mobile and tablet apps
See all offers
NAR on print phone, device, and tablet media