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Retail Trade

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

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 technology infrastructure and marketing reach. It operates through the following business segments: China Commerce, International Commerce, Local Consumer Services, Cainiao, Cloud, Digital Media and Entertainment, and Innovation Initiatives and Others segments. The Core Commerce segment consists of platforms operating in retail and wholesale. The China Commerce segment includes China commerce retail and wholesale businesses. The International Commerce segment focuses on international commerce retail and wholesale businesses. The Local Consumer Services segment is involved in "To-Home" businesses, which include Ele.me, local services and delivery platform, and Taoxianda, and "To-Destination" segment businesses which include Amap, the provider of mobile digital map, navigation and real-time traffic information, and restaurant and local services guide platform. The Cainiao segment has Cainiao Network and offers domestic and international one-stop-shop logistics services and supply chain management solution. The Cloud segment includes Alibaba Cloud and DingTalk. The company was founded by Chung Tsai and Yun Ma on June 28, 1999 and is headquartered in Hangzhou, China.

Financial Highlights

Mar 2023 HKDUSD
Revenue993,191.25M126,702.86M
Gross Profit364,711.41M46,526.76M
Operating income117,836.75M15,032.60M
Income before tax101,967.40M13,008.13M
Net income82,901.32M10,575.84M
EBITDA----
Diluted EPS3.920.50
Dividends Per Share----
Total Assets2,002.61B255,112.25M
Total liabilities719,811.11M91,696.27M
Total equity1,130.57B144,023.23M
Operating cash flow228,381.38M29,134.94M
Currency in HKDCurrency in USD

Historical Data

 Mar 2019Mar 2020Mar 2021Mar 2022Mar 2023
Revenue 440,328.19M 571,883.94M 820,204.75M 1,034.79B 993,191.25M
Gross Profit 189,327.19M 244,012.01M 326,285.95M 367,199.78M 364,711.41M
Operating income 70,022.47M 107,186.93M 104,475.08M 115,874.57M 117,836.75M
Income before tax 112,430.65M 186,971.83M 189,334.93M 72,236.61M 101,967.40M
Net income 102,357.34M 167,469.63M 171,874.00M 75,158.83M 82,901.32M
EBITDA 113,180.81M 154,566.89M 158,298.62M 171,343.32M --
Diluted EPS 4.87 7.84 7.81 3.44 3.92
Dividends Per Share -- 0 0 0 --
Total Assets 1,127.37B 1,434.80B 2,004.71B 2,093.44B 2,002.61B
Total liabilities 408,458.58M 473,520.53M 719,428.98M 757,274.44M 719,811.11M
Total equity 575,068.82M 825,511.11M 1,111.92B 1,171.08B 1,130.57B
Operating cash flow 176,408.67M 202,636.87M 265,042.37M 173,172.58M 228,381.38M
 Mar 2019Mar 2020Mar 2021Mar 2022Mar 2023
Revenue 56,149.34M 73,162.45M 105,795.79M 132,931.17M 126,702.86M
Gross Profit 24,142.44M 31,217.02M 42,086.66M 47,170.77M 46,526.76M
Operating income 8,929.05M 13,712.67M 13,475.93M 14,885.33M 15,032.60M
Income before tax 14,336.82M 23,919.74M 24,421.75M 9,279.57M 13,008.13M
Net income 13,052.30M 21,424.78M 22,169.52M 9,654.96M 10,575.84M
EBITDA 14,432.48M 19,774.10M 20,418.47M 22,010.89M --
Diluted EPS 0.62 1.00 1.00 0.44 0.50
Dividends Per Share -- 0 0 0 --
Total Assets 143,615.52M 185,114.55M 257,858.89M 267,313.93M 255,112.25M
Total liabilities 52,033.27M 61,092.33M 92,537.60M 96,697.19M 91,696.27M
Total equity 73,257.64M 106,505.19M 143,023.19M 149,536.50M 144,023.23M
Operating cash flow 22,495.10M 25,923.80M 34,187.03M 22,245.88M 29,134.94M

Valuation Measures

Mar 2023
PER25.40
ROA4.04%
ROE7.20%
Operating margin11.86%
Profit margin8.34%

Key executives

  • Executive Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Yong Zhang
  • President & Director: John Michael Evans
  • Chief Financial Officer: Hong Xu
  • Chief Technology Officer: Wu Zeming
  • VP, Head-Global Intellectual Property Enforcement: Matthew Bassiur

Shareholders

  • SoftBank Group Corp. (13.6%)
  • MA FAMILY (2.2%)
  • The Vanguard Group, Inc. (2.1%)
  • APN Ltd. (1.8%)
  • BlackRock Fund Advisors (1.6%)
  • TSAI CHUNG HSIN /ALIBABA/ (1.4%)
  • Norges Bank Investment Management (1.3%)
  • Hang Seng Investment Management Ltd. (0.7%)
  • E Fund Management Co., Ltd. (0.6%)
  • Baillie Gifford & Co. (0.6%)

Contact Details

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Competitors

  • Etsy, Inc.
  • eBay Inc.
  • JD.com, Inc. Class A
  • Z Holdings Corporation
  • Rakuten Group, Inc.
  • Amazon.com, Inc.
  • PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk
  • Walmart Inc.
  • Sea Limited Sponsored ADR Class A
  • NAVER Corp.
  • Coupang, Inc. Class A
  • momo.com Incorporated
  • Vipshop Holdings Ltd Sponsored ADR
  • MercadoLibre, Inc.
  • PDD Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR Class A
  • PT Bukalapak.com Tbk
  • Wayfair, Inc. Class A
  • Zalando SE
  • Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd.
  • OVH Groupe SAS
  • DHH S.p.A
  • D-MARKET Elektronik Hizmetler ve Ticaret AS Sponsored ADR
  • Jumia Technologies AG Sponsored ADR
  • Allegro.eu Societe anonyme
  • Gradiant Corporation
  • Baidu, Inc. Class A
  • Puregold Price Club Inc.
  • VeriSign, Inc.
  • Opera Limited Sponsored ADR
  • Siam Makro Public Co. Ltd.
Last Updated on 5 Jun, 2023

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