Emphasis on mobile sees Alibaba revenue growth slow

BEIJING - E-Commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding’s shares have taken a hit after the company posted its slowest revenue growth in over three years. The China Daily reports that a decision to focus more on mobile services has negatively affecting advertising sales, with the company’s shares declining as much as 8% to $71.03 – creeping back to their IPO price of $68 per share.

This hit wiped off almost US$16 billion off the company’s market value, with an overall decline of almost 30% in 2015.

With China’s economy experiencing the early stage of its “new normal” phase of moderate growth, as well as the recent decision by the central bank to devalue the yuan, Alibaba’s current predicament is understandable for some analysts, yet the company’s spokespersons – including Chief Executive Daniel Zhang – remain “confident for long-term growth”, China Daily said.

Alibaba CFO, Maggie Wu, said in a statement that the e-commerce giant “made significant process monetising our mobile traffic, with our mobile revenue exceeding 50% of our total China commerce retail revenue for the first time”. However, she conceded that mobile was still less profitable than PC, where her company sees decreased profitability. www.webershandwick.cn (ATI).