Alibaba crushes earnings expectations, shares soar

Akin Oyedele Jan. 28, 2016

Strong user activity on mobile, and the record-setting Singles Day shopping event in November, boosted the company's performance and contributed to a 32% increase in revenues.
The Chinese e-commerce giant earned 6.43 yuan ($0.98) in adjusted earnings per share (5.81 estimated according to Bloomberg), and 34.5 billion yuan ($5.3 billion) in revenues (33.2 billion yuan expected).
Alibaba also amassed over 400 million annual active buyers for the first time ever.
During the third quarter, Alibaba's Singles Day event was a smash hit, scoring $5 billion in sales within the first 90 minutes that specials went live. It was bigger than any Black Friday or Cyber Monday ever.

$5 Billion in Sales in 90 minutes, $14 Billion in one day

Alibaba just proved it's more than just some Chinese company

Bob Bryan Nov. 15, 2015

Here's Why Alibaba Is Becoming A Huge Threat To Amazon And eBay
BUSINESS INSIDER
Cooper Smith Aug. 29, 2014
Alibaba is growing ~50% annually in volume terms.
The gross merchandise volume (GMV) — or, the value of all merchandise — sold on Alibaba's e-commerce sites reached $248 billion in 2013, 52% more than it sold in 2012.
GMV in the second quarter of 2014 was $82 billion, which is 45% more than the same quarter last year.

Alibaba sells 4X as much stuff in dollar terms as eBay does, and it's growing much faster.

The Key Differences Between Alibaba And Amazon In One Chart

BUSINESS INSIDER

Hayley Peterson Aug. 29, 2014, 3:40 PM

China's Alibaba Group is becoming a serious threat to Amazon.The e-commerce giant is expected to make an initial public offering in September at a valuation of at least $150 billion.

The company's websites account for 80% of all online commerce in China and its sales are growing rapidly. But Alibaba's revenues are still only a fraction of Amazon's.
Here's a brief breakdown of the two companies and how they compare from the website SmartIntern: