E-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s quarterly revenue grew at its weakest pace in three years, as the impact of a slowing China and a crippling Sino-U.S. trade war kept buyers away during its top-sale season.
Alibaba, the second most valuable public company in Asia after Tencent, posted third-quarter revenue of 117.28 billion yuan ($17.47 billion), compared to 83 billion yuan a year earlier, reports Reuters.
Net income rose 33 percent to 30.96 billion yuan.
Alibaba typically posts its highest revenue in the December quarter due to its mega “Singles’ Day” in November - the world’s biggest online sales event that outstrips the sales of U.S. shopping holidays Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.
In 2018, even though Alibaba netted a record $30 billion from the Singles’ Day, annual growth dropped to the weakest rate in the event’s 10-year history as a slowing China and trade tensions chilled sentiment.
($1 = 6.7157 Chinese yuan renminbi)