(Reuters) -China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Thursday reported its slowest-ever increase in quarterly revenue since going public in 2014, as tepid growth in its core e-commerce business and intensifying competition ate into sales.
The slowing Chinese economy has taken a toll on the e-commerce company, as consumers cut back discretionary spending. Last November, during its annual Singles’ Day promotional event, the company recorded gross merchandise value growth of 8.5%, a record low.
Alibaba is also facing intensifying pressure from rivals like TikTok-owned ByteDance and Kuaishou, who have capitalized on the booming trend of livestreaming e-commerce.
Net income attributable to shareholders slumped to 20.43 billion yuan in the third quarter from 79.43 billion yuan a year earlier. Revenue rose about 10% to 242.6 billion yuan ($38.37 billion). Analysts on an average had expected revenue of 246.37 billion yuan, according to Refinitiv data.
($1 = 6.3226 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru and Josh Horwitz in Shanghai; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
