Alibaba revenue beats expectations with strong e-commerce, media growth

Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Wednesday reported a 55 percent rise in second-quarter revenue, beating analyst estimates, on the back of core online sales and strong media and entertainment growth.

Revenue reached 34.3 billion yuan ($5.07 billion) in the three months to Sept. 30, compared with the 33.9 billion yuan average of 24 analyst estimates surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Net income attributable to shareholders fell to 2.97 yuan per share, or 0.45 cents, a 67 percent drop from 8.87 yuan per share in the year-earlier quarter.