Alibaba beats quarterly revenue estimates

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba beat analysts’ estimates for quarterly revenue on Tuesday, as investments in one-hour delivery helped drive more users to its shopping apps, while its cloud division reported strong growth.

US-listed shares of the company rose 2.5% in premarket trading.
Major retailers in China are jostling for market share in the instant commerce space by offering big discounts and attractive deals.

Alibaba has also benefited from Beijing’s appliance trade-in subsidies, which allow consumers to exchange older home appliances like refrigerators and TVs for newer models at discounted prices, though that scheme has begun winding down and officially ends on December 31.

The company reported revenue of 247.80 billion yuan ($34.97 billion) in the second quarter, compared with the estimates of 242.65 billion yuan, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The company has been doubling down on artificial intelligence as a catalyst for growth across its cloud and consumer ecosystems, channelling billions of dollars into AI infrastructure, model development and product innovation.