Alibaba FY numbers - cloud sales soar

There's no denying that e-commerce is changing the way we consume our favourite items, be it clothing, prepared meals, fast food, electronics, groceries etc. Early investors in this e-commerce wave have enjoyed a lot of value creation, and the funny thing is that we are not even at a point where e-commerce is approaching maturity.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba released its 4th quarter and full year numbers showing revenues of $8.2 billion, a 61% increase for the quarter. The cloud was the fastest growing division by far for the group with revenues of $700m an increase of 103%. Retail e-commerce in China accounted 79% of the group's revenues.

Alibaba's Chinese retail marketplaces had more than 552 million annual active buyers and mobile accounted for 75% of gross merchandise volume.



Here's how revenues have grown over the years.


Find more statistics at Statista

Here's how Alibaba compares to Amazon.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Alibaba also invested $2 billion in a south-east Asian e-commerce company called Lazada and $9.5 billion to buy shares it didn't own in an online delivery and services platform Ele.me.

Alibaba has had the first mover advantage in Asia, and this has helped the business grow to the $503 billion market cap, 800-pound gorilla that we know today.