Alibaba sees 66 pct revenue growth in Q4

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd saw a 66 percent year-on-year revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to the first-quarter earnings report posted Wednesday Beijing time by shareholder Yahoo Inc.

Alibaba, which is valued at $140 billion, will submit its highly anticipated prospectus for a US listing as early as Monday, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing unnamed sources. The size of the company's IPO may outweigh Facebook Inc's $16 billion debut, media reports said.

Alibaba's profit in the fourth quarter surged to $1.36 billion, up 21 percent from the third quarter and 109 percent higher year-on-year, according to the financial report of Yahoo, which owns a 24 percent stake in Alibaba.

Experts attributed the doubling net income to Alibaba's successful sales promotions for the Singles' Day shopping spree in 2013. The day, which falls on November 11 every year, was created by young Chinese singles to celebrate their loneliness and then became a major online sales day.

Alibaba, which owns China's largest online shopping platforms tmall.com and taobao.com, announced on December 12 that it had achieved record sales of 35 billion yuan ($5.62 billion) on the Singles' Day in 2013.

"Now it is the best time for Alibaba to launch its IPO," Lu Zhenwang, founder of Shanghai Wanqing Commerce Consulting, told the Global Times Wednesday.

That is because the fourth quarter is a peak season for sales on Alibaba's online shopping websites, and the company's frequent investments and acquisitions this year also boosted investors' confidence, Lu said.

Fluctuations of earnings figures between peak seasons and dull seasons are normal, and even though Alibaba's first-quarter revenue in 2014 may not be as high as the fourth quarter of last year, it will not bring much negative influence on its IPO, Wang Tingting, an analyst at iResearch Consulting Group, told the Global Times Wednesday.

Alibaba is among a slew of Chinese tech companies planning to get listed in the US.

China's second largest online marketplace jd.com, for example, filed a prospectus with the US securities regulator on January 30, and updated its prospectus on Monday US time after Tencent Holdings bought a 15 percent stake in the firm last month. Jd.com, which claims to own 46.5 percent of China's online direct sales market, said it plans to seek up to $1.5 billion in its IPO.

Jumei International Holding Ltd, China's largest online retailer of beauty products by volume, filed its prospectus with the US Securities Regulatory Commission on April 12 to raise $400 million.

Jd.com made a net loss of 50 million yuan in 2013, but its revenue reached 69.3 billion yuan in 2013, tripling its net revenues of 21.1 billion yuan in 2011. Jumei made a $4 million loss in 2011, but managed to turn a profit in 2012 with $8.1 million, according to its prospectus.

Wang predicted that Alibaba's IPO will not bring much pressure on jd.com's IPO, because Alibaba is a pure e-commerce platform, different from direct sales e-commerce companies.

Lu agreed with Wang and said the losses incurred by direct sales e-commerce companies may be a strategic choice.

Direct sales e-commerce companies such as jd.com, have their own delivery system and provide better service to customers, Lu said, noting sometimes they may prefer to attract more customers with investments in service rather than make profits immediately.

Yahoo's share price closed with a 2.29 percent increase Tuesday US time.

SoftBank Corp, which has a 37 percent stake in Alibaba, also saw an 8.5 percent price increase Tuesday.