Alibaba Profit Rises - Update

(RTTNews) - China e-commerce company Alibaba Group, Wednesday reported a surge in first-quarter profit, aided by strong revenue growth. Results were driven by its strong mobile user base, partly offset by weak margins.

Alibaba said its net earnings for the quarter surged about three-fold to $1.99 billion or $0.84 per share, compared with a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter in local currency rose 46 percent to $2.54 billion, compared with last year.

Alibaba had 188 million mobile monthly active users in June, compared with 163 million in March.

Alibaba accounts for about 80 percent of all Chinese e-commerce. The company operates China's largest online shopping destination, Taobao Marketplace, and third-party platform for brands and retailers, Tmall. It also operates Juhuasuan, China's most popular group buying marketplace by monthly active users.

Alibaba's results come as investors await for its IPO, in which it is expected to sell about a 12 percent. Estimates of Alibaba's valuation suggest it could raise as much as $20 billion. Analysts have valued Alibaba at more than $160 billion.

The Alibaba IPO is expected to be profitable to Yahoo Inc (YHOO), which has a near 23 percent stake in in the company. Yahoo is expected to sell about 10 percent of its Alibaba shares.