Alibaba sees highest growth rate since IPO

People ride a double bicycle past the Alibaba Group logo, at the company's headquarters, on the outskirts of Hangzhou, November 10, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

HANGZHOU - Alibaba announced Thursday that its net income rose 146 percent to more than 17.4 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) year-on-year for the fiscal quarter ending September.

The group's revenue was about 55 billion yuan in the quarter, up 61 percent year-on-year, the highest growth rate since its IPO.

"We had an outstanding quarter. Our consumer insights and technological innovation were the key drivers behind our customer value proposition across the Alibaba economy," said Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group.

The quarter's revenue from core commerce increased 63 percent year-on-year to 46.5 billion yuan. Revenue from international businesses reached 2.9 billion yuan, 115-percent growth year on year, thanks to strong growth in its Southeast Asian platform Lazada and China outbound platform AliExpress.

Active consumers reached 488 million for the 12 months ending September, while its mobile monthly active users on the China retail marketplaces reached 549 million, an increase of 20 million over the previous quarter.

Revenue from cloud computing increased 99 percent year-on-year to 3 billion yuan. Revenue from digital media and entertainment increased 33 percent to 4.8 billion yuan, and revenue from innovation initiatives and others increased 27 percent to 887 million yuan.

Maggie Wu, Alibaba's CFO, said the group generated approximately $3.4 billion in non-GAAP free cash flow during the quarter, "which enables us to invest in our future growth areas of core commerce, including logistics, cloud computing, digital entertainment and other innovation initiatives."

Alibaba shares closed at $186.08 on Wednesday, up more than 100 percent so far this year.