Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group has reported a 61% YoY growth in revenue in the quarter ended June 30, 2018 to $12.29 billion. The growth was mainly attributed to the robust performance of its core e-commerce and its cloud-computing businesses. Alibaba said that during the quarter, annual active consumers on their retail marketplaces (in China) reached 576 million, an increase of 24 million from an year ago, while mobile monthly active users reached 634 million from about 617 million a quarter ago. However, as was largely expected, the company’s net income fell 41% to $1.31 billion in the quarter ending June, owing to a ‘one-time increase in share based compensation expense to its subsidiary, Ant Financial. Excluding this one-time payment, the company said its net income rose 33% from a year ago. Core Commerce Alibaba's core commerce business, which focuses on its online shopping sites Tmall and Taobao, is still the company's biggest unit, accounting for around 86 percent of revenues. In the quarter ending June, revenue from core commerce increased 61% year-over-year to $10.45 billion. The company attributed the strong performance in the division to multiple factors including, an improvement to its Taobao App, which led to higher sales, the launch of a new loyalty membership program ,'88VIP', and tie ups with various international consumer brands. Further, a successful execution of its ''new retail strategy'', coupled with expanding its Hema supermarket chain also boosted its revenues, the company said. Revenue from international commerce retail business rose 64% YoY, driven by the strong growth of Southeast Asian…
