Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has released its financial report for the third quarter of the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Despite revenue growth, the company faced a significant profit decline. Revenue for China's largest e-commerce company increased by 1.7% to 285 billion yuan ($41.3 billion) over the three months ending in December 2025. This figure fell short of analysts' expectations, which had forecast 291 billion yuan. Concurrently, the company's net profit plummeted by 67% to approximately 16.3 billion yuan ($2.4 billion). The sharp drop in profit was attributed to substantial spending on its one-hour delivery service and promotional campaigns during the shopping season, which failed to translate into a noticeable increase in demand. As a result, Alibaba's shares, listed in the United States, fell by nearly 4% in pre-market trading. "We made significant investments in our logistics services and marketing initiatives to enhance customer loyalty," the company stated. "However, these investments have not yet yielded the expected returns in terms of profit growth." Analysts link the slowdown to intensifying competition in the Chinese domestic market and a general cooling of consumer demand.
