While many Chinese companies have faced severe challenges and losses due to the coronavirus outbreak, Alibaba Group has defied that trend. The multinational tech giant expanded its business during the first half of 2020, as demand for its services and online marketplace traffic surged amid the coronavirus lockdown.
According to data presented by StockApps.com, the Alibaba Group’s revenue jumped to $22.7 billion in the second quarter of 2020; four times less than its leading competitor Amazon.
eCommerce
Alibaba Group emerged as China’s leading eCommerce company after the 2003 SARS outbreak. Since then, it has become a significant hirer and a lender, providing more than 100,000 jobs and offering billions of dollars in loans to small and medium enterprises ( SMEs).
One of the group’s most profitable marketplaces is Taobao, responsible for more than 80% of its sales. Unlike Amazon, Alibaba isn’t involved in direct sales and doesn’t own warehouses; it simply helps branded manufacturers and small businesses to reach consumers. Although both tech giants have established a strong presence in their domestic markets, there is intense competition between them in expanding to the new markets.
Alibaba’s revenue amounted to $11.9 billion in the second quarter of 2018, while its US competitor reported $52.8 billion, four times more than that. During the next twelve months, Alibaba`s revenues surged by 41% to almost $17 billion in the second quarter of 2020. Amazon’s revenue rose by nearly twenty per cent to $63.4 billion in the same quarter. After a strong performance in the third and fourth quarters of 2019, the revenue of both companies slightly dropped in the first quarter of 2020. However, the second quarter of the year delivered the highest results, so far.
Alibaba Group’s revenue jumped to $22.7billion; an increase of thirty four per cent year-on-year. The company’s quarter two results also revealed the number of its annual active consumers on the China retail marketplaces surged by 16 million in three months, reaching a total of 742 million. Mobile MAUs on China retail marketplaces jumped to 874 million in June, an increase of 28 million compared to the first quarter. Adjusted EBITDA grew by thirty per cent in a year to $7.2 billion, while quarterly net income rose to more than $6.5 billion.
In August, Amazon also announced its excellent second-quarter results, which revealed double-digit revenue growth year-on-year driven by a surge in sales amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The US tech giant’s revenue spiked forty per cent year-on-year to $88.9 billion, up from $81.5 billion expected. Net income surged by 100% to $5.2 billion, while earnings per share hit $10.30, a significant increase compared to $5.22 in the second quarter of 2019. The company reported its North American sales rose by forty three per cent to $55.4 billion, while international sales grew thirty eight per cent to $22.7 billion.
Combined Market Cap
Besides their revenues and profits booming amid the coronavirus outbreak, both Alibaba Group and Amazon witnessed significant growth in their market capitalization since the beginning of the year.
In December 2019, the market cap of the Chinese tech giant amounted to $570.9 billion, revealed the Yahoo Finance data. After a ten per cent drop in March, this figure rose to $581.2 billion in June. Statistics show the Alibaba Group’s market cap continued growing in the third quarter, rising by $181.2 billion after fantastic quarter two 2020 results. In September, it surged to $762.4 billion, a seventy five per cent jump year-on-year.
In 2020, Amazon officially became the fourth tech company to join the $1 trillion club, besides Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet. Statistics show the company’s market cap amounted to $920.2 billion in December last year. By the end of the first half of 2020, it rose to $1.38 trillion and continued growing ever since. Statistics show the combined value of Amazon’s stocks surged by $210 billion after the US tech giant announced its last quarterly results and hit $1.59 trillion in September, an eighty per cent increase year-on- year. The combined market capitalization of the two competitors hit $2.35 trillion this month, almost fifty eight per cent jump since the beginning of the year.
