HANGZHOU, China–(BUSINESS WIRE)–$BABA #alibaba–Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA and HKEX: 9988 (HKD Counter) and 89988 (RMB Counter), “Alibaba”, “Alibaba Group” or the “company”) today announced its financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, 2025.
“Our results this quarter and for the full fiscal year demonstrate the ongoing effectiveness of our ‘user first, AI-driven’ strategy, with core business growth continuing to accelerate. Driven by strong demand for AI, Cloud Intelligence Group quarterly revenue growth accelerated to 18%, with AI-related product revenue achieving triple-digit growth for the seventh consecutive quarter. Customer management revenue at Taobao and Tmall Group grew 12% this quarter, reflecting the sustained impact of investments in user experience and effective monetization. Looking ahead, we will remain focused on our core businesses and continue to drive AI + Cloud as a new engine for our long-term growth,” said Eddie Wu, Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group.
“We delivered a strong quarter with revenue growth of 7% and EBITA growth of 36%. We are confident in our business outlook and will continue to invest in our core businesses to strengthen our competitive advantages. We remain committed to enhancing shareholder returns. During fiscal year 2025, we repurchased US$11.9 billion of shares, thereby achieving a 5.1% net reduction in outstanding shares. In addition, our board of directors approved the distribution of annual and special dividends totaling US$4.6 billion,” said Toby Xu, Chief Financial Officer of Alibaba Group.
BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS
In the quarter ended March 31, 2025:
- Revenue was RMB236,454 million (US$32,584 million), an increase of 7% year-over-year.
- Income from operations was RMB28,465 million (US$3,923 million), an increase of 93% year-over-year, primarily due to the increase in adjusted EBITA and a decrease in non-cash share-based compensation expense. We excluded non-cash share-based compensation expense from our non-GAAP measurements. Adjusted EBITA, a non-GAAP measurement, increased 36% year-over-year to RMB32,616 million (US$4,495 million), primarily attributable to revenue growth and improved operating efficiency, partly offset by the increase in investments in our e-commerce businesses and technology.
- Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB12,382 million (US$1,706 million). Net income was RMB11,973 million (US$1,650 million), an increase of 1203% year-over-year, primarily due to the mark-to-market changes from our equity investments, the increase in income from operations and the decrease in impairment of equity method investments, partly offset by the losses arising from the disposal of subsidiaries. Non-GAAP net income in the quarter ended March 31, 2025 was RMB29,847 million (US$4,113 million), an increase of 22% compared to RMB24,418 million in the same quarter of 2024.
- Diluted earnings per ADS was RMB5.17 (US$0.71). Diluted earnings per share was RMB0.65 (US$0.09 or HK$0.70). Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS was RMB12.52 (US$1.73), an increase of 23% year-over-year. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was RMB1.57 (US$0.22 or HK$1.70), an increase of 23% year-over-year.
- Net cash provided by operating activities was RMB27,520 million (US$3,792 million), an increase of 18% compared to RMB23,340 million in the same quarter of 2024. Free cash flow, a non-GAAP measurement of liquidity, was RMB3,743 million (US$516 million), a decrease of 76% compared to RMB15,361 million in the same quarter of 2024, which was mainly attributed to the increase in our cloud infrastructure expenditure, partly offset by year-over-year increase of adjusted EBITDA.
In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025:
- Revenue was RMB996,347 million (US$137,300 million), an increase of 6% year-over-year.
- Income from operations was RMB140,905 million (US$19,417 million), an increase of 24% year-over-year, primarily due to the decrease in impairment of intangible assets and goodwill, the decrease in non-cash share-based compensation expense and the increase in adjusted EBITA. We excluded impairment of intangible assets and goodwill, and non-cash share-based compensation expense from our non-GAAP measurements. Adjusted EBITA, a non-GAAP measurement, increased 5% year-over-year to RMB173,065 million (US$23,849 million), primarily attributable to revenue growth and improved operating efficiency, partly offset by the increase in investments in our e-commerce businesses and technology.
- Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB129,470 million (US$17,841 million). Net income was RMB125,976 million (US$17,360 million), an increase of 77% year-over-year, primarily due to the mark-to-market changes from our equity investments and the increase in income from operations, partly offset by the losses arising from the disposal of subsidiaries. Non-GAAP net income in fiscal year 2025 was RMB158,122 million (US$21,790 million), which remained stable compared to RMB157,479 million in fiscal year 2024.
- Diluted earnings per ADS was RMB53.59 (US$7.38). Diluted earnings per share was RMB6.70 (US$0.92 or HK$7.26). Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS was RMB65.41 (US$9.01), an increase of 5% year-over-year. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was RMB8.18 (US$1.13 or HK$8.86), an increase of 5% year-over-year.
- Net cash provided by operating activities was RMB163,509 million (US$22,532 million), a decrease of 10% compared to RMB182,593 million in fiscal year 2024. Free cash flow, a non-GAAP measurement of liquidity, was RMB73,870 million (US$10,180 million), a decrease of 53% compared to RMB156,210 million in fiscal year 2024, which was mainly attributed to the increase in our cloud infrastructure expenditure, partly offset by year-over-year increase of adjusted EBITDA.
Reconciliations of GAAP measures to non-GAAP measures presented above are included at the end of this results announcement.
BUSINESS AND STRATEGIC UPDATES
Taobao and Tmall Group
For the quarter ended March 31, 2025, our customer management revenue grew 12% year-over-year to RMB71,077 million (US$9,794 million), primarily driven by the improvement of take rate year-over-year. Our take rate benefited from the impact of the software service fee and increasing penetration of Quanzhantui. Merchants benefit through Quanzhantui’s convenience of use and improvement of marketing efficiency.
We continued to invest in user growth and other strategic initiatives such as price-competitive products, customer service, membership program benefits and AI technology applications to enhance user experience. These efforts led to stronger momentum in new consumer growth and continuous increase in orders.
On the merchant end, we remained focused on improving their operating environment and ensuring their sustainable development on our platform. In particular, we increased support of merchants that provide high-quality products and customer services, including support for marketing, new product launches and customer management.
The number of 88VIP members, our highest spending consumer group, continued to increase by double digits year-over-year, surpassing 50 million. We will continue to focus on improving the retention rate of 88VIP membership.
Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group (“AIDC”)
For the quarter ended March 31, 2025, revenue from AIDC grew 22% year-over-year to RMB33,579 million (US$4,627 million), primarily driven by strong performance in cross-border businesses. During the quarter, AIDC continued to focus on enhancing operating and investment efficiency, leading to narrowed loss of the segment year-over-year. In particular, the unit economics of the AliExpress’ Choice business improved on a sequential basis.
AIDC has a diverse geographical presence, with a consistent strategic focus on key regions such as select European markets and the Gulf Region. AliExpress and Trendyol, in particular, continue to diversify and enrich their product offerings by engaging local merchants and partners, through different business models in different markets. We believe that our diverse businesses and product offerings across geographies will continue to enhance our competitive advantages in the evolving global e-commerce landscape.
Cloud Intelligence Group
For the quarter ended March 31, 2025, revenue from Cloud Intelligence Group was RMB30,127 million (US$4,152 million), an increase of 18% year-over-year. During this quarter, the year-over-year growth of overall revenue excluding Alibaba-consolidated subsidiaries accelerated to 17%. This momentum was primarily driven by an even faster public cloud revenue growth, including the increasing adoption of AI-related products.
Notably, AI-related product revenue maintained triple-digit year-over-year growth for the seventh consecutive quarter. Our AI products are seeing broader adoption across a wide range of industry verticals including Internet, retail, manufacturing, and media, with a growing focus on value-added applications. For example, Lingma, our AI coding assistant launched last year, has seen strong adoption among enterprise customers and delivered robust revenue growth. We will continue to invest in anticipation of customer growth and technology innovation, including AI products and services, to increase cloud adoption for AI and maintain our market leadership.
In the 2025 Gartner® Innovation Guide for Generative AI Technologies, which assessed vendors across four defined submarkets, Alibaba Cloud was the only Chinese provider named an Emerging Leader in all four areas: Generative AI Model Providers, Generative AI Engineering, Generative AI Specialized Cloud Infrastructure, and AI Knowledge Management Apps/General Productivity.
We remain committed to advancing multi-modal AI technology and expanding our open-source initiatives. In April, we launched the Qwen3 series, a new generation of hybrid reasoning models that combine the capabilities of fast, simple responses and deeper chain-of-thought reasoning into a single model. The Qwen3 series covers a full range of model sizes, including two MoE (Mixture-of-Experts) models and six dense models. The flagship MoE model, Qwen3-235B-A22B, with 235 billion parameters but only 22 billion activated parameters, delivers efficiency and world-leading performance in key benchmarks such as code generation, mathematics, and general reasoning. The smaller models, including the dense models and the lightweight MoE model Qwen3-30B-A3B, are designed for ease of adoption by developers and enterprises, while delivering strong performance at lower costs. All Qwen3 models have been fully open-sourced on ModelScope, Hugging Face, and other platforms. We believe the full open-sourcing of Qwen3 will drive innovation and new applications by developers, start-ups and enterprises.
Cainiao Smart Logistics Network Limited (“Cainiao”)
For the quarter ended March 31, 2025, revenue of Cainiao Smart Logistics Network Limited was RMB21,573 million (US$2,973 million), a decrease of 12% year-over-year. This is the result of the increasing integration of logistics offerings into our e-commerce businesses.
Local Services Group
For the quarter ended March 31, 2025, revenue from Local Services Group grew 10% year-over-year to RMB16,134 million (US$2,223 million), driven by the order growth of both Amap and Ele.me, as well as revenue growth from marketing services.
For the quarter ended March 31, 2025, overall losses continued to narrow year-over-year as scale increased and unit economics improved due to operating efficiency.
Digital Media and Entertainment Group
For the quarter ended March 31, 2025, revenue of Digital Media and Entertainment Group was RMB5,554 million (US$765 million), an increase of 12% year-over-year, primarily driven by the strong performance of the movie and entertainment businesses and the increase in Youku’s advertising revenue.
During the quarter, the adjusted EBITA of Digital Media and Entertainment Group turned positive, primarily driven by Youku’s profitability.
Share Repurchases and Dividends
During the quarter ended March 31, 2025, we repurchased a total of 51 million ordinary shares (equivalent to 6 million ADSs) for a total of US$0.6 billion. These purchases were made in the U.S. market under our share repurchase program. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, we repurchased a total of 1,197 million ordinary shares (equivalent to 150 million ADSs) for a total of US$11.9 billion, resulting in a net decrease of 995 million ordinary shares, or a 5.1% net reduction in our outstanding shares after accounting for shares issued under our ESOP.
Our board of directors has approved a two-part dividend in the total amount of US$0.25 per ordinary share or US$2.00 per ADS comprised of (i) an annual regular cash dividend for fiscal year 2025 in the amount of US$0.13125 per ordinary share or US$1.05 per ADS, and (ii) a one-time extraordinary cash dividend as a distribution of proceeds from disposition of certain businesses and financial investments in the amount of US$0.11875 per ordinary share or US$0.95 per ADS, in each case payable in U.S. dollars, to holders of ordinary shares and holders of ADSs, as of the close of business on June 12, 2025, Hong Kong Time and New York Time, respectively. The aggregate amount of the dividend will be approximately US$4.6 billion. As at the date hereof, the company does not hold any treasury shares whether in the Central Clearing and Settlement System, or otherwise. All the shares bought back by the company pending cancellation will not receive the annual dividend for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025.
For holders of ordinary shares, in order to qualify for the dividend, all valid documents for the transfers of shares accompanied by the relevant share certificates must be lodged with the company’s Hong Kong branch share registrar, Computershare Hong Kong Investor Services Limited, at Shops 1712-1716, 17th Floor, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong, not later than 4:30 p.m. on June 12, 2025, Hong Kong Time. The payment date is expected to be on or around July 3, 2025 for holders of ordinary shares and on or around July 10, 2025 for holders of ADSs.
MARCH QUARTER SUMMARY FINANCIAL RESULTS
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Three months ended March 31, |
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2024 |
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2025 |
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|
RMB |
|
RMB |
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US$ |
|
YoY % Change |
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(in millions, except percentages and per share amounts) |
|||||||
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|
|
|
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Revenue |
221,874 |
|
236,454 |
|
32,584 |
|
7% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Income from operations |
14,765 |
|
28,465 |
|
3,923 |
|
93%(2) |
|
|
Operating margin |
7% |
|
12% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Adjusted EBITDA(1) |
30,807 |
|
41,783 |
|
5,758 |
|
36%(3) |
|
|
Adjusted EBITDA margin(1) |
14% |
|
18% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Adjusted EBITA(1) |
23,969 |
|
32,616 |
|
4,495 |
|
36%(3) |
|
|
Adjusted EBITA margin(1) |
11% |
|
14% |
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|
|
|
|
|
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Net income |
919 |
|
11,973 |
|
1,650 |
|
1203%(4) |
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|
Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders |
3,270 |
|
12,382 |
|
1,706 |
|
279%(4) |
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Non-GAAP net income(1) |
24,418 |
|
29,847 |
|
4,113 |
|
22%(4) |
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|
Diluted earnings per share(5) |
0.16 |
|
0.65 |
|
0.09 |
|
296%(4)(6) |
|
|
Diluted earnings per ADS(5) |
1.30 |
|
5.17 |
|
0.71 |
|
296%(4)(6) |
|
|
Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share(1)(5) |
1.27 |
|
1.57 |
|
0.22 |
|
23%(4)(6) |
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|
Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS(1)(5) |
10.14 |
|
12.52 |
|
1.73 |
|
23%(4)(6) |
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| ____________________ | ||
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(1) |
See the sections entitled “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and “Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Measures to the Nearest Comparable U.S. GAAP Measures” for more information about the non-GAAP measures referred to within this results announcement. |
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(2) |
The year-over-year increase was primarily due to the increase in adjusted EBITA and a decrease in non-cash share-based compensation expense. |
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(3) |
The year-over-year increases were primarily attributable to revenue growth and improved operating efficiency, partly offset by the increase in investments in our e-commerce businesses and technology. |
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(4) |
The year-over-year increases were primarily due to the mark-to-market changes from our equity investments, the increase in income from operations and the decrease in impairment of equity method investments, partly offset by the losses arising from the disposal of subsidiaries, while net income attributable to ordinary shareholders and earnings per share/ADS would further take into account the net loss attributable to noncontrolling interests. We excluded non-cash share-based compensation expense, gains/losses of investments, impairment of goodwill and intangible assets, and certain other items from our non-GAAP measurements. |
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(5) |
Each ADS represents eight ordinary shares. |
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(6) |
The year-over-year percentages as stated are calculated based on the exact amount and there may be minor differences from the year-over-year percentages calculated based on the RMB amounts after rounding. |
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MARCH QUARTER SEGMENT RESULTS
Revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 was RMB236,454 million (US$32,584 million), an increase of 7% year-over-year compared to RMB221,874 million in the same quarter of 2024.
The following table sets forth a breakdown of our revenue by segment for the periods indicated:
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Three months ended March 31, |
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2024 |
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2025 |
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RMB |
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RMB |
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US$ |
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YoY % Change |
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(in millions, except percentages) |
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Taobao and Tmall Group: |
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China commerce retail |
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|
||||
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– Customer management |
63,574 |
|
71,077 |
|
9,794 |
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12% |
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|
– Direct sales and others(1) |
24,690 |
|
24,504 |
|
3,377 |
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(1)% |
|
|
|
88,264 |
|
95,581 |
|
13,171 |
|
8% |
|
|
China commerce wholesale |
4,952 |
|
5,788 |
|
798 |
|
17% |
|
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Total Taobao and Tmall Group |
93,216 |
|
101,369 |
|
13,969 |
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9% |
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Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group: |
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|
|
|
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International commerce retail |
22,278 |
|
27,603 |
|
3,804 |
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24% |
|
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International commerce wholesale |
5,170 |
|
5,976 |
|
823 |
|
16% |
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Total Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group |
27,448 |
|
33,579 |
|
4,627 |
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22% |
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Cloud Intelligence Group |
25,595 |
|
30,127 |
|
4,152 |
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18% |
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Cainiao Smart Logistics Network Limited |
24,557 |
|
21,573 |
|
2,973 |
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(12)% |
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Local Services Group |
14,628 |
|
16,134 |
|
2,223 |
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10% |
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|
Digital Media and Entertainment Group |
4,945 |
|
5,554 |
|
765 |
|
12% |
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All others(2) |
51,458 |
|
53,988 |
|
7,440 |
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5% |
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Unallocated |
397 |
|
446 |
|
61 |
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|
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Inter-segment elimination |
(20,370) |
|
(26,316) |
|
(3,626) |
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|
|
|
Consolidated revenue |
221,874 |
|
236,454 |
|
32,584 |
|
7% |
|
| ____________________ | ||
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(1) |
Direct sales and others revenue under Taobao and Tmall Group primarily represents Tmall Supermarket, Tmall Global and other direct sales businesses, where revenue and cost of inventory are recorded on a gross basis, as well as other revenue from value-added services. |
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(2) |
All others include Sun Art, Freshippo, Alibaba Health, Lingxi Games, Intime, Intelligent Information Platform (which mainly consists of UCWeb and Quark businesses), Fliggy, DingTalk and other businesses. The majority of revenue within All others consists of direct sales revenue, which is recorded on a gross basis. |
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The following table sets forth a breakdown of our adjusted EBITA by segment for the periods indicated:
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Three months ended March 31, |
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2024 |
2025 |
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RMB |
RMB |
US$ |
YoY % Change(3) |
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(in millions, except percentages) |
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|
Taobao and Tmall Group |
38,501 |
41,749 |
5,753 |
8% |
||||
|
Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group |
(4,085) |
(3,574) |
(492) |
13% |
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Cloud Intelligence Group |
1,432 |
2,420 |
333 |
69% |
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Cainiao Smart Logistics Network Limited |
(1,342) |
(606) |
(83) |
55% |
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Local Services Group |
(3,198) |
(2,316) |
(319) |
28% |
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Digital Media and Entertainment Group |
(884) |
36 |
5 |
N/A |
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All others(1) |
(2,818) |
(2,535) |
(349) |
10% |
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Unallocated(2) |
(2,900) |
(2,030) |
(280) |
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Inter-segment elimination |
(737) |
(528) |
(73) |
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Consolidated adjusted EBITA |
23,969 |
32,616 |
4,495 |
36% |
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Less: Non-cash share-based compensation expense |
(7,123) |
(2,781) |
(383) |
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Less: Amortization and impairment of intangible assets, and others |
(2,081) |
(1,370) |
(189) |
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Income from operations |
14,765 |
28,465 |
3,923 |
93% |
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| ____________________ | ||
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(1) |
All others include Sun Art, Freshippo, Alibaba Health, Lingxi Games, Intime, Intelligent Information Platform (which mainly consists of UCWeb and Quark businesses), Fliggy, DingTalk and other businesses. |
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(2) |
Unallocated primarily relates to certain costs incurred by corporate functions and other miscellaneous items that are not allocated to individual segments. |
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(3) |
For a more intuitive presentation, widening of loss in YoY% is shown in terms of negative growth rate, and narrowing of loss in YoY% is shown in terms of positive growth rate. |
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Taobao and Tmall Group
(i) Segment revenue
-
China Commerce Retail Business
Revenue from our China commerce retail business in the quarter ended March 31, 2025 was RMB95,581 million (US$13,171 million), an increase of 8% compared to RMB88,264 million in the same quarter of 2024.
Customer management revenue increased by 12% year-over-year, primarily driven by the improvement of take rate year-over-year.
Direct sales and others revenue under China commerce retail business in the quarter ended March 31, 2025 was RMB24,504 million (US$3,377 million), a decrease of 1% compared to RMB24,690 million in the same quarter of 2024, primarily driven by the decrease in direct sales revenue as a result of our planned reduction of certain direct sales businesses, partly offset by the increase in revenue from value-added services.
-
China Commerce Wholesale Business
Revenue from our China commerce wholesale business in the quarter ended March 31, 2025 was RMB5,788 million (US$798 million), an increase of 17% compared to RMB4,952 million in the same quarter of 2024, primarily due to an increase in revenue from value-added services provided to paying members.
(ii) Segment adjusted EBITA
Taobao and Tmall Group adjusted EBITA increased by 8% to RMB41,749 million (US$5,753 million) in the quarter ended March 31, 2025, compared to RMB38,501 million in the same quarter of 2024, primarily due to the increase in revenue from customer management service, partly offset by the increase in investments in user experience and technology.
Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group
(i) Segment revenue
-
International Commerce Retail Business
Revenue from our International commerce retail business in the quarter ended March 31, 2025 was RMB27,603 million (US$3,804 million), an increase of 24% compared to RMB22,278 million in the same quarter of 2024, primarily driven by the increase in revenue contributed by AliExpress and Trendyol. As certain of our international businesses generate revenue in local currencies while our reporting currency is Renminbi, AIDC’s revenue is affected by exchange rate fluctuations.
-
International Commerce Wholesale Business
Revenue from our International commerce wholesale business in the quarter ended March 31, 2025 was RMB5,976 million (US$823 million), an increase of 16% compared to RMB5,170 million in the same quarter of 2024, primarily due to an increase in revenue generated by cross-border related value-added services.
(ii) Segment adjusted EBITA
Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group adjusted EBITA was a loss of RMB3,574 million (US$492 million) in the quarter ended March 31, 2025, compared to a loss of RMB4,085 million in the same quarter of 2024, primarily due to Lazada’s significant reduction in operating losses driven by its improvement in monetization and operating efficiency.
Cloud Intelligence Group
(i) Segment revenue
Revenue from Cloud Intelligence Group was RMB30,127 million (US$4,152 million) in the quarter ended March 31, 2025, an increase of 18% compared to RMB25,595 million in the same quarter of 2024. Overall revenue excluding Alibaba-consolidated subsidiaries increased by 17% year-over-year, primarily driven by an even faster public cloud revenue growth, including the increasing adoption of AI-related products.
Contacts
Investor Relations Contact
Lydia Liu
Head of Investor Relations
Alibaba Group Holding Limited
[email protected]
Media Contacts
Cathy Yan
[email protected]
Ivy Ke
[email protected]
