JD.com reported first-quarter revenue of 315.7 billion yuan on 4.9% year-on-year growth for the quarter ended March, helped in part by Chinese government subsidies for electronic goods. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Net income at JD.com fell 53% from a year earlier to 5.1 billion yuan, but the company returned to profit after a loss in the previous quarter. JD.com said user activity improved, with Eddie Wu Yongming saying its "user base and shopping frequency continued to expand robustly, with annual active customers hitting a new record". [2, 3]
Alibaba reported March-quarter revenue of about 243.4 billion yuan, up about 3% year on year, as its cloud computing arm posted faster growth. Cloud revenue rose 38% to about 41.6 billion yuan, while AI-related product revenue reached 8.97 billion yuan and had logged triple-digit growth for 11 straight quarters. Eddie Wu said Alibaba’s full-stack AI investments had "progressed from incubation to commercialisation at scale". [5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
Alibaba’s core profitability weakened sharply as it spent more on AI, cloud infrastructure, semiconductors and quick commerce. The company said adjusted EBITA was 5.1 billion yuan in the March quarter, and Toby Xu said Alibaba would "continue to invest in AI plus cloud to strengthen our competitive advantages". [6, 10, 9]
Both JD.com and Alibaba benefited from a new round of Chinese government subsidies aimed at encouraging consumers to trade in electronic goods. The policy helped support demand even as the two e-commerce groups faced pressure from competition and higher spending. [1, 5, 4]
