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Alibaba Surging Sales Shake Off Slowing Chinese Economy

Monthly average mobile users jump 59 percent to 346 million
Shares climb as stock heads for best month since IPO

Video player cover image — Alibaba Can Move From E-Commerce to Content: Leonsis

By

Lulu Yilun Chen

October 27, 2015, 10:36 AM UTCUpdated onOctober 28, 2015, 1:15 AM UTC

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. defied China’s economic slowdown by capturing the shift of consumer spending to smartphones and expanding advertising on mobile devices.

Alibaba had 346 million monthly average users on mobile devices in the quarter ended Sept. 30, up 59 percent from a year earlier. The e-commerce company is making more money on each mobile purchase by offering better advertising opportunities for merchants. Alibaba recorded 2.39 percent of the value of its mobile transactions as revenue in the quarter, up from 1.87 percent a year ago.