Alibaba beats estimates with online sales growth

Magical results: Some of the icons for Alibaba applications such as Youku Tudou, AliExpress, Taobao, Alipay and AliCloud are seen on an iPad. Alibaba’s stock price is up by over 81 this year, lifted by steady increases in revenue. — Bloomberg

BEIJING: Alibaba, China’s top e-commerce firm, beat analyst’s estimates with a 56% rise in first-quarter revenue, driven by growth in online sales which make up most of its business.

Yesterday’s results show that Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, one of Asia’s most valuable companies, is benefiting from more and more Chinese buying an increasing proportion of everything from food to clothing to luxury items online.