Alibaba's profit nearly vanished but cloud revenue surged on AI demand |
Alibaba's profit nearly vanished but cloud revenue surged on AI demand
The Chinese tech giant posted adjusted net income of just $12 million in the March quarter, while cloud revenue rose 38% on AI demand
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Adjusted net income for the January-to-March period came to just 86 million yuan ($12 million), according to The Wall Street Journal — a figure that, compared with the 29.85 billion yuan recorded on the same basis twelve months prior, amounts to a near-total erasure of profit, driven by the company's aggressive spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and its quick commerce delivery push.
Heavy spending on technology and delivery has eaten into what that figure — one that removes share-based compensation, investment gains and losses, and similar adjustments — is designed to capture: the earnings power of the company's core operations.........