Dive Brief:
- Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba released its second quarter earnings Wednesday.
- Sales for the quarter reached $2.54 billion, up 46% from a year earlier. Profit almost tripled in the quarter to $1.99 billion.
- The company is expected to sell around a 12% stake in its U.S. IPO, which is predicted to be one of the largest debuts in history.
Dive Insight:
These optimistic earnings will most likely increase the excitement surrounding Alibaba's IPO, expected sometime next month. Along with these impressive results, Alibaba also reported a 38% gain in monthly active users on mobile over the past six months to 632 million. Mobile gross merchandise volume was up, representing 32.8% of overall sales, up from 12% a year ago. With retailers narrowing their focus on the mobile user, Alibaba is in prime position to enter the U.S. marketplace.