(MENAFN) Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, said that it has recorded a 40 percent jump in its sales during the October-December period as it reached USD4.21 billion, but that its net profit plunged 28 percent to USD964 million, Gulf News reported.
Alibaba said that despite China being its biggest market with sales of USD3.429 billion due to the company operating the country's most popular online shopping platform Taobao, it is coming under a powerful scrutiny and attack from a Chinese regulator.
The State Administration for Industry & Commerce (SAIC), charged with maintaining market order in China, accused Alibaba of allowing illegal operations to happen on its online shopping websites, adding that it has conducted a survey on Taobao that found only about a third of products sampled to be genuine.
"We believe the flawed approach taken in the report and the tactic of releasing a so-called white paper specifically targeting us was so unfair that we felt compelled to take the extraordinary step of preparing a formal complaint to the SAIC," Alibaba Vice-Chairman said.
Meanwhile, Alibaba, which has been investing in apps to attract users of mobile devices like smartphones, said that the revenue generated from these apps has surged 448 percent to USD1.03 billion during the July-October period, making up 42 percent of total sales, a jump compared with 36 percent in the previous quarter and from 20 percent one a year ago.
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