Online giant's Q4 earnings soar after sales surge

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Thursday said its profit rose 27 percent from a year ago in the fourth quarter, as the e-commerce giant attracted more users and reported a continuing surge in online sales.

The company said its profit was 19.11 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) in the last quarter of 2015. During the annual Nov 11 online shopping festival this year, the company clocked transaction revenue of 91.2 billion yuan in the 24-hour period.

The record-breaking sales event helped Tmall, the business-to-customer platform of Alibaba, post net growth of 126 billion yuan in gross merchandise volume. According to its financial report, Alibaba's revenue jumped 32 percent year-on-year to 34.54 billion yuan in the fourth quarter.