Alibaba Group's sales soar to four-year high on free-spending ways

Shares of Alibaba rose 3.4 per cent to $183.89 at 9:39 am in New York as investors cheered the result, plus more than $3 billion in new funding for its newly acquired food delivery arm

Alibaba Group reported its fastest pace of growth in more than four years by wringing more revenue from newer arenas such as cloud computing and entertainment, avoiding the disappointments that hit rival tech giants.
 

Billionaire Chairman Jack Ma’s free-spending ways helped the e-commerce heavyweight side-step a Chinese economic slowdown and best its rivals this earnings season. Arch-foe Tencent posted its biggest profit drop in a decade after it ran afoul of regulatory tangles, while internet stalwarts from Facebook to Twitter grappled with fundamental issues such as waning user growth.  

Shares of Alibaba rose 3.4 per cent to $183.89 at 9:39 am