Alibaba 2007 profit soars 340%

Alibaba.com.Ltd<1688>, owner of China's largest B2B website Alibaba.com, saw its 2007 net profit soared 340% year-on-year to stand at RMB 967.8 million (US$136.6 million), thanks to the increasing online advertising spurred by the country's fastest economic growth in 13 years, said the company in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Sales jumped 58.6% to RMB 2.16 billion, boosted mainly by the surging number of payment users, which amounted to 305,545, up 39.5% over a year ago.

Excluding spending on its stock-incentive plan, the Hangzhou-based company's net from B2B business should be much higher. The company had a 67% share of China's B2B Internet market as of the end of last September.

Alibaba will speed up expanding in domestic small and medium enterprises, as well as in overseas markets, said CEO Wei Zhe, adding that the company plans to launch a joint venture this year with Japan's SoftBank to tap into the Japanese market.

Its shares plunged a record of 21% to HK$12.20 in Hong Kong yesterday.