Alibaba revenue beats expectations

Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Wednesday reported a 55 percent rise in second-quarter revenue, beating analyst estimates, on the back of core online sales and strong media and entertainment growth.

Revenue reached 34.3 billion yuan ($5.07 billion) in the three months to Sept. 30, compared with the 33.9 billion yuan average of 24 analyst estimates surveyed by Thomson Reuters.