Alibaba.com sees profit fall 20% in third quarter

Alibaba.com saw its third-quarter net profit decline by 20.4% to US$34.6 million but still has its sights set on expansion into the US, the South China Morning Post reported. The company partly blamed the losses on rising marketing expenditure – total operating expenses climbed 60.5% to US$2.45 million for the quarter – as it tried to boost global brand awareness. Alibaba.com’s “gold supplier” members, who pay a fee to appear on the site, grew by 45.3% year-on-year to reach 578,901. Alibaba.com CEO David Wei said he was “cautiously optimistic” for next year and expects limited quarter-on-quarter growth for the first three months of 2010. He added that the company is looking for partners to launch full-scale operations in the US, its second-largest market. Alibaba.com also bought business-management software division Alisoft for US$30.5 million and paid US$79.1 million for a controlling stake in HiChina Web Solutions.