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Alibaba’s New York listed shares have more than doubled since the start of the year. Photo: Bloomberg

Alibaba’s value tops US$470 billion, briefly passing Amazon as world’s most valuable merchant

Technology

Alibaba Group briefly unseated Amazon.com as the world’s most valuable online retailer in US trading on Tuesday.

Shares of the Chinese e-commerce company rose as much as 1.3 per cent to an intraday high of US$184.46 in the New York morning session, giving it a market value of US$472.4 billion and surpassing Amazon’s market cap of US$470 billion.

The stock trimmed the gain to end the day up 0.6 per cent at US$183.12, valuing Alibaba at US$469 billion, while Amazon’s shares fell 0.4 per cent to US$987.20, capitalising the company at US$474.2 billion.

SCMP Graphics
Strong earnings growth has enabled Alibaba to close in on Amazon in terms of market capitalisation. Second-quarter earnings for the Chinese online retailer surged 94 per cent from a year earlier, while Amazon’s quarterly earnings dropped 77 per cent.

Amazon’s market value overtook Alibaba in July 2015 and has held the lead over its Chinese rival since then.

Alibaba is now the world’s sixth biggest company by market cap, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Hangzhou-headquartered company is also Asia’s largest, followed by Tencent Holdings with a market cap of US$424.8 billion.

Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Amazon’s lead over Alibaba in terms of market capitalisation has diminished sharply since June. Photo: Reuters
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