“Alibaba had a strong quarter with significant growth across our key operating metrics,” said Jonathan Lu, Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group. We grew revenue, gross merchandise volume and annual active buyers, and we expanded our unrivaled leadership position in mobile.” Lu continued, “We extended our strong leadership position in mobile to 289 million monthly active users on our mobile e-commerce apps in the month of March and 49 billion US dollars in mobile GMV during the March quarter. Our business continues to perform well, and our results highlight both the strength of our ecosystem and the strong foundation we have for sustainable future growth in China, and beyond.”

“Alibaba performed very well, growing revenue 45% year-on-year”, complemented Maggie Wu, Chief Financial Officer of Alibaba Group. “We continue to execute our growth strategy and focus on long-term value creation. The fundamental strength of our business gives us the confidence to invest in new initiatives, add new users, improve customer experience and expand our products and services.”

The China-based giant also announced changes in the management team, with Daniel Zhang, Chief Operating Officer of Alibaba Group to become CEO of Alibaba Group. This change was effective from the 10th of May onwards.  Jonathan Lu will work with Mr. Zhang to ensure a successful transition in the coming months. Mr. Lu will remain on the board of directors of Alibaba Group as Vice Chairman.

This was announced as a “wider effort to bring younger leaders into the company”. Mr. Zhang joined the company in 2007 after serving as the Chief Financial Officer of a US-listed Chinese online-games company, Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd.

In the meantime, it was made public that Alibaba has taken a stake of more than 9% in US online retailer Zulily Inc.. According to info included in the securities filling, the stake is valued at more than 150 million US dollars. Zulily, the Seattle-based website, sells clothing and other merchandise mostly aimed at moms. It offers deep discounts in flash sales that typically have time limits.