(Yicai) Feb. 8 -- Shares of Alibaba Group Holding sank after the Chinese e-commerce giant said its net profit narrowed 77 percent in the December quarter.

Alibaba [HKG: 9988] was trading down 6.5 percent at HKD70 (USD8.95) as of 3.20 p.m. in Hong Kong today. Its New York-listed stock [NYSE: BABA] fell 5.9 percent to USD73.64 yesterday.

Net profit was CNY10.7 billion (USD1.5 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31, versus CNY35 billion a year earlier, mainly because of mark-to-market changes in equity investments and a decrease in operational income due to impairment, the Hangzhou-based company announced in its latest earnings report yesterday.

"We delivered a solid quarter as we are executing our focused strategies across the organization," Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu said. "Our top priority is to reignite the growth of our core businesses, e-commerce, and cloud computing.

"We will step up investment to improve users' core experiences to drive growth in Taobao and Tmall Group and strengthen market leadership in the coming year," Wu added. "We will also focus our resources on developing public cloud products and sustaining the strong growth momentum in international commerce business."

Alibaba's revenue rose 5 percent to CNY260.3 billion (USD36.7 billion) in the December quarter from a year earlier.

Revenue from Taobao and Tmall Group grew 2 percent to CNY129.1 billion. Online gross merchandise volume achieved healthy growth, with the number of transacting buyers and order volume increasing significantly, partly offset by a decrease in average order value.

Revenue from Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group surged 44 percent to CNY28.5 billion in the period, with the number of combined orders up 24 percent. Alibaba's Digital Media and Entertainment Group racked in CNY5 billion in revenue, up 18 percent.

Revenue from Cainiao Smart Logistics Network and Local Services Group, which includes takeaway platform Ele.me and navigation platform Amap, rose 24 percent and 13 percent, respectively, to CNY28.5 billion and CNY15.2 billion.

As Alibaba's earnings underperformed, the company also announced it will extend its share repurchase plan by USD25 billion to USD65 billion, and delay the deadline to March 2027. Alibaba will thus have USD35.3 billion available to buy back its shares in the next three fiscal years.

Editor: Futura Costaglione