Alibaba Group Holding reported better-than-expected earnings for the June quarter, even as weakened consumption and economic headwinds in China crimped the profitability of the world’s largest e-commerce retailer. Net income fell 50 per cent year-on-year to 22.74 billion yuan (US$3.4 billion) under global accounting standards, the Hangzhou-based company said, better than the 17.8 billion yuan expected by 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Sales stagnated at 205.56 billion yuan, compared with 205.74 billion yuan a year ago, beating Bloomberg’s consensus estimate of 203.36 billion yuan. Daniel Zhang Yong, chairman and chief executive of Alibaba, said gross merchandise volumes (GMVs) – a...