• Reuters, Friday, November 25, 2011 10:53 AM

Showing that no market is immune to the West’s dept issues, Alibaba.com just posted its slowest growth in nearly two years. As Reuters reports, China's largest e-commerce firm -- which links Chinese businesses looking to sell their goods to overseas buyers -- recorded an uninspired 11.9% rise in net profit for the third quarter, “with the company raising concerns due to a weak trade outlook stemming from debt woes in Europe and the United States.”

Analysts attributed the quarterly results, which missed analyst forecasts, to a weak macroeconomic climate that led to a slower pace of customer additions. Also, Alibaba Group, parent of Alibaba.com, experienced a series of protests and dissatisfaction from its clients and suppliers.

In response, "They are focusing on the quality of suppliers and also improving the overall quality of products that they are offering, such as some of the newer services to help buyers to check the quality of products before they are shipped," Dick Wei, an analyst with JPMorgan, told Reuters. "If you look at customer growth, there are no new initiatives and growth is not that top priority at this point," Wei added. "Revenue will pick up again later in 2012 or 2013."

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