BABA vs ZH
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Zhihu Inc., side by side — 7 fiscal years reported in CNY, drawn from SEC filings.
Most recent reported year
| Metric | BABA | ZH |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | CNY 1.0T | CNY 2.7B |
| Net income | CNY 103.6B | CNY -195.2M |
| Gross margin | 39.8% | 59.9% |
| Net margin | 10.0% | −7.1% |
| Return on equity | 10.0% | −4.9% |
| Diluted EPS | CNY 5.50 | −CNY 0.80 |
| Dividend / share | · | · |
| Payout ratio | 32.6% | · |
| Free cash flow | · | CNY -364.9M |
| Equity | CNY 1.1T | CNY 3.8B |
| Net debt / equity | · | −0.88× |
| Current ratio | 1.28× | 3.73× |
| Revenue CAGR 5y | 7.4% | 15.2% |
| Profit CAGR 5y | −7.2% | · |
BABA bills 372.4× the revenue of ZH, and ZH closed the last reported year at a loss.
The stronger figure of the pair is set in bold. That is arithmetic, not a recommendation — this page does not pick a winner. "·" marks a figure not available in our data.
7 years side by side
| Fiscal year | BABA | ZH |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | CNY 1.0T | CNY 2.7B |
| FY2024 | CNY 996.3B | CNY 3.6B |
| FY2023 | CNY 941.2B | CNY 4.2B |
| FY2022 | CNY 868.7B | CNY 3.6B |
| FY2021 | CNY 853.1B | CNY 3.0B |
| FY2020 | CNY 717.3B | CNY 1.4B |
| FY2019 | CNY 509.7B | CNY 670.5M |
Bottom line
| Fiscal year | BABA | ZH |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | CNY 103.6B | CNY -195.2M |
| FY2024 | CNY 130.1B | CNY -169.0M |
| FY2023 | CNY 80.0B | CNY -839.5M |
| FY2022 | CNY 72.8B | CNY -1.6B |
| FY2021 | CNY 62.2B | CNY -1.3B |
| FY2020 | CNY 150.6B | CNY -517.5M |
| FY2019 | CNY 149.4B | CNY -1.0B |
7 fiscal years
| Fiscal year | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | +CNY 1,020,920,996,000 | BABA |
| FY2024 | +CNY 992,748,095,000 | BABA |
| FY2023 | +CNY 936,969,111,000 | BABA |
| FY2022 | +CNY 865,082,081,000 | BABA |
| FY2021 | +CNY 850,102,676,000 | BABA |
| FY2020 | +CNY 715,936,804,000 | BABA |
| FY2019 | +CNY 509,040,489,000 | BABA |
BABA has reported the higher revenue in every one of these 7 fiscal years. The gap has widened since the earliest year compared.
7 of 14 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.
7 fiscal years
| Fiscal year | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | +17.1 pp | BABA |
| FY2024 | +17.3 pp | BABA |
| FY2023 | +27.6 pp | BABA |
| FY2022 | +51.3 pp | BABA |
| FY2021 | +49.4 pp | BABA |
| FY2020 | +58.3 pp | BABA |
| FY2019 | +177.3 pp | BABA |
BABA has kept the higher net margin in every one of these 7 fiscal years.
7 of 14 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.
Standard deviation, each side
ZH's net margin has been more volatile than BABA's over the 7 comparable fiscal years — 45.8 percentage points of standard deviation against 7.4.
7 of 14 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.
Year by year
BABA led in net margin in every one of the 7 comparable fiscal years — a structural lead, not a recent swing.
7 of 14 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.
Standard deviation, each side
ZH's return on equity has been more volatile than BABA's over the 4 comparable fiscal years — 8.9 percentage points of standard deviation against 2.2.
4 of 14 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.
Year by year
BABA led in return on equity in every one of the 4 comparable fiscal years — a structural lead, not a recent swing.
4 of 14 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.