What is a profit bridge?

A profit bridge (also called a waterfall bridge or PoP reconciliation) decomposes the period-over-period change in net income into its drivers — revenue, cost of goods sold, operating expenses, other income/expense, and taxes. Each bar shows the signed contribution of that line item to the total change, and the bars sum exactly to the period-over-period net income change.

How does the bridge reconciliation identity work?

The identity is: Prior Net Income + Σ(drivers) = Current Net Income. Each driver equals the signed change in that income-statement line weighted by its economic sign: revenue increases add to net income, cost increases subtract from it. A small "Other Items" residual absorbs minority interest, discontinued operations, and rounding, so the identity holds exactly.

How is the prior period selected?

For TTM, the prior period is the trailing twelve months ending one year earlier. For fiscal years, the prior period is the immediately preceding fiscal year. For quarters, the prior period is the same quarter one year earlier (year-over-year). Periods without a comparable prior are excluded from the bridge period dropdown, so the chart is always available for the selected period.

What drove Alibaba (BABA) net income change vs TTM through Q1 2025?

Alibaba's net income decreased by 26.5B CNY versus TTM through Q1 2025. The bridge above decomposes that change line by line — revenue, cost of revenue, operating expenses, other items, and taxes — so each driver's contribution is visible and the total reconciles exactly to the reported change.

What does "NI up while Revenue down" mean on the bridge?

When net income rises despite lower revenue, the cost drivers explain the gap: the company reduced costs (COGS, operating expenses, or taxes) by more than revenues fell. The bridge makes this visible — positive bars from cost reductions outweigh the negative bar from the revenue decline. This pattern is common during restructuring, margin-expansion initiatives, or mix shifts toward higher-margin products.

FX caveat: what does the USD toggle show for non-USD reporters?

In USD mode, each line item is converted using the period-average exchange rate for its respective period. This means the revenue and cost drivers commingle the FX translation effect with underlying operating changes — a revenue increase in USD mode for a non-USD reporter may partly reflect a weaker reporting currency rather than higher unit volumes. For FX-neutral analysis, use the reported-currency view.

What are "Other Items" on the bridge?

The "Other Items" residual step absorbs the difference between the sum of the modelled drivers (revenue, COGS, operating expenses, other income/expense, taxes) and the reported change in net income. This residual is typically small (< 1% of net income) and arises from minority interest, discontinued operations, extraordinary items, or rounding in reported figures. When it is material, it signals that one or more line items falls outside the standard income-statement categories.

Alibaba (BABA) Profit Bridge

Revenue YoY

+2.74%

Operating Income YoY

-57.46%

Net Income YoY

-20.40%

Net Margin Δ

-296 bps

Net income bridge for Alibaba (BABA) — TTM through Q1 2026 vs TTM through Q1 2025

Δ Net income: -$26.5B-20.40%

Profit bridge breakdown for Alibaba (BABA) — TTM through Q1 2026 vs TTM through Q1 2025

Driver	Contribution	% of Δ
Prior Net Income	$18.1B	—
Revenue	$6.13B	+23.1%
Cost of Revenue	-$3.97B	-15.0%
Operating Expenses	-$13.4B	-50.5%
Other Income / Expense	$7.38B	+27.8%
Income Tax	$682M	+2.6%
Other Items	-$356M	-1.3%
Net Income	$14.6B	—

Prior Net Income$18.1B
Revenue$6.13B
Cost of Revenue-$3.97B
Operating Expenses-$13.4B
Other Income / Expense$7.38B
Income Tax$682M
Other Items-$356M
Net Income$14.6B

Identity residual: -$23B (delta between driver sum and reported ΔNI)

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Net income bridge for Alibaba (BABA) — TTM through Q1 2026 vs TTM through Q1 2025

Profit bridge breakdown for Alibaba (BABA) — TTM through Q1 2026 vs TTM through Q1 2025

Frequently asked questions

What is a profit bridge?

How does the bridge reconciliation identity work?

How is the prior period selected?

What drove Alibaba (BABA) net income change vs TTM through Q1 2025?

What does "NI up while Revenue down" mean on the bridge?

FX caveat: what does the USD toggle show for non-USD reporters?

What are "Other Items" on the bridge?

Data & methodology

What is this view?

How is the bridge calculated?

What is the sign convention?

How is the prior period selected?

FX translation effect (USD mode)

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