Alibaba Group

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Alibaba Group Holding Limited
Native name
阿里巴巴集团控股有限公司
Company typePublic
ISINUS01609W1027
IndustryTechnology company
Founded28 June 1999; 24 years ago (1999-06-28)[1]
Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
FounderJack Ma
HeadquartersNo. 969 West Wen Yi Road[2],
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Products
Services
RevenueIncrease CN¥853.062 billion[5] (US$134.567 billion, 2022)
Decrease CN¥69.638 billion[5] (US$10.985 billion, 2022)
Decrease CN¥47.079 billion[5] (US$7.427 billion, 2022)
Total assetsIncrease CN¥1.696 trillion[5] (US$267.467 billion, 2022)
Total equityDecrease CN¥1.073 trillion[5] (US$169.189 billion, 2022)
OwnerSoftBank Group
Number of employees
254,941[5] (31 March 2022)
SubsidiariesSee companies and affiliated entitiesTemplate:Broken anchor
WebsiteOfficial website Edit this at Wikidata
Footnotes / references
[6]

Alibaba Group Holding Limited, known as Alibaba (Chinese: 阿里巴巴), is a Chinese multinational technology company.. They started on 28 June 1999, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Alibaba focuses on online shopping, retail, the internet, and technology. They help people buy and sell things online like person-to-person, business-to-customer, and business-to-business sales. They also offer digital media, entertainment, shipping, and cloud computing services. Alibaba owns and runs many companies worldwide in various industries.

On 19 September 2014, Alibaba went public on the New York Stock Exchange, raising $25 billion. This made Alibaba worth $231 billion, which was the biggest initial public offering (IPO) in history at that time.[7] It's now among the top 10 most valuable companies[8] and ranked the 31st-largest public company globally on the Forbes Global 2000 2020 list.[9] In January 2018, Alibaba became the second Asian company valued at over $500 billion, following its competitor Tencent.[10] As of 2022, Alibaba is the ninth-highest-valued brand globally.[11]

Alibaba is one of the biggest retail and online shopping companies worldwide. In 2020, it was also ranked as the fifth-largest artificial intelligence company.[12] It's also a major venture capital firm and investment company globally and the second-largest financial services group after Visa through its financial technology arm, Ant Group.[source?] The company runs the largest online marketplaces for business-to-business (Alibaba.com), person-to-person (Taobao), and business-to-customer (Tmall) sales.[13] Alibaba has been entering the media business, increasing yearly profits. It also made a big record on China's Singles' Day in 2018, the world's largest online and offline shopping day.[14]

History[change | change source]

Early Years[change | change source]

On 28 June 1999, Jack Ma and 17 friends started Alibaba.com, an online business marketplace, in Ma's apartment in Hangzhou, China. In October of the same year, Alibaba got a $25 million investment from Investor AB,[15] Goldman Sachs, and SoftBank. The goal of Alibaba.com was to improve online shopping in China, especially for small and medium-sized businesses, and to help Chinese products sell globally while dealing with challenges from the World Trade Organization. By 2002, Alibaba.com started making a profit. Jack Ma wanted to make global online shopping better, so Alibaba launched other services like Taobao Marketplace, Alipay, Alimama.com, and Lynx from 2003 onward.[16][17]

When eBay announced its arrival in China in 2003, Jack Ma saw them as competition and said no to eBay buying Taobao. Alibaba's companies did better than eBay in China by using existing technology, gaining trust, and offering more services even if they didn't initially make money. Eventually, Alibaba's Taobao Marketplace beat eBay in China, and eBay had to close its China website. After six years, eBay and Alibaba broke even.[16][18][19]

Expansion[change | change source]

In 2005, Yahoo! invested $1 billion in Alibaba, buying a 40% company share.[16][19] When Alibaba went public, Yahoo! made $10 billion from their investment alone.[18][20] In 2012, China Investment Corporation led a group of Chinese investors to buy Yahoo!'s 40% share in Alibaba.[21]: 130 

In 2013, Alibaba planned to open traditional stores with Wanda Group.[22] They also bought a 25% share in Intime Retail, a Chinese department store chain, in early 2014.[23] In 2017, Alibaba and Intime's founder agreed to take the store chain private for $2.6 billion.[24]

In April 2014, Alibaba invested in Lyft, a ride-sharing company,[25] and bought a 50% share of Guangzhou Evergrande F.C., a soccer team.[26] In September 2014, Alibaba went public with the biggest IPO in US history, raising $21.8 billion.[27][28][29]

Alibaba was sued in California in 2015 by investors alleging Securities Act violations. The company settled in 2018 for $75 million.[30][31]

In 2017, Alibaba and the International Olympic Committee announced an $800 million sponsorship deal for the Olympic Games.[19][32] In 2018, Jack Ma announced he would step down as chairman to focus on charity work.[33]

Listing[change | change source]

In May 2019, Bloomberg reported that Alibaba might raise $20 billion with a second listing in Hong Kong.[34] In November 2019, they raised $12.9 billion in this listing, the year's largest offering.[35] On 10 September 2019, Jack Ma stepped down as chairman, and Daniel Zhang took over.[source?]

In November 2020, The Wall Street Journal said President Xi Jinping stopped Jack Ma's Ant Group IPO.[36] This led to new regulations on tech companies by the Chinese government. Alibaba's stock price dropped in December 2020 due to an antitrust investigation. The government fined Alibaba $2.8 billion in April 2021 for anti-competitive practices.[source?]

During the Singles' Day sales in November 2021, Alibaba received a record $114.4 billion orders.[37] In July 2022, the SEC said Alibaba could be delisted from U.S. stock exchanges if its books weren't examined by 2024.[38]

In December 2022, a Chinese state-owned enterprise invested in two Alibaba subsidiaries controlling Youku and UCWeb.[39]

Restructuring[change | change source]

In March 2023, Alibaba announced a restructuring plan called "1+6+N". They divided their business into six separate parts: Cloud Intelligence Group, Taobao and Tmall Group, Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, Local Services Group, Alibaba International Digital Commerce, and the Digital Media and Entertainment group.[40][41] Each part would have its CEO and board and could raise money and list on the market.[42] Alibaba also created two new committees under this plan.[43] The Wall Street Journal said Jack Ma and CEO Daniel Zhang discussed this plan while Ma was away.[44]

In September 2023, Cainiao Smart Logistics Network Ltd., Alibaba's logistics arm, applied for an IPO in Hong Kong, possibly becoming one of Alibaba's first units to go public.[45]


References[change | change source]

  1. ↑ "Sec Form F-1 REGISTRATION STATEMENT Alibaba Group Holding Limited". Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  2. ↑ "Our offices". Alibaba Group. Archived from the original on 19 December 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  3. ↑ "Alibaba Group Holding Limited". Alibaba Group. Archived from the original on 21 May 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  4. ↑ "Beware: Alibaba IPO isn't really selling Alibaba". Alibaba Group. Archived from the original on 14 June 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 "Alibaba Group Annual Report 2022" (PDF). alibabagroup.com. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  6. ↑ "Alibaba Group Announces March Quarter 2020 and Full Fiscal Year 2020 Results" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  7. ↑ Baker, Lianna B.; Toonkel, Jessica; Vlastelica, Ryan (19 September 2014). Orlofsky, Steve; Adler, Leslie (eds.). "Alibaba surges 38 percent on massive demand in market debut". Reuters. Archived from the original on 13 February 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  8. ↑ "Beijing's battle to control its homegrown tech giants". Today. 24 September 2017. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  9. ↑ Murphy, Andrea (13 May 2020). "Global 2000". Forbes. Archived from the original on 21 December 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  10. ↑ JAO, NICOLE (25 January 2018). "Alibaba market value hits the $500 billion valuation mark". TechNode. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  11. ↑ "Revealed: the Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable Global Brands 2022". www.kantar.com. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  12. ↑ Patrizio and James Maguire, Andy (2 July 2020). "Top 100 Artificial Intelligence Companies 2020". datamation.com. TechnologyAdvice. Archived from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  13. ↑ "Alibaba's Nine Biggest Competitors in Asia". Global From Asia. 23 August 2018. Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  14. ↑ Pham, Sherisse (10 November 2018). "Alibaba Singles Day sales top $30 billion". CNN. Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
  15. ↑ Andersson, Klas (9 May 2014). "Investors mäktiga miljardmiss i kinesiskt megabolag". Svenska Dagbladet.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Popovic, Stevan (4 May 2014). "Jack Ma: The man leading the Chinese e-commerce market". Hot Topics. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  17. ↑ "Alibaba Group". www.alibabagroup.com. Archived from the original on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "The Rags-to-Riches Life Story of Alibaba Founder Jack Ma". Inc.com. 2 March 2017. Archived from the original on 3 March 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Chen, Lilu Yilun (19 November 2017). "Quicktake - Alibaba". www.bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 17 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  20. ↑ "Yahoo Could Make Nearly $10 Billion On Alibaba IPO". businessinsider.com. 19 September 2014. Archived from the original on 22 September 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  21. ↑ Liu, Zongyuan Zoe (2023). Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances its Global Ambitions. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. doi:10.2307/jj.2915805. ISBN 9780674271913. JSTOR jj.2915805. S2CID 259402050.
  22. ↑ Hsu, Alex (3 July 2013). "Alibaba to Open Brick and Mortar Stores in Wanda Plazas Across China". BrightWire News. Archived from the original on 13 October 2013.
  23. ↑ Mozur, Paul; Fung, Esther (31 March 2014). "Alibaba to Pay $692 Million for Stake in Intime Retail". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 15 January 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  24. ↑ Lin, Liza; Becker, Nathan (10 January 2017). "Alibaba Bags Chinese Retailer Intime in $2.6 Billion Deal". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 10 September 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  25. ↑ "Lyft Raises $250 Million From Coatue, Alibaba, And Third Point To Expand Internationally". TechCrunch. 2 April 2014. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  26. ↑ "Alibaba Buys Into Soccer Team After Billionaires' Drinks". www.bloomberg.com. 5 June 2014. Archived from the original on 17 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  27. ↑ Zhang, Yuejiao (2017). "Assessing Attitudes Toward Content and Design in Alibaba's Dry Goods Business Infographics". Journal of Business and Technical Communication. 31: 30–62. doi:10.1177/1050651916667530. S2CID 64309912.
  28. ↑ Demos, Telis; Jarzemsky, Matt (18 September 2014). "Alibaba's IPO Priced at $68 a Share". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 26 October 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  29. ↑ "Alibaba prices at $68, becomes top U.S. IPO". USA Today. 18 September 2014. Archived from the original on 15 January 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  30. ↑ "Alibaba Enters into a $75 Million Settlement Deal; Shares Climbed 2% in Pre-market". capitalwatch.com. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  31. ↑ "Alibaba settlement" (PDF). 11 January 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  32. ↑ "Alibaba Olympics Sponsorship Deal Said to Be Worth $800 Million". www.bloomberg.com. 19 January 2017. Archived from the original on 17 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  33. ↑ "China will struggle to produce another Jack Ma". The Economist. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  34. ↑ "Alibaba Weighs Raising $20 Billion Through A Second Listing". Bloomberg.com. 27 May 2019. Archived from the original on 29 May 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  35. ↑ "Alibaba shares surge in Hong Kong debut, world's largest listing so far in 2019". CNBC. 25 November 2019.
  36. ↑ Jing Yang and Lingling Wei (12 November 2020). "China's President Xi Jinping Personally Scuttled Jack Ma's Ant IPO". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 13 November 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  37. ↑ "Alibaba takes in record $114.4 billion in Singles' Day sales". The Straits Times. 12 November 2021. ISSN 0585-3923. Archived from the original on 12 November 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  38. ↑ Chan, Michelle (29 July 2022). "SEC Adds Alibaba to List of Chinese Companies Facing Delisting". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  39. ↑ "China acquires 'golden shares' in two Alibaba units". Reuters. 13 January 2023. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  40. ↑ "Alibaba to overhaul China's biggest tech conglomerate into 6 units to reignite their entrepreneurial mojo as 'start-ups'". Yahoo Finance. South China Morning Post. 28 March 2023. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  41. ↑ Huang, Raffaele; Leong, Clarence (28 March 2023). "Alibaba to Split Into Six Groups and Explore IPOs in a Departure From Jack Ma Era". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  42. ↑ Yordan. "Alibaba to restructure as six separate companies". GSMArena.com. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  43. ↑ Yang, Ivy (1 June 2023). "Can Alibaba's six-ring circus succeed?". The China Project. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  44. ↑ Yang, Jing; Lu, Shen (30 March 2023). "Jack Ma Engineered Alibaba's Breakup From Overseas". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  45. ↑ "Alibaba's Logistics Arm Files for $1 Billion-Plus IPO". Bloomberg.com. 26 September 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2023.

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