Alibaba – Company Overview

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Alibaba is a multinational technology company that is based in China. It is one of the leading e-commerce companies out there. You can also call it a perfect example for a technological and retail company. The company was established back in the year 1999 by world-famous entrepreneur Jack Ma. He wanted to leverage the benefits of e-commerce and decided to come up with Alibaba. It didn’t take long for the company to become one of the well-established and widely known brands.

As of now, Alibaba is offering B2B sales services, B2C services, and C2C services. In addition to that, Alibaba has got web portables, shopping search engines, payment services, and numerous cloud computing platforms. It owns a variety of businesses located around the world, belonging to a variety of factors.

History of Alibaba

Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, got together with 17 friends and started the business operations of Alibaba back in the year 1999. This was started as a B2B marketplace website based in China. In fact, Jack Ma decided to launch Alibaba from his own apartment located in Hangzhou. 

During the first year, Alibaba received an investment worth $25 million from SoftBank and Goldman Sachs. It provided all the support that the company needed to take operations to the next level with ease. The main objective behind why Alibaba provided this investment amount was to enhance the domestic e-commerce market. Jack Ma had the vision to do it. Hence, he was able to get the most out of the investment that was provided to him. 

There were numerous small-scale and medium-scale enterprises in China struggling to expose their products to the world market. Alibaba was able to help those businesses to capture the world market and start selling the product. This is how Alibaba was launched. After several years, Jack Ma was able to experience profits being generated out of his business venture. This is where he wanted to enhance the global e-commerce system. To do that, Taobao Marketplace, Lynx, Alimama, and Alipay were launched. 

Along with the visionary leadership of Jack Ma, Alibaba was able to reach numerous great milestones throughout the past. It contributed heavily towards the overall success and development of the company as well.

Companies owned by Alibaba

As of now, Alibaba is one of the largest businesses that you can find out there in the world. It is made out of numerous companies as well as affiliated entities. Here is a list of some of the most prominent companies and affiliated entities that Alibaba owns.

  • Ecommerce platforms

Alibaba is widely known around the world for the e-commerce platforms offered. In fact, Jack Ma launched the primary business as an e-commerce platform. It was under the domain name Alibaba.com. It was eventually able to become the largest online B2B trading platform globally for small businesses.

As of now, Alibaba.com is providing three prominent services. It includes the English language portal. People in more than 200 countries out there in the world are using the services that are offered by this portal. Alibaba has a Chinese portal as well. It can be accessed through 1688.com. Domestic requirements are catered by this platform. On the other hand, people who wish to purchase products from the sellers in China in small quantities can look at AliExpress.com. All these three platforms are prevalent.

  • AI and cloud computing technologies

Along with the 10th-anniversary celebrations, Alibaba went ahead and launched an AI and cloud computing platform. This project was launched in 2009, and the first iteration was completed within the same year. One of the primary objectives of this platform was to get much-needed support and assistance with e-commerce data mining. In addition to that, the platform was used for data customization and e-commerce data processing as well. 

The research and Development centers of Alibaba are located all around the world. They include countries such as Dubai, Singapore, and Hong Kong. You can also find a center for research and development based in Silicon Valley.

Back in the year 2004, Alibaba was able to launch Alipay. It was a third-party platform, which could be used to make online payments. One of the most interesting features of this platform is that it was not associated with any transaction fees. Hence, it quickly became popular. Alipay is providing escrow services as well. In other words, buyers are provided with the freedom to release the payments to the sellers only if they are happy with the purchase.

Alipay was a secure and reliable payment system. Therefore, lots of people started using it. It can accept multiple payments, including credit card payments, debit card payments, online banking payments, and Quick Pay payments. People are provided with enhanced freedom to make their transactions along with these payment platforms.

  • Entertainment services

Alibaba is currently offering entertainment services under the brand as well. This is a new line of business that Alibaba could create. The new line of business was created under the Digital Media and Entertainment Group. It focuses heavily on content creation, ticketing, and delivery of live experiences. Hence, people are provided with the freedom to access entertainment events, such as plays, concerts, and sports events, with ease. This platform is offering support to content partners as well.

  • Internet services

Alibaba is a company that offers internet services to people who require them. They were able to develop an instant messaging platform, which streamlined the communications between online sellers and customers. By the year 1950, this platform was able to receive 50 million users worldwide. You can also find how Alibaba is offering mobile internet technology services to people in need as well. 

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