Five More Things You Didn’t Know about Alibaba Group

Alibaba founder Jack Ma at the NYSE

Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a publicly-traded group of Internet-based e-commerce businesses, including business-to-business online web portals, online retail and payment services, a shopping search engine, and data-centric cloud computing services. Founded in 1999 by current executive chairman Jack Ma (pictured above) and headquartered in Hangzhou, China, Alibaba Group began as a business-to-business portal to connect Chinese manufacturers with overseas buyers. Last month, Alibaba Group made worldwide news with its record-breaking initial public offering (IPO) of $25 billion and became one of the most talked about companies in the financial world. The worldwide public e-commerce holding company has nine major subsidiaries, including Alibaba Cloud Computing, Alibaba.com Ltd., Alisoft Holding Limited, China Yahoo!, Taobao.com, and Tmall.com. With just under 27,000 employees, a revenue of $7.5 billion, and a market cap of $221.4 billion, Alibaba Group is one of the world’s largest and most valuable companies–Alibaba currently serves more than 79 million members from more than 240 countries. Read on to discover five things you might not have known about Alibaba Group.

5. Brick and Mortar Stores

According to an Alibaba Group senior executive Li Chuan, the solely e-commerce company is planning to expand by opening traditional “brick and mortar” retail outlets in partnership with Chinese real estate company Dalian Wanda Group, founded in 1988 by Wang Jianlin who is now one of the richest people in China. Alibaba Group also purchased a 25 percent stake in Hong Kong’s Intime Retail earlier this year.

4. Jack Ma

Jack Ma is a Chinese entrepreneur, philanthropist, and Alibaba Group’s founder, former CEO, and current Executive Chairman. Born in Hangzhou, China, Ma graduated Hangzhou Teacher’s Institute in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in English and went on to attend Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. A few years later, Ma went on to found China’s first Internet-based company, China Yellowpages, and founded Alibaba Group in 1999 when the familiar Alibaba name struck him in a San Francisco coffee shop.

3. Taobao

The Taobao Marketplace, or simply Taobao, is one of Alibaba Group’s most popular and profitable subsidiaries. Similar to eBay.com, Taobao is China’s largest consumer-to-consumer online shopping platform. Founded in 2003, the online shopping website offers a variety of products for retail sale and was the third most visited site in China last October. Taobao makes the majority of its revenue off of advertising.

2. AliExpress.com

Launched in 2010, AliExpress.com is an online retail service comprised mainly of small sellers offering products to online buyers. The factory-direct marketplace offers over 100 million products–from hair extensions and wigs to various consumer electronics and gadgets–and even has an AliExpress mobile application for Android and iOS devices that includes quick search, customer reviews, tracking, wish list features.

1. Record-Breaking IPO

In September of last year, Alibaba Group sought an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States after a deal could not be reached in China with Hong Kong regulators. The company made it’s market debut in September 2014–after a full year of planning–while the pricing of the IPO eventually increased to $25 billion, making it the largest IPO in history. At the time of Alibaba Group’s IPO, the company’s market value was measured at $231 billion, while its buyers weren’t purchasing actual shares of the group–foreign ownership is forbidden in China–but rather shares in a Cayman Islands shell corporation.

Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Written by Derrick Krom

Derrick is a recent graduate of Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia where he received a B.A. in English and Communication Studies. Throughout his life, Derrick has traveled the country and even got to study abroad in London, England for four amazing months. He's a guitar player, avid music fan and lover of literature, film, and all things entertainment.