Chinese Alibaba eyes US treasure trove

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01/11/2007

With the world scrambling to invest in the lucrative Chinese market, Jack Ma’s plan to capture a segment of the US market with his business-to-business e-commerce site “Alibaba” appears to be well-timed.  It is being touted as the biggest internet IPO since Google, as Alibaba prepares to be listed this month on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Founded by Ma from his Hangzhou apartment in 1999 it represents the first wave of Chinese web entrepreneurs venturing out to Western markets. Alibaba International (the English-language site) hosts traders from more than 200 countries.  Another division of Alibaba: “TaoBao”, a consumer site now free to all users, is the Chinese version of eBay.


 

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