Company Overview
About Alibaba.com
Alibaba.com (HKSE:1688), a member of the Alibaba Group of companies, is the world's leading B2B e-commerce company. We provide an efficient, trusted platform connecting small and medium-size buyers and suppliers from around the world. Our international marketplace (www.alibaba.com) focuses on global importers and exporters and our China marketplace (www.alibaba.com.cn) focuses on suppliers and buyers trading domestically in China. Together our marketplaces form a community of more than 27 million registered users from over 200 countries and regions.
Our operational headquarters is based in Hangzhou in eastern China. We have field sales and marketing offices in more than 30 cities in China, Hong Kong, Switzerland and the United States. The company had more than 5,200 full-time employees as of December 31, 2007.
History & Milestones
Jack Ma, a former English teacher from the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, founded Alibaba.com with 18 other founders in 1999 as a trading platform for smaller manufacturers to sell their wares. Since then Alibaba.com has grown into the premier online marketplace for small and medium-size companies around the world to identify potential trading partners and interact with each other to conduct business online. Alibaba.com listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on November 6, 2007 and is the flagship business of the Alibaba Group.
| September 1999 | Established Alibaba Group. |
| October 2000 | Launched Gold Supplier membership to serve China exporters. |
| August 2001 | Launched International TrustPass membership to serve exporters outside of China. |
| March 2002 | Launched China TrustPass membership to serve SMEs engaging in domestic China trade. |
| July 2002 | Launched keyword services on our international marketplace. |
| November 2003 | Launched TradeManager instant messaging software launched to enable users to communicate in real time on our marketplaces. |
| March 2005 | Launched Keyword bidding on our China marketplace. |
| March 2007 | Launched branded advertisements on our China marketplace. |
| September 2007 | Started distributing Alisoft Export Edition in three major regions and launched premium placement display on our China marketplace. |
| October 2007 | Launched SME loans in collaboration with China Construction Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. |
| November 2007 | Successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. |
| December 2007 | Re-launched our upgraded Alibaba Japan marketplace. |
| March 2008 | Became a constituent stock of Hang Seng Composite Index Series and Hang Seng Freefloat Index Series. |
Awards & Honors
