Alibaba Group, founded by Jack Ma in 1999, became one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies by market value.
Jack Ma and a group of co-founders established Alibaba in Hangzhou, China, in 1999. The company first focused on connecting Chinese manufacturers with overseas buyers through its business-to-business marketplace. It later expanded into consumer shopping, payments, cloud computing, logistics, and digital media.
Alibaba’s most familiar consumer platforms include Taobao and Tmall. Taobao is a large consumer-to-consumer marketplace, while Tmall focuses on branded retail. The group’s ecosystem helped make it a major force in Chinese and international digital commerce.
Alibaba is often confused with Tencent because both are major Chinese technology companies. Tencent is best known for WeChat, online games, and digital services, whereas Alibaba’s historical core has been commerce. Alibaba completed its New York Stock Exchange IPO in 2014.