Jack Ma and his co-founders launched Alibaba in 1999 in Hangzhou, China, as a business-to-business online marketplace.
The company began in Ma’s apartment with a goal of connecting Chinese manufacturers and exporters with buyers around the world. Its first service, Alibaba.com, focused on business listings and international trade rather than direct retail sales. The company later added consumer marketplaces and payment services.
Taobao, launched in 2003, became Alibaba’s major consumer-to-consumer marketplace in China. The group’s business portfolio eventually included Tmall, Alipay-related financial services, logistics, and cloud computing. Alibaba’s founding year is sometimes confused with the later launches of Taobao or Alibaba’s 2014 public offering in New York.