Profile of Alibaba.com

Company background

This is an updated edition of the original report which was published in November 2007.

Based in Hangzhou, Alibaba.com was founded by Jack Ma in 1999. Alibaba.com operates two key online B2B marketplaces, an International Marketplace (www.alibaba.com) and a China Marketplace (www.alibaba.com.cn). The company's English-language International Marketplace serves to bring together international importers and largely China-based suppliers by offering online export marketing services. The China Marketplace, www.alibaba.com.cn is focused on facilitating domestic B2B trade within China. Earlier this year, the company also launched a Japanese-language marketplace (www.alibaba.co.jp).

Both marketplaces are segmented into over 40 industry verticals covering every major consumer category such as apparel, electronics, gifts, beauty, security products and office supplies. The company claims that together the two marketplaces have more than 35 million registered users - 6.9 million in the International Marketplace and 28.7 million in the China Marketplace.

As well as the Hangzhou headquarters, the company maintains 30 other sales and marketing offices in China as well as overseas offices in Taiwan, Hong Kong, the U.S. and Europe. As of the end of September, Alibaba.com had 6,600 employees - the vast majority of whom are based in China.

Alibaba.com became a publicly-traded company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 6th November last year. Approximately 17% of the company was sold to the public raising roughly US$1.5 billion - valuing the company at US$8.8 billion.

The company's share price jumped from its IPO price of HK$13.50 to a high of nearly HK$40 in November last year. Since then, as with the wider market, Alibaba.com's share price has steadily declined hitting an all-time low of HK$3.46 in October this year. This month the share price rebounded to over HK$5.00 and a market capitalisation of approximately US$3.3 billion.

Alibaba.com posted a net profit of US$140 million in 2007 on revenues of US$314 million. In the first half of 2008, net profit was US$101 million on revenues of US$205 million.

Alibaba.com is majority owned by the Alibaba Group which was established by Jack Ma and 18 other founders in 1999. In 2005, Yahoo! Inc. purchased a 39% stake in the group for US$1 billion. The Alibaba Group owns and operates a number other of high profile Internet businesses, but it is important to note that these businesses are not part of the Hong Kong-listed company, Alibaba.com.

Alibaba.com cooperates with and benefits from this "eco-system" of companies, but none of the revenues from these businesses are counted as part of Alibaba.com. The Alibaba Group's other key businesses include:

• Taobao - a consumer-focused e-commerce business
• Alipay - an online payment service
• Alimama - an online advertisement exchange service
• Alisoft - an Internet-based business software provider targeting SMEs
• Yahoo! Koubei - online classified listings and community-based groups

This report only addresses the products and services of Alibaba.com, not the whole of the Alibaba Group.