Jack Ma: Story of Alibaba E-Commerce and Online Retail by GineersNow GineersNow Engineering Magazine Issue No. 013, Jac | Page 22

So despite the challenges and doubts he met
in starting the company, Ma started his first
company and created websites for different
Chinese companies. Unfortunately, majority of
the management’s control of Chinapage was
by the government when Ma decided to partner
with them. Ma was left frustrated and decided to
leave the company and work for a short period
at the ministry of foreign trade and economic
cooperation. In this job, he was able to meet
prominent people, including Jerry Yang, the
founding member of Yahoo!
After leaving his job, he founded Alibaba with the
goal of joining international trade for small and
medium ventures located in China.
Despite being denied for funding by several
companies in Silicon Valley, Ma eventually got
USD 5 Million from Goldman Sachs and USD 20
Million from Softbank. Other companies thought
that Ma’s business model was too risky and
unprofitable.
The company started achieving profitability by
2001 and started expanding their services in
2003 with Taobao, a consumer e-commerce
platform.
Ma was the chief executive officer of his
company for its first 10 years but stepped
down on the position to become the company’s
executive chairman.
For over two decades, the Alibaba Group Holding Limited has expanded its business to
create several subsidiaries:
alibaba.com
The largest online business-
to-business trading platform
for small business
Ant Financial
Operates Alipay payments
AutoNavi
Chinese map supplier Yahoo! China
Formed a strategic
partnership with Yahoo! back
in 2005.
Taobao
China’s largest consumer-to-
consumer online shopping
platform Aliwangwang
An instant messaging
software service for online
selling
Tmall.com
An online retail platform Laiwang
A messaging application and
service
Juhuasuan
A group shopping website in
China
eTao
Online shoppers use this to
search results from most
Chinese online shopping
platforms
Alipay
A third-party online payment
platform that requires no
transaction fees
Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun)
A cloud computing service
platform
Source:Getty Images
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AliExpress
An online retail service where
small Chinese business sell
products to international
online buyers
E-Commerce, Online Distribution and Management • March 2017
Alibaba Pictures
Renamed as the Alibaba
Pictures Group, it’s a media
company that checks the
potential opportunities in
online entertainment
Youku Tudou
A company that broadcasts
popular television programs
and other videos over the
internet
Alibaba Group R&D
Institute
Focused on research and
development and has filed
several patent and utility
model applications
Xiami
An online music service
provider
365fanyi.com
A domestic crowdsourcing
translation platform that small
and medium enterprises can
use to participate in several
transactions
South China Morning Post
Provides media coverage on
China
Ali Health
Alibaba’s flagship health care
unit that provides buyers
a selection of health and
pharmaceutical products
available in China
UCWeb
A mobile internet software
technology and services
company that aims to
give better mobile internet
connections to its users.
Lazada
An e-commerce company
that operates its sites on
the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Vietnam and Thailand. The
company sells different
products ranging from
household items to consumer
electronics.