Ma Yun’s Internet World
Alibaba’s commercial empire has already expanded beyond e-commerce to more traditional industries. Taking advantage of the mobile Internet, Alibaba has invested in social networks and social media, such as microblogs and momo, and also developed a social network software named “Laiwang” (literally: contact). To expand traditional e-commerce and complete the distribution of O2O (Online To Offline), Alibaba invested in Cainiao Network, purchased amap.com, and became a part owner of Haier and Intime Retail. To buttress its superiority in Internet finance, Alibaba purchased Hundsun Technologies and Tianhong Asset Management. Optimistic about the prospect of China’s cultural industry, Alibaba has also heavily invested in TTPOD, Xiami Music, Wasu Media, cul.china.com.cn, Youku Tudou and Evergrande Football Club.
“Currently, Alibaba’s industry distribution is comparatively transparent. For Wall Street, the charm of Alibaba lies in its integrity, which not only implies strong single product or service, but more importantly its impressive synergistic effect in various service chains. In this way, Alibaba can create an enormous overlay effect, which explains its strengths over other enterprises,” said Song Shaokui, senior analyst of ChinaVenture Investment Consulting Group.
During Alibaba’s 10th anniversary celebration party in 2009, Ma Yun elaborated his dream about the company: “Alibaba is expected to become a social enterprise, which comes from society and serves society.” Ma Yun hopes that over the next decade Alibaba will provide a development platform for 10,000 companies, cultivate 10 million online communities, create 100 million job opportunities, and offer a consumer platform for one billion people. Ma hopes that via the Internet and Alibaba’s service, small companies can compete equally with large enterprises. As regards retired senior citizens who have to wait in long queues in a bank just to pay their electricity bill, “With our services, they can enjoy the same rights as the bank’s chairman,” Ma said.
