Alibaba

Jack Ma and 17 other founders established Alibaba, initially connecting small Chinese exporters and entrepreneurs with overseas buyers through an online wholesale marketplace.⁠[1]

Alibaba Group Holding Limited was incorporated in the Cayman Islands and operates through subsidiaries and variable interest entities. The group is distinct from its Alibaba.com marketplace.⁠[2]

The announced agreement provided for Yahoo to invest $1 billion and contribute its China business in return for approximately 40% economic ownership and 35% voting rights. Board arrangements included Jack Ma, Jerry YangJerry YangJerry Yang is a Yahoo co-founder and former CEO and the founding partner of AME Cloud Ventures. He helped develop Yahoo’s relationships with Yahoo Japan and Alibaba and served as chair of Stanford University’s Board of Trustees.Open the full entry, and a SoftBankSoftBank GroupSoftBank Group (SoftBank Group Corp.) is an investment holding company headquartered in Tokyo, founded by Masayoshi Son in 1981. Starting out as a distributor of personal computer software, it moved into the internet, broadband and mobile communications, and has since become an investment group centered on AI-related assets such as Arm, the SoftBank Vision Funds and OpenAI.Open the full entry representative.⁠[3]

Its Hong Kong listing changed from secondary to primary status, making it dual-primary-listed in Hong Kong and New York. Ordinary shares and American depositary shares remained fungible.⁠[4]

The fiscal 2026 report identifies China e-commerce, international digital commerce, cloud intelligence, and all other businesses as its four segments. Trading symbols are BABA in New York and 9988 and 89988 in Hong Kong.⁠[2]

The group uses Qwen models in enterprise and consumer applications. Its website lists Joe Tsai as chairman and Eddie Wu as CEO.⁠[5]

Website: https://www.alibabagroup.com/ (opens in a new window); X: https://twitter.com/AlibabaGroup (opens in a new window); LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alibaba-group/ (opens in a new window); YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: https://www.youtube.com/AlibabaGroup (opens in a new window).⁠[5]