Alibaba Group

Alibaba Group

E-commerce; cloud computing; artificial intelligence

Legal name

Alibaba Group Holding Limited

Native name

阿里巴巴集團控股有限公司

Type

Public company

Industry

E-commerce; cloud computing; artificial intelligence

Traded as

NYSE: BABA; HKEX: 9988 (HKD counter), 89988 (RMB counter)

Founded

1999

Founders

Jack Ma and 17 others

Headquarters

Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

Area served

Worldwide

Key people

Joe Tsai (chairman); Eddie Wu (chief executive officer)

Services

E-commerce; cloud computing; artificial intelligence services; logistics; digital media

Brands

Taobao; Tmall; Alibaba.com; 1688; AliExpress; Lazada; Trendyol; Daraz; Alibaba Cloud; Cainiao; DingTalk

Employees

132,165(30 June 2026)

Revenue

RMB1.02367 trillion(Fiscal year ended 31 March 2026)

Website

Official website

Alibaba Group Holding Limited, commonly known as Alibaba Group, is a multinational technology holding company founded in Hangzhou, China, in 1999. Its businesses span e-commerce, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), logistics, digital media and other internet services. The company describes its current strategic focus as AI and cloud computing together with commerce and consumption.

Alibaba was established by 18 founders led by former English teacher Jack Ma. It began as an online wholesale marketplace connecting Chinese exporters and entrepreneurs with overseas buyers. The holding company is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, while its main operating campus is in Hangzhou. Its securities are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BABA and on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under stock codes 9988 and 89988.

As of September 2026, Joe Tsai was chairman and Eddie Wu was chief executive officer. For the fiscal year ended 31 March 2026, Alibaba reported revenue of RMB1.02367 trillion and net income of RMB102.127 billion. The company reported 132,165 employees as of 30 June 2026.

History

Founding and early development

Alibaba was founded in 1999 in Jack Ma's apartment in Hangzhou. That year, the group launched Alibaba.com, an international business-to-business marketplace, and 1688, a domestic wholesale marketplace in China. The company expanded into consumer e-commerce with the launch of Taobao in 2003. It launched Alipay in 2004, introduced Tmall as a business-to-consumer platform in 2008, established Alibaba Cloud in 2009, and launched AliExpress in 2010.

In August 2005, Alibaba and Yahoo! announced a strategic partnership in China. Yahoo contributed its Yahoo China business and invested US$1 billion in cash in exchange for an approximately 40% economic interest and 35% voting interest in Alibaba at the time, making Yahoo a major strategic shareholder.

Alibaba separated Alipay from the group in 2011 as part of a restructuring of the payment business. Alibaba later retained an economic relationship with the financial-technology business that became Ant Group, which is accounted for by Alibaba as an equity-method investee rather than as a consolidated subsidiary.

Expansion during the 2010s

Alibaba's annual 11.11 shopping promotion began in 2009 as a Tmall event involving 27 merchants. It subsequently developed into a major annual sales event across Alibaba's commerce platforms. Cainiao Network was established in 2013 to build a technology-based logistics network serving merchants and consumers.

The group also broadened its operations through acquisitions and investments. In 2015, Alibaba agreed to acquire the shares of online-video company Youku Tudou that it did not already own, taking the business private after the transaction closed. In April 2016, Alibaba agreed to invest about US$1 billion to acquire a controlling interest in Southeast Asian e-commerce company Lazada. It raised its Lazada stake to approximately 83% in 2017 and announced another US$2 billion investment in 2018, taking its cumulative investment at that stage to about US$4 billion.

In 2018, Alibaba also agreed to acquire the shares of Chinese food-delivery and local-services company Ele.me that it did not already own in a transaction that implied a US$9.5 billion enterprise value. Ele.me was later integrated more deeply into Alibaba's on-demand commerce operations and was rebranded as Taobao Instant Commerce in December 2025.

Public listings

Alibaba priced its initial public offering in the United States in September 2014 at US$68 per American depositary share (ADS). The initial offering comprised 320,106,100 ADSs before exercise of the underwriters' overallotment option, implying initial gross proceeds of about US$21.8 billion. Trading began on the New York Stock Exchange on 19 September 2014 under the symbol BABA.

The company completed a secondary listing in Hong Kong in November 2019. Its global offering was priced at HK$176 per ordinary share, with 500 million new shares initially offered, and trading began on 26 November under stock code 9988. On 28 August 2024, the Hong Kong listing was converted to a primary listing, giving Alibaba dual-primary status in Hong Kong and New York. Its Hong Kong ordinary shares trade under 9988 in Hong Kong dollars and 89988 in renminbi; each U.S.-listed ADS currently represents eight ordinary shares.

Reorganization and strategic changes

In March 2023, Alibaba announced a major reorganization under a structure commonly described by the company as "1+6+N". The model placed the listed holding company above six principal business groups, with other businesses organized separately. The six groups were Cloud Intelligence, Taobao Tmall Commerce, Local Services, Alibaba International Digital Commerce, Cainiao Smart Logistics and Digital Media and Entertainment. Most of the groups were initially given the option to seek outside capital or separate listings.

The restructuring was subsequently revised. In November 2023, Alibaba abandoned a previously planned full spin-off of its cloud business, saying U.S. restrictions on exports of advanced computing chips had created uncertainty for the business's prospects. In March 2024, the company withdrew the planned Hong Kong initial public offering of logistics arm Cainiao and offered to acquire the shares held by Cainiao minority investors for up to US$3.75 billion.

In November 2024, Alibaba formed the Alibaba E-commerce Business Group to bring its domestic and international commerce operations under a single leadership structure, with Fan Jiang appointed chief executive of the new group.

A further reporting reorganization took effect in the quarter ended 30 June 2026. Alibaba combined its China and international e-commerce groups, Freshippo and certain Cainiao commerce businesses into the Alibaba E-commerce Group; combined Cloud Intelligence Group with chip-design unit T-Head as AI Cloud and Compute Services; and grouped its AI model laboratories, Qwen Consumer Business Group and QwenWork as AI Labs and Applications. Remaining operations are reported as All Others.

Businesses

Alibaba's segment reporting was reorganized from the quarter ended 30 June 2026. The four current reporting segments are Alibaba E-commerce Group, AI Cloud and Compute Services, AI Labs and Applications, and All Others.

Revenue by reporting segment, quarter ended 30 June 2026

Segment	Revenue (RMB billion)	Year-over-year change
Alibaba E-commerce Group	205.862	+4%
AI Cloud and Compute Services	48.437	+45%
AI Labs and Applications	3.338	+16%
All Others	28.803	+1%

Segment revenue does not add directly to consolidated revenue because Alibaba also reports unallocated revenue and inter-segment eliminations.

E-commerce

Alibaba operates consumer, business-to-consumer, business-to-business and cross-border commerce platforms. Major brands and services include Taobao, Tmall, Tmall Supermarket, Tmall Global, 1688, Alibaba.com, AliExpress, Lazada, Trendyol, Daraz, Freshippo and Taobao Instant Commerce.

Under the reporting structure introduced in 2026, Alibaba E-commerce Group reports revenue in four categories: China E-commerce, China Quick Commerce, International E-commerce and Global Wholesale. China Quick Commerce includes Taobao Instant Commerce, Freshippo and the on-demand delivery business of Tmall Supermarket. For the quarter ended 30 June 2026, Alibaba E-commerce Group reported revenue of RMB205.862 billion, up 4% from the comparable period a year earlier.

Alibaba.com remains the group's principal global business-to-business marketplace, while 1688 serves wholesale commerce in China. Taobao and Tmall are its major Chinese consumer commerce platforms, and AliExpress, Lazada, Trendyol and Daraz form important parts of its international retail portfolio.

Cloud computing and artificial intelligence

Alibaba established Alibaba Cloud in 2009. The cloud business provides computing, storage, database, networking, security and AI-related infrastructure and services. Following the 2026 reorganization, Alibaba Cloud was combined with semiconductor-design business T-Head in the AI Cloud and Compute Services segment.

The separate AI Labs and Applications segment includes Alibaba's model-development laboratories, its Qwen consumer business and QwenWork. The company's Qwen family includes large language and multimodal AI models used in its consumer, enterprise and cloud offerings. In the quarter ended 30 June 2026, AI Cloud and Compute Services reported revenue of RMB48.437 billion, a 45% year-over-year increase. Alibaba said AI-related product revenue within the segment was RMB12.376 billion for the quarter.

At its Apsara Conference in September 2026, Alibaba presented a broader "full-stack AI" strategy covering chips, infrastructure, models and applications. It also unveiled the Zhenwu V900 AI chip and outlined plans for much larger future Qwen models and expanded data-center capacity. The capacity and model-size figures announced at the conference were forward-looking company targets rather than completed deployments.

Logistics, media and other services

Alibaba's wider portfolio includes Cainiao logistics, Amap digital mapping and local services, Youku video, Fliggy travel services, Alibaba Health, Lingxi Games, Quark, UC and workplace-communications service DingTalk. Under the reporting structure used from June 2026, the All Others segment consists mainly of Alibaba Health, Hujing Digital Media and Entertainment Group, Amap, Lingxi Games and other technology businesses.

Cainiao provides logistics and supply-chain services to Alibaba's commerce ecosystem and external customers. Although Alibaba had previously pursued a separate Hong Kong listing for Cainiao, that process was withdrawn in 2024 as the group moved toward closer integration of its logistics operations.

Corporate structure and governance

Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a Cayman Islands-incorporated holding company. Its main operations are based at 969 West Wen Yi Road in Yuhang District, Hangzhou, while its U.S. securities filings list a principal executive office at Times Square in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. The group conducts operations in mainland China through wholly owned and majority-owned subsidiaries as well as variable-interest entity arrangements for businesses in which Chinese law restricts or conditions foreign ownership.

The Alibaba Partnership, formalized in 2010 and originally known as Lakeside Partners, is a partnership of senior managers and business leaders within the group. Alibaba's articles give the partnership the right to nominate, and in specified circumstances appoint, up to a simple majority of the company's board of directors. Alibaba reported 18 partnership members in its 2026 annual reporting.

A leadership succession announced in June 2023 took effect on 10 September 2023, when Joe Tsai became chairman and Eddie Wu became chief executive officer, succeeding Daniel Zhang in those roles. The company's senior leadership in 2026 also included president J. Michael Evans, chief financial officer Toby Xu, chief people officer Jane Jiang and general counsel Sara Yu.

Financial performance

Alibaba's fiscal year ends on 31 March. Its reported revenue rose from RMB853.062 billion in fiscal 2022 to more than RMB1 trillion in fiscal 2026. Net income has varied more widely because of operating results, investment gains and losses, impairments and other items.

Selected annual financial results

Fiscal year ended 31 March	Revenue (RMB billion)	Net income (RMB billion)
2022	853.062	47.079
2023	868.687	65.573
2024	941.168	71.332
2025	996.347	125.976
2026	1,023.670	102.127

For the quarter ended 30 June 2026, Alibaba reported revenue of RMB268.953 billion, up 9% year over year. Net income was RMB10.444 billion, down 75% from the same quarter in 2025. The company attributed the lower net income primarily to lower operating income, reduced gains from investment disposals and lower mark-to-market gains on equity investments. Capital expenditure in the quarter was RMB67.678 billion, up 75% year over year, which the company linked principally to investment in AI infrastructure and computing capacity.

Regulation

In December 2020, China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) opened an antitrust investigation into Alibaba. In April 2021, SAMR concluded that Alibaba had abused a dominant position in China's online retail platform-services market by imposing exclusivity requirements on merchants, a practice commonly described as "choose one of two". The regulator ordered Alibaba to stop the conduct and imposed a fine of RMB18.228 billion, equal to 4% of the company's 2019 domestic sales used for the penalty calculation.

SAMR required a three-year compliance and rectification program. In August 2024, the regulator said Alibaba had completed the rectification period and had stopped the exclusivity practice identified in the 2021 decision, while stating that it would continue regulatory guidance and supervision.

In July 2026, the European Commission fined Alibaba's AliExpress platform €550 million under the European Union's Digital Services Act. The Commission said AliExpress had failed to adequately assess and mitigate risks related to illegal, unsafe and counterfeit products on the platform and ordered remedial action. Reuters reported that AliExpress said it intended to appeal the decision and considered the penalty disproportionate. Alibaba recorded a provision related to the €550 million fine in its June-quarter 2026 results.

See also

• JD.com
• PDD Holdings
• Tencent

External links

• Official website