Around Asia Pacific & Oceania [11.23.14]

China
Business & Economy / Internet Ventures

• Alibaba's Jack Ma Has: $30 Billion (Bloomberg Markets)

Alibaba HQ

"Alibaba’s capitalization had risen to $282.4 billion -- overtaking both General Electric Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to become the world’s 7th biggest company. 

Ma took time from his victory lap around New York to accept former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s invitation to address another passion: philanthropy.
Clinton told reporters that Ma has the clout to highlight China’s environmental and social problems.

“In the past decade, we measured ourselves by how much we changed China,” he wrote to potential investors on Sept. 5. “In the future, we will be judged by how much progress we bring to the world.” 

[Global spread of Internet and Web has made way for having Global impact.] 

Alibaba Group connects these legions in a variety of ways. Alibaba’s Taobao (“search for treasure”) Marketplace serves small businesses and individuals. Tmall.com provides electronic shop fronts for Nike Inc., Microsoft and other companies to sell to Chinese consumers. Juhuasuan operates flash sales of everything from trousers to furniture. 

Alibaba.com mainly links Chinese suppliers to foreign buyers. Alipay, a privately owned affiliate that’s not part of the listed Alibaba Group, functions as the equivalent of PayPal in processing 75 percent of the group’s transactions.
Alibaba’s customers trade anything and everything, from silkworms to Boeing 747s.

“Shareholders do not have a long-term vision for the company.”Ma explained his philosophy in his pre-IPO letter. The only way to ensure long-term rewards for shareholders is to sustain value for customers, making them No. 1, he wrote. Employees come next because they’re crucial to satisfying customers."