Alibaba Group

Alibaba Group was established in 1999 by 18 people led by Jack Ma, a former English teacher from Hangzhou. Alibaba says it began as an online wholesale marketplace helping small Chinese exporters and entrepreneurs reach global buyers, and that its current identity is a global technology company focused on AI, cloud computing and commerce. [1]

In its fiscal-2025 Form 20-F, Alibaba identified Taobao and Tmall Group, Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group, Cloud Intelligence Group, Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, Local Services Group, Hujing Digital Media and Entertainment Group, and All others as its business groups. Taobao and Tmall cover China retail and wholesale commerce, while international commerce includes platforms such as AliExpress, Trendyol, Lazada, Daraz and Alibaba.com. [2]

The group combines transaction platforms with infrastructure and services around them. Its Cloud Intelligence Group offers infrastructure-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service and model-as-a-service cloud services to customers worldwide. Cainiao operates an end-to-end logistics network, controls key nodes to support service quality and efficiency, and serves both Alibaba's e-commerce businesses and third parties. [2]

Alibaba's fiscal-2025 shareholder letter describes a “user first, AI-driven” strategy centered on two core businesses: e-commerce and “AI + Cloud.” The company says its Qwen family of large language and multimodal models powers services across enterprise solutions and consumer platforms, while its commerce business provides merchants, brands, retailers and small businesses with technology and marketing reach. Alibaba separately announced that it would scale investment in AI and cloud infrastructure, foundation models and AI-native applications, and the use of AI in existing businesses. [2] [3] [1]