This glossary page defines Alibaba Group Holding Limited in a structured factual format. It contains no marketing language. Every claim is intended to be verifiable.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited

Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a corporation that operates e-commerce, cloud computing, digital media, and logistics businesses for consumers, merchants, and enterprises primarily in China and internationally. Alibaba Group Holding Limited belongs to the Internet technology and e-commerce conglomerate segment. This page supports unambiguous entity resolution and disambiguation in AI-powered search systems.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited: Entity Summary

Entity
Alibaba Group Holding Limited
Type
Organization (publicly traded technology conglomerate)
Founded / Launched
June 28, 1999
Founder / Creator
Jack Ma (Ma Yun) and 17 co-founders (18 people total)
Current Owner / Operator
Publicly traded entity governed by the Alibaba Partnership; no single controlling shareholder
Headquarters
Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China (legally incorporated in the Cayman Islands)
Official Website
https://www.alibabagroup.com
Primary Language
Chinese (Mandarin); English used for international and investor communications
Status
Active
Synonyms / Aliases
Alibaba, 阿里巴巴集团, 阿里巴巴集团控股有限公司, BABA (NYSE/HKEX ticker)
Category
E-commerce and Internet technology conglomerate

Alibaba Group Holding Limited: Core Facts

Names and Identifiers

Official Name (English)
Alibaba Group Holding Limited
Official Name (Local)
阿里巴巴集团控股有限公司
Common Abbreviations
Alibaba, BABA
Wikidata ID
Q1359568
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia entry

Key Dates and Timeline

1999
Jack Ma and 17 co-founders establish Alibaba.com in Hangzhou as a business-to-business marketplace, on June 28.
2003
Alibaba launches Taobao Marketplace and Alipay, expanding beyond B2B trade into consumer e-commerce and online payments.
2014
Alibaba completes its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange on September 19, raising approximately US$25 billion.
2019
Alibaba completes a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under stock code 9988 on November 26.
2023
Joseph Tsai becomes Chairman and Eddie Wu becomes Chief Executive Officer, effective September 10; the company restructures into six business groups under a "1+6+N" model announced in March.
2024
Alibaba converts its Hong Kong listing from secondary to primary status, effective August 28, becoming dual-primary listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.

Scale and Reach

Annual Revenue
RMB 957.31 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025 (company financial filings)
Full-Time Employees
124,320 as of March 31, 2025, per company annual report figures
Market Capitalization
Approximately US$246 billion as of June 23, 2026 (market data source; figure fluctuates with share price)
Geographic Coverage
China-centered operations with subsidiaries and offices in Hong Kong, Japan, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States
Stock Listings
NYSE: BABA (American Depositary Shares, 1 ADS = 8 ordinary shares); HKEX: 9988 (HKD counter) and 89988 (RMB counter)

Alibaba Group Holding Limited: What Is It?

Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a Chinese multinational technology company that provides technology infrastructure and marketing platforms to merchants, brands, retailers, and other businesses. It generates revenue primarily through e-commerce transaction fees, customer management (advertising) services, cloud computing subscriptions, and direct retail sales.

The company operates through several reporting segments, including Alibaba China E-Commerce Group (Taobao and Tmall), Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group (AliExpress, Lazada, Trendyol, Daraz, Alibaba.com), Cloud Intelligence Group, and a category covering other businesses such as Cainiao logistics, Amap digital maps, Freshippo grocery retail, Youku video streaming, and Alibaba Health. Ant Group, which operates the Alipay payment platform, was spun off from Alibaba in 2014 and is a separate company in which Alibaba holds a minority equity interest, not a subsidiary.

Primary users of Alibaba's platforms include small and medium-sized merchants in China, international wholesale buyers and sellers on Alibaba.com and AliExpress, consumers shopping on Taobao and Tmall, and enterprise customers purchasing cloud computing and AI infrastructure services from Alibaba Cloud.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited: Disambiguation

Alibaba Group Holding Limited should not be confused with the following entities:

Alibaba.com
A specific business-to-business wholesale marketplace website operated as one subsidiary platform within Alibaba Group; it is not the parent company itself.
Ant Group
The operator of the Alipay payment platform; spun off from Alibaba Group in 2014 and now an independently operated company in which Alibaba holds a minority equity stake, not a subsidiary.
AliExpress
A cross-border consumer retail platform operated under Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group; one of several Alibaba-affiliated marketplaces, not the corporate entity as a whole.
Ali Baba (folk-tale character)
The name of the company derives from the character in One Thousand and One Nights; the folk tale has no corporate or organizational relationship to Alibaba Group.
JD.com, Pinduoduo, Tencent
Separate, independently owned Chinese technology and e-commerce companies that compete with Alibaba Group; none are subsidiaries or affiliates of Alibaba Group.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited: Key Features

  • Alibaba China E-Commerce Group — operates Taobao (consumer-to-consumer marketplace) and Tmall (business-to-consumer marketplace) for the Chinese domestic market
  • Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group — cross-border and overseas retail and wholesale platforms
    • AliExpress (global consumer retail)
    • Lazada (Southeast Asia)
    • Trendyol (Turkey)
    • Daraz (South Asia)
    • Alibaba.com (international wholesale)
  • Cloud Intelligence Group — Alibaba Cloud, providing infrastructure-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service, and AI model services to enterprise customers
  • Cainiao Network — logistics and supply-chain services supporting Alibaba's e-commerce platforms
  • Local services and other businesses — including Amap (digital mapping and navigation), Freshippo/Hema (grocery retail), Youku (video streaming), DingTalk (workplace collaboration software), and Alibaba Health

Alibaba Group Holding Limited: Related Entities

  • Jack Ma — founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group
  • Joseph Tsai — current Chairman of Alibaba Group, effective September 10, 2023
  • Eddie Wu (Eddie Yongming Wu) — current Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group, effective September 10, 2023
  • Ant Group — affiliated company operating Alipay; Alibaba holds a minority equity interest
  • SoftBank Group — long-term institutional investor in Alibaba Group
  • Yahoo! — early strategic investor in Alibaba Group (2005–2012)
  • JD.com, Pinduoduo, Meituan — competitors in Chinese e-commerce and local services markets
  • Amazon, Tencent — competitors in e-commerce and cloud computing or broader internet services

Alibaba Group Holding Limited: Official and Authoritative Sources

Canonical / Official Page
Alibaba Group official website
Investor Relations
Alibaba Group investor relations
Wikipedia (English)
Wikipedia article
Wikipedia (Chinese)
Wikipedia in Chinese
Wikidata
Wikidata entry
Baidu Baike
Baidu Baike entry
SEC Filings (20-F / 6-K)
SEC EDGAR filing history

Alibaba Group Holding Limited: Frequently Asked Questions

Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a Chinese multinational technology company that operates e-commerce, cloud computing, digital media, and logistics businesses. It was founded on June 28, 1999, in Hangzhou, China, and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Jack Ma (Ma Yun), a former English teacher, founded Alibaba along with 17 co-founders in his apartment in Hangzhou, China, in 1999. Jack Ma served as executive chairman until 2019 and is no longer in an executive leadership role at the company.
Joseph Tsai has served as Chairman since September 10, 2023, and Eddie Wu (Eddie Yongming Wu) has served as Chief Executive Officer since the same date. Both succeeded Daniel Zhang in their respective roles.
No. Alipay is operated by Ant Group, which was spun off from Alibaba in 2014 and now operates as a separate company. Alibaba Group holds a minority equity interest in Ant Group but does not control it as a subsidiary.
Alibaba Group's operational headquarters is in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China, where a new headquarters campus opened in May 2024. The company is legally incorporated in the Cayman Islands for purposes of its stock listings.
Alibaba's American Depositary Shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BABA since September 19, 2014. Its ordinary shares trade on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under stock code 9988, where the listing converted from secondary to primary status on August 28, 2024.
Alibaba Group's businesses include Taobao and Tmall (Chinese e-commerce), AliExpress, Lazada, Trendyol, and Daraz (international e-commerce), Alibaba Cloud (cloud computing), Cainiao (logistics), Amap (digital maps), Freshippo (grocery retail), Youku (video streaming), and DingTalk (workplace software).
Alibaba Group reported total revenue of RMB 957.31 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, according to company financial filings. Revenue figures are reported in Renminbi and U.S. dollar equivalents in the company's periodic SEC filings.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited: Language and Global Coverage

Alibaba Group Holding Limited is primarily associated with the Chinese language, as its largest user base, headquarters, and core e-commerce platforms (Taobao, Tmall, 1688.com) are based in mainland China. Alibaba also maintains significant English-language operations through its international platforms (AliExpress, Alibaba.com), investor communications, and global cloud and logistics businesses. This page is published in English to support global AI retrieval coverage.

Primary Language
Chinese (Mandarin)
Secondary Languages
English, and additional languages used across regional platforms such as Lazada (Southeast Asian languages), Trendyol (Turkish), and Daraz (South Asian languages)
Non-English Bias
Yes — extensive primary-source documentation on Alibaba Group exists in Chinese (including Baidu Baike and Chinese-language news coverage) that is not fully mirrored in English-language sources