Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba saw revenues leap 59 per cent year-on-year for the quarter ended in June, it said on Thursday, its strongest growth since it listed on the New York&nbsp;Stock&nbsp;Exchange (NYSE)&nbsp;in 2014.

Revenue for the company, seen as a proxy for China&#39;s increasingly crucial consumer sector, reached 32.15 billion yuan ($4.83 billion) in the June quarter, it said in a statement.

The total was well ahead of the 30.2 billion-yuan average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg News.

Alibaba is China&#39;s dominant player in online commerce, with its Taobao platform estimated to hold more than 90 percent of the consumer-to-consumer market, and its Tmall platform is believed to have over half of business-to-consumer transactions.

But according to the company, net income plunged 77 per cent year-on-year to $1.08 billion in the latest quarter -- the first of its financial year.

Still, Alibaba&#39;s chief financial officer Maggie Wu described the results as &quot;excellent&quot;.

&quot;The 59 per cent revenue growth for the company overall and the 49 per cent revenue growth of our China retail marketplaces represent the highest growth rates we&rsquo;ve achieved since our IPO,&quot; she said in the statement.

The company&#39;s gross merchandise volume (GMV) -- a measure of value for online sales -- rose 24 per cent year-on-year to $126 billion in the June quarter, the statement said, matching the growth of the previous three months. 
 
The company, often compared to eBay or Amazon of the&nbsp;United&nbsp;States, has expanded outside its core e-commerce business, in sectors ranging from sports to entertainment. 
 
Alibaba &#39;makes the rules&#39;

In the June quarter, paying customers for Alibaba Cloud, its cloud computing unit, grew to 577,000, with the segment&#39;s revenue booming by 156 percent year-on-year.

&quot;The focus of its strategy is no longer (online) retail. It has moved to underlying services such as finance, cloud services and logistics,&quot; Li Chengdong, an independent e-commerce strategy analyst based in Beijing, told AFP.

&quot;Alibaba is using the strategy of being a platform and ecosystem for others,&quot; he said. &quot;Alibaba makes all the rules and profits from those rules. That is what makes it a greater company than its peers.&quot;

Hakon Helgesen, analyst at the research firm Conlumino, said the company showed &quot;strong&quot; performance in its home market but remains slow in fulfilling its global ambitions, with Chinese retail accounted for 73 per cent of Alibaba revenues.

&quot;Despite its success at home, Alibaba has struggled to gain traction in already established markets like the US,&quot; Helgesen said in a research note.

&quot;While this was once a stated ambition, and perhaps remains a long term goal, it is off the agenda for the short term. In our view this is correct: chasing lower margin, profit eroding international gains for the sake of vanity makes little sense.&quot;

The analyst added that Alibaba was moving into some new markets in Asia &quot;to focus on high growth markets where commerce is more embryonic&quot;. 
 
JD.com, a Chinese competitor of Alibaba, on Wednesday reported its net revenue for the second quarter increased 42 per cent on the year to $9.8 billion, but it also registered a net loss for the period.

Alibaba is not without controversy. It has faced accusations over the sale of counterfeit goods on its platforms, which the company says it has sought to address.

In June, Alibaba founder Jack Ma said unbranded goods were often better than the branded originals they imitate, drawing criticism from some industry groups.

&quot;The problem is that the fake products today, they have better quality, a better price than the real product, than the real names,&quot; Ma told investors.

Separately, the US&nbsp;stock&nbsp;market regulator is probing Alibaba&#39;s accounting practices, the company revealed in May.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had sought information into Alibaba&#39;s accounting for its Cainiao logistics network and its reporting practices for Singles Day, a huge sales event in China. 
 
Ma, who is also executive chairman, told state media in June the company was assisting in the SEC probe. 
 
(AFP)

Since it listed on NYSE, retail giant's profit surged by 59 per cent for quarter ending June, although net income took a knock

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba saw revenues leap 59 per cent year-on-year for the quarter ended in June, it said on Thursday, its strongest growth since it listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2014. Revenue for the company, seen as a proxy for China's increasingly crucial consumer sector, reached 32.15 billion yuan ($4.83 billion) in the June quarter, it said in a statement. The total was well ahead of the 30.2 billion-yuan average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg News. Alibaba is China's dominant player in online commerce, with its Taobao platform estimated to hold more than 90 percent of the consumer-to-consumer market, and its Tmall platform is believed to have over half of business-to-consumer transactions. But according to the company, net income plunged 77 per cent year-on-year to $1.08 billion in the latest quarter -- the first of its financial year. Still, Alibaba's chief financial officer Maggie Wu described the results as "excellent". "The 59 per cent revenue growth for the company overall and the 49 per cent revenue growth of our China retail marketplaces represent the highest growth rates we’ve achieved since our IPO," she said in the statement. The company's gross merchandise volume (GMV) -- a measure of value for online sales -- rose 24 per cent year-on-year to $126 billion in the June quarter, the statement said, matching the growth of the previous three months. The company, often compared to eBay or Amazon of the United States, has expanded outside its core e-commerce business, in sectors ranging from sports to entertainment. Alibaba 'makes the rules' In the June quarter, paying customers for Alibaba Cloud, its cloud computing unit, grew to 577,000, with the segment's revenue booming by 156 percent year-on-year. "The focus of its strategy is no longer (online) retail. It has moved to underlying services such as finance, cloud services and logistics," Li Chengdong, an independent e-commerce strategy analyst based in Beijing, told AFP. "Alibaba is using the strategy of being a platform and ecosystem for others," he said. "Alibaba makes all the rules and profits from those rules. That is what makes it a greater company than its peers." Hakon Helgesen, analyst at the research firm Conlumino, said the company showed "strong" performance in its home market but remains slow in fulfilling its global ambitions, with Chinese retail accounted for 73 per cent of Alibaba revenues. "Despite its success at home, Alibaba has struggled to gain traction in already established markets like the US," Helgesen said in a research note. "While this was once a stated ambition, and perhaps remains a long term goal, it is off the agenda for the short term. In our view this is correct: chasing lower margin, profit eroding international gains for the sake of vanity makes little sense." The analyst added that Alibaba was moving into some new markets in Asia "to focus on high growth markets where commerce is more embryonic". JD.com, a Chinese competitor of Alibaba, on Wednesday reported its net revenue for the second quarter increased 42 per cent on the year to $9.8 billion, but it also registered a net loss for the period. Alibaba is not without controversy. It has faced accusations over the sale of counterfeit goods on its platforms, which the company says it has sought to address. In June, Alibaba founder Jack Ma said unbranded goods were often better than the branded originals they imitate, drawing criticism from some industry groups. "The problem is that the fake products today, they have better quality, a better price than the real product, than the real names," Ma told investors. Separately, the US stock market regulator is probing Alibaba's accounting practices, the company revealed in May. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had sought information into Alibaba's accounting for its Cainiao logistics network and its reporting practices for Singles Day, a huge sales event in China. Ma, who is also executive chairman, told state media in June the company was assisting in the SEC probe. (AFP)

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's Q1 data rings in record revenue

US telecom giant Verizon Communications Inc said it had agreed to buy Yahoo Inc&#39;s core internet business for $4.83 billion in cash, ending a lengthy sale process for the fading web pioneer. 
 
Buying Yahoo&#39;s operations will boost Verizon&#39;s AOL internet business, which it bought last year for $4.4 billion, by giving it access to Yahoo&#39;s advertising technology tools as well as other assets such as search, mail and messenger. 
 
The deal marks the end of Yahoo as an operating company, leaving it with a 15 per cent stake in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Limited and a 35.5 per cent interest in Yahoo Japan Corp. 
 
&quot;The sale of our operating business, which effectively separates our Asian asset equity stakes, is an important step in our plan to unlock shareholder value for Yahoo,&quot; Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer said in a statement today. 
 
The sale does not include Yahoo&#39;s cash, its shares in Alibaba, its shares in Yahoo Japan, Yahoo&#39;s convertible notes, certain minority investments and Yahoo&#39;s non-core patents. 
 
The Alibaba and Yahoo Japan investments are worth about $40 billion, while Yahoo had a market value of about $37.4 billion as of Friday&#39;s close. 
 
(Reuters)

Buying Yahoo's operations will boost Verizon's AOL internet business, which it bought last year for $4.4 billion

US telecom giant Verizon Communications Inc said it had agreed to buy Yahoo Inc's core internet business for $4.83 billion in cash, ending a lengthy sale process for the fading web pioneer. Buying Yahoo's operations will boost Verizon's AOL internet business, which it bought last year for $4.4 billion, by giving it access to Yahoo's advertising technology tools as well as other assets such as search, mail and messenger. The deal marks the end of Yahoo as an operating company, leaving it with a 15 per cent stake in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Limited and a 35.5 per cent interest in Yahoo Japan Corp. "The sale of our operating business, which effectively separates our Asian asset equity stakes, is an important step in our plan to unlock shareholder value for Yahoo," Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer said in a statement today. The sale does not include Yahoo's cash, its shares in Alibaba, its shares in Yahoo Japan, Yahoo's convertible notes, certain minority investments and Yahoo's non-core patents. The Alibaba and Yahoo Japan investments are worth about $40 billion, while Yahoo had a market value of about $37.4 billion as of Friday's close. (Reuters)

US telecom giant Verizon announces acquisition of Yahoo in $4.83 billion deal

Chinese technology firm Alibaba&#39;s internet-connected car will set the Chinese e-commerce giant up to quickly introduce driverless vehicle technology, Chief Technology Officer Wang Jian said today.

Alibaba and the country&#39;s largest automaker SAIC Motor Corp demonstrated their jointly developed car equipped with the YunOS operating system, which can link up with smart phones, at an event in eastern China&#39;s Hangzhou today. The car is slated to go on sale later this year.

&quot;You&#39;ll quickly see driverless car technology resulting from this platform,&quot; Wang said on the sidelines of the event.

Among major tech&nbsp;companies, Alibaba is relatively late to offer a platform that can link a smart phone to a car, trailing platforms already launched by Alphabet&#39;s Google, Apple and Baidu.

But the race to commercialise driverless cars is far from over with experts predicting that a fully autonomous car will not hit the market until 2020 or later. 
 
(Reuters)

Driverless car technology will result from a platform which will link up cars with smart phones, said Alibaba's Chief Technology Officer

Chinese technology firm Alibaba's internet-connected car will set the Chinese e-commerce giant up to quickly introduce driverless vehicle technology, Chief Technology Officer Wang Jian said today. Alibaba and the country's largest automaker SAIC Motor Corp demonstrated their jointly developed car equipped with the YunOS operating system, which can link up with smart phones, at an event in eastern China's Hangzhou today. The car is slated to go on sale later this year. "You'll quickly see driverless car technology resulting from this platform," Wang said on the sidelines of the event. Among major tech companies, Alibaba is relatively late to offer a platform that can link a smart phone to a car, trailing platforms already launched by Alphabet's Google, Apple and Baidu. But the race to commercialise driverless cars is far from over with experts predicting that a fully autonomous car will not hit the market until 2020 or later. (Reuters)

China's Alibaba puts internet in cars, plans to take drivers out

Alibaba is relatively late to offer a platform linking smart phones to cars, trailing Google and Apple, but the race is far from over

In China&#39;s eastern city of Hangzhou, Li could barely watch as Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo lined up a penalty kick in a finely-balanced Euro 2016 group match against Austria. Li had a reason to be nervous: He had bet tens of thousands of yuan on Portugal to win. 
 
With 10 minutes to go in the game in Paris, Real Madrid star Ronaldo hit the post, the game ended in a draw, and Li lost the money he had bet using Tencent Holdings Ltd&#39;s popular messaging app WeChat. 
 
Amid a surge of Chinese interest in global soccer, a side-effect has been a record spike in illegal gambling online, prompting multi-million dollar busts by police on betting rings, and tech giants like Tencent and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd cracking down on gambling activity on their apps. 
 
&quot;There are so many gamblers, groups and platforms during the European Cup though that I think it&#39;s really hard to find all of them,&quot; said Li, who asked only to use his surname as most online gambling in China is illegal. 
 
Li said he used a private chat group on WeChat where most of the betters were friends. Winnings were distributed via bank transfer, Alibaba-linked Alipay, WeChat or &#39;red packets&#39;, digital versions of traditional envelopes stuffed with cash. 
 
In the run-up to the UEFA European Football Championship final in Paris next Sunday, Chinese police say they have seen a surge in illegal online gambling. In a single bust last week, police in southern Guangdong arrested 147 people and froze funds worth nearly 100 million yuan ($15 million). 
 
Alibaba and Tencent acknowledge the issue and have anti-gambling systems in place to spot illegal behaviour. 
 
Ant Financial, the Alibaba affiliate which operates Alipay, has a three-tiered system to spot gambling, with computer systems analysing user behaviour and a line of human checks. 
 
&quot;If we find suspicious accounts, then we are going to freeze the account directly. It only takes a few hours from the first to the last step,&quot; said spokeswoman Miranda Shek, adding the firm was looking to add more anti-gambling staff. 
 
Reiterating a previous statement, Tencent said it is doing more to stamp out gambling on its platforms like WeChat, including restricting groups suspected of gambling behaviour and punishing individual account holders. It said it has put limits on more than 8,000 WeChat groups, and has limited the payment and &#39;red packet&#39; capabilities on more than 6,000 accounts. 
 
Soccer boom 
 
A soccer investment boom in China has helped propel interest in the game. Chinese firms have invested in overseas clubs, player agencies and media rights firms, and global soccer stars have moved to China in multi-million dollar deals. 
 
&quot;With the European Cup, everyone&#39;s betting on soccer but also over the last couple of years China&#39;s soccer market has developed rapidly. Big investments and star names create a real lure,&quot; said Hu Naijun, an assistant professor at the University of Science and Technology Beijing. 
 
The organiser of an online gambling group, who gave his name as Bao, said he and four other organisers had a pot of 5 million Yuan ($750,706) and that dozens of people would join for each game. 
 
&quot;In one night there will be millions placed in bets,&quot; he said, adding it had become a lucrative business. &quot;For the final, we&#39;ll probably go to Macau or Hong Kong and spend the whole week in the presidential suite.&quot; 
 
Li says he&#39;s still backing Portugal - who are through to the semi-finals - for Euro 2016 glory. 
 
&quot;I often can&#39;t watch, my heart just can&#39;t take it, I feel nervous at every chance. Especially when Ronaldo missed the penalty, I almost passed out,&quot; he said. 
 
($1 = 6.6604 Chinese yuan renminbi) 
 
(Reuters)&nbsp;

Investment boom has spiked public interest with betting rings reaping the benefit. Tencent and Alibaba are trying to stop gambling via apps

In China's eastern city of Hangzhou, Li could barely watch as Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo lined up a penalty kick in a finely-balanced Euro 2016 group match against Austria. Li had a reason to be nervous: He had bet tens of thousands of yuan on Portugal to win. With 10 minutes to go in the game in Paris, Real Madrid star Ronaldo hit the post, the game ended in a draw, and Li lost the money he had bet using Tencent Holdings Ltd's popular messaging app WeChat. Amid a surge of Chinese interest in global soccer, a side-effect has been a record spike in illegal gambling online, prompting multi-million dollar busts by police on betting rings, and tech giants like Tencent and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd cracking down on gambling activity on their apps. "There are so many gamblers, groups and platforms during the European Cup though that I think it's really hard to find all of them," said Li, who asked only to use his surname as most online gambling in China is illegal. Li said he used a private chat group on WeChat where most of the betters were friends. Winnings were distributed via bank transfer, Alibaba-linked Alipay, WeChat or 'red packets', digital versions of traditional envelopes stuffed with cash. In the run-up to the UEFA European Football Championship final in Paris next Sunday, Chinese police say they have seen a surge in illegal online gambling. In a single bust last week, police in southern Guangdong arrested 147 people and froze funds worth nearly 100 million yuan ($15 million). Alibaba and Tencent acknowledge the issue and have anti-gambling systems in place to spot illegal behaviour. Ant Financial, the Alibaba affiliate which operates Alipay, has a three-tiered system to spot gambling, with computer systems analysing user behaviour and a line of human checks. "If we find suspicious accounts, then we are going to freeze the account directly. It only takes a few hours from the first to the last step," said spokeswoman Miranda Shek, adding the firm was looking to add more anti-gambling staff. Reiterating a previous statement, Tencent said it is doing more to stamp out gambling on its platforms like WeChat, including restricting groups suspected of gambling behaviour and punishing individual account holders. It said it has put limits on more than 8,000 WeChat groups, and has limited the payment and 'red packet' capabilities on more than 6,000 accounts. Soccer boom A soccer investment boom in China has helped propel interest in the game. Chinese firms have invested in overseas clubs, player agencies and media rights firms, and global soccer stars have moved to China in multi-million dollar deals. "With the European Cup, everyone's betting on soccer but also over the last couple of years China's soccer market has developed rapidly. Big investments and star names create a real lure," said Hu Naijun, an assistant professor at the University of Science and Technology Beijing. The organiser of an online gambling group, who gave his name as Bao, said he and four other organisers had a pot of 5 million Yuan ($750,706) and that dozens of people would join for each game. "In one night there will be millions placed in bets," he said, adding it had become a lucrative business. "For the final, we'll probably go to Macau or Hong Kong and spend the whole week in the presidential suite." Li says he's still backing Portugal - who are through to the semi-finals - for Euro 2016 glory. "I often can't watch, my heart just can't take it, I feel nervous at every chance. Especially when Ronaldo missed the penalty, I almost passed out," he said. ($1 = 6.6604 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reuters)

In China football boom sparks online gambling craze

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Friday went public with a new drive to display its determination to stamp out fake goods, urging brands to help its anti-piracy campaign rather than trade rebukes on the issue. 
 
The US-listed online shopping powerhouse has been dogged by accusations that its sites are flooded with copy-cat products, culminating with its ejection this year from a US-based anti-counterfeiting alliance only weeks after being admitted. 
 
At an intellectual property conference it&#39;s hosting in Hangzhou, Alibaba, on Friday, unveiled a new online system to help track and remove fakes as its top anti-piracy official called for more cooperation with makers of branded goods. 
 
&quot;In the face of such a complex problem we can&#39;t be complaining about each other, or criticising each other...We have to have everybody involved and work together to do it,&quot; said Jessie Zheng, Alibaba&#39;s chief platform governance officer, speaking at its conference on intellectual property (IP) protection. 
 
&quot;In this battle it&#39;s you and me,&quot; said Zheng. &quot;It can&#39;t be you doing the work and me watching, or me doing the work and you talking. Our only choice is to join forces.&quot; 
 
Alibaba took an embarrassing hit in its fight against fakes earlier this year when it was forced out of the Washington-based International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition. This came after a mutiny by members of the group, including US luxury goods maker Michael Kors Holdings Inc and French group Kering SA&#39;s Gucci brand, against the Chinese firm. 
 
Friday&#39;s conference and the launch of the new online system for controlling fakes come about two months before Alibaba&#39;s hometown of Hangzhou hosts the annual summit of the G20. 
 
Several state leaders, including US President Barack Obama, may visit the company&#39;s college-like campus when they are in town, people with knowledge of the preparations said. 
 
The &quot;IP Joint-Force System&quot; launched on Friday is an online platform designed to streamline IP-related communications between brands and Alibaba, the company said. 
 
It expands an existing &quot;good faith takedown&quot; scheme started last year and is designed to simplify the removal of listings of suspected counterfeits. 
 
(Reuters)

This comes after Alibaba was accused multiple times of carrying counterfeit or 'copy-cat' products

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Friday went public with a new drive to display its determination to stamp out fake goods, urging brands to help its anti-piracy campaign rather than trade rebukes on the issue. The US-listed online shopping powerhouse has been dogged by accusations that its sites are flooded with copy-cat products, culminating with its ejection this year from a US-based anti-counterfeiting alliance only weeks after being admitted. At an intellectual property conference it's hosting in Hangzhou, Alibaba, on Friday, unveiled a new online system to help track and remove fakes as its top anti-piracy official called for more cooperation with makers of branded goods. "In the face of such a complex problem we can't be complaining about each other, or criticising each other...We have to have everybody involved and work together to do it," said Jessie Zheng, Alibaba's chief platform governance officer, speaking at its conference on intellectual property (IP) protection. "In this battle it's you and me," said Zheng. "It can't be you doing the work and me watching, or me doing the work and you talking. Our only choice is to join forces." Alibaba took an embarrassing hit in its fight against fakes earlier this year when it was forced out of the Washington-based International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition. This came after a mutiny by members of the group, including US luxury goods maker Michael Kors Holdings Inc and French group Kering SA's Gucci brand, against the Chinese firm. Friday's conference and the launch of the new online system for controlling fakes come about two months before Alibaba's hometown of Hangzhou hosts the annual summit of the G20. Several state leaders, including US President Barack Obama, may visit the company's college-like campus when they are in town, people with knowledge of the preparations said. The "IP Joint-Force System" launched on Friday is an online platform designed to streamline IP-related communications between brands and Alibaba, the company said. It expands an existing "good faith takedown" scheme started last year and is designed to simplify the removal of listings of suspected counterfeits. (Reuters)

E-commerce giant Alibaba launches drive to eliminate fake goods from its websites

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Tuesday that it expects to nearly double its transaction volumes by 2020, signalling it still expects rampant growth as Executive Chairman Jack Ma pledged to intensify a crackdown on fake goods. 
 
At an investor conference at its headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Alibaba said it expects to record 6 trillion yuan ($912 billion) in gross merchandise volume (GMV) in fiscal 2020, nearly double 3.09 trillion yuan in fiscal 2016. 
 
Echoing that growth, Ma said Alibaba expects to have 2 billion consumers on its books by 2036, up from 423 million active buyers in 2016. 
 
Addressing concerns about the company&#39;s efforts to remove counterfeit products from its online platforms, Ma said Alibaba will do &quot;anything to stop the fake products&quot;. The company has been dogged for years by accusations that its shopping platforms were conduits for counterfeiters. 
 
&quot;I promise you guys that counterfeits, fake products, and intellectual property theft - we are more and more confident than ever that we can solve the problem,&quot; he said.

Executive Chairman Jack Ma was even more hopeful long term, stating they'd have 2 billion annual consumers by 2036

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Tuesday that it expects to nearly double its transaction volumes by 2020, signalling it still expects rampant growth as Executive Chairman Jack Ma pledged to intensify a crackdown on fake goods. At an investor conference at its headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Alibaba said it expects to record 6 trillion yuan ($912 billion) in gross merchandise volume (GMV) in fiscal 2020, nearly double 3.09 trillion yuan in fiscal 2016. Echoing that growth, Ma said Alibaba expects to have 2 billion consumers on its books by 2036, up from 423 million active buyers in 2016. Addressing concerns about the company's efforts to remove counterfeit products from its online platforms, Ma said Alibaba will do "anything to stop the fake products". The company has been dogged for years by accusations that its shopping platforms were conduits for counterfeiters. "I promise you guys that counterfeits, fake products, and intellectual property theft - we are more and more confident than ever that we can solve the problem," he said.

Alibaba expects to record $912 billion by 2020, even amid concerns it sells counterfeit products

Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding Ltd&#39;s affiliate Ant Financial has bought a fifth of financial data provider Shanghai Suntime Information Technology for around $35 million, a source with direct knowledge of the deal said. 
 
&quot;The acquisition will provide Ant Financial with good financial products so that it can attract more clients,&quot; the source told Reuters on Friday. 
 
Ant Financial Services Group, valued at close to $60 billion, offers services like online payment, wealth management products and insurance. Its core Alipay online payment business was founded in 2004. 
 
The Alibaba affiliate closed a $4.5 billion funding round in April. 
 
Ant Financial and Shanghai Suntime, which was founded in 2003, were not immediately available for comment on Friday, a public holiday in China. The source was not authorized to speak to media and therefore declined to be identified.

Ant Financial Services Group, valued at close to $60 billion, offers services like online payment, wealth management products and insurance

Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's affiliate Ant Financial has bought a fifth of financial data provider Shanghai Suntime Information Technology for around $35 million, a source with direct knowledge of the deal said. "The acquisition will provide Ant Financial with good financial products so that it can attract more clients," the source told Reuters on Friday. Ant Financial Services Group, valued at close to $60 billion, offers services like online payment, wealth management products and insurance. Its core Alipay online payment business was founded in 2004. The Alibaba affiliate closed a $4.5 billion funding round in April. Ant Financial and Shanghai Suntime, which was founded in 2003, were not immediately available for comment on Friday, a public holiday in China. The source was not authorized to speak to media and therefore declined to be identified.

Alibaba's Ant Financial buys 20 percent of data firm for $35 million - source

Chinese mobile internet giant Alibaba Group has announced the launch of Privacy Knight, India`s first free app-lock with a face lock feature that protects mobile privacy from intruders. 
 
Currently available on Android, the app is equipped with face lock, the fastest and most accurate unlock solution in the world, which enables users to unlock their protected apps through a one-second-selfie. 
 
&quot;Face lock is set to change the way people protect their privacy. It`s the next big thing after fingerprint lock. The age of face lock is here,&quot; said Country Manager of 9Apps (Android Marketplace within Alibaba Mobile Business Group), Ebrahim Popat. 
 
With the boost of smartphone utilization, India is now the largest consumer market for security app in the world. Such tremendous demand indicates a strong need for better privacy protection. 
 
&quot;Indian users are particularly concerned about security of their private photos and SNS apps on their phones. On the other hand, with predictable popularization of mobile payment, the need for mobile financial security protection will also surge in the foreseeable future. Privacy Knight provides Indian users with an enjoyable and trustworthy privacy guard for their smartphone security,&quot; said Director Alibaba Mobile Security Department, Shuhua Chen. 
 
Simple yet reliable, the security app works on a one-second-step for face locking, saving users the trouble to remember patterns/pincode. 
 
Also, the face lock and blink detection setting ensure a 99.47 percent accuracy of face recognition, more precise than any other recognition models in the world.What makes Privacy Knight even safer is that no user information upload is requested, since face lock is accessible offline.Besides face lock, Privacy Knight also offers users excellent protection including app lock, vault, clean, themes, intruder selfie, fake cover, fake icon, and more.&nbsp;

Alibaba to launch India's first app-lock with a face lock feature.

Chinese mobile internet giant Alibaba Group has announced the launch of Privacy Knight, India`s first free app-lock with a face lock feature that protects mobile privacy from intruders. Currently available on Android, the app is equipped with face lock, the fastest and most accurate unlock solution in the world, which enables users to unlock their protected apps through a one-second-selfie. "Face lock is set to change the way people protect their privacy. It`s the next big thing after fingerprint lock. The age of face lock is here," said Country Manager of 9Apps (Android Marketplace within Alibaba Mobile Business Group), Ebrahim Popat. With the boost of smartphone utilization, India is now the largest consumer market for security app in the world. Such tremendous demand indicates a strong need for better privacy protection. "Indian users are particularly concerned about security of their private photos and SNS apps on their phones. On the other hand, with predictable popularization of mobile payment, the need for mobile financial security protection will also surge in the foreseeable future. Privacy Knight provides Indian users with an enjoyable and trustworthy privacy guard for their smartphone security," said Director Alibaba Mobile Security Department, Shuhua Chen. Simple yet reliable, the security app works on a one-second-step for face locking, saving users the trouble to remember patterns/pincode. Also, the face lock and blink detection setting ensure a 99.47 percent accuracy of face recognition, more precise than any other recognition models in the world.What makes Privacy Knight even safer is that no user information upload is requested, since face lock is accessible offline.Besides face lock, Privacy Knight also offers users excellent protection including app lock, vault, clean, themes, intruder selfie, fake cover, fake icon, and more.

Alibaba launches a face-lock security app called ''Privacy Knight''

Japanese mobile carrier SoftBank announced Wednesday they are planning to sell at least $ 7.9 billion (USD) of its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, as it looks to pay down a whopping debt load. 
 
The move will reduce SoftBank&#39;s 32.2 per cent holding in the Chinese company to about 28 per cent with the sale, it said, adding that proceeds would be earmarked to pay down debts. 
 
SoftBank said in a statement it has &quot;approved of a series of capital raising transactions, which involve monetising a portion of the shares of Alibaba&quot;. 
 
The Japanese mobile carrier, led by Masayoshi Son, first made its investment in Alibaba in 2000. 
 
&quot;This investment has been phenomenally successful and, over the past 16 years, we have built a close relationship, working together on 
many exciting projects,&quot; Son said in the statement, adding that the pair would continue to work together. 
 
Led by Son, SoftBank launched an acquisition streak that saw it pick up an assortment of firms, including its $16 billion purchase of US-based mobile giant Sprint. 
 
But the buying spree has put pressure on SoftBank&#39;s finances, and the firm also announced earlier this year it would buy back more than 14 per cent of its stock at a cost of about 500 billion yen. 
 
&nbsp;As per the official statement, Son and Alibaba&#39;s executive chairman Jack Ma will remain on the board of the other&#39;s firms 
 
&quot;Under the leadership of Masayoshi Son, SoftBank has been a highly valued, long-time partner of Alibaba for more than 16 years, and we look forward to continuing our strong partnership together,&quot; Ma said in a separate statement. 
 
&quot;As SoftBank looks to strengthen its own balance sheet, Alibaba determined that it was the best use of our capital to re-invest in our own business through an efficient buyback of a large number of shares in our own company that is accretive to our stockholders.&quot; 
 
SoftBank said Alibaba itself would buy back at least USD 2.0 billion worth of the shares it is selling. 
 
SoftBank has seen its profits boosted thanks to Alibaba&#39;s record USD 25 billion market debut in 2014 in New York. 
Today&#39;s announcement came after the Chinese online giant disclosed last week that US securities regulators were probing its accounting for possible violations of US securities laws. 
 
SoftBank shares rose more than two percent shortly after the opening bell today. 
 
Alibaba&#39;s US-listed shares declined 3.1 per cent yesterday after the announcement of SoftBank&#39;s planned share sale. (AFP)

Japanese mobile carrier SoftBank today said it will sell at least $ 7.9 billion (USD) of its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, as it looks to pay down a whopping debt.

Japanese mobile carrier SoftBank announced Wednesday they are planning to sell at least $ 7.9 billion (USD) of its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, as it looks to pay down a whopping debt load. The move will reduce SoftBank's 32.2 per cent holding in the Chinese company to about 28 per cent with the sale, it said, adding that proceeds would be earmarked to pay down debts. SoftBank said in a statement it has "approved of a series of capital raising transactions, which involve monetising a portion of the shares of Alibaba". The Japanese mobile carrier, led by Masayoshi Son, first made its investment in Alibaba in 2000. "This investment has been phenomenally successful and, over the past 16 years, we have built a close relationship, working together on many exciting projects," Son said in the statement, adding that the pair would continue to work together. Led by Son, SoftBank launched an acquisition streak that saw it pick up an assortment of firms, including its $16 billion purchase of US-based mobile giant Sprint. But the buying spree has put pressure on SoftBank's finances, and the firm also announced earlier this year it would buy back more than 14 per cent of its stock at a cost of about 500 billion yen. As per the official statement, Son and Alibaba's executive chairman Jack Ma will remain on the board of the other's firms "Under the leadership of Masayoshi Son, SoftBank has been a highly valued, long-time partner of Alibaba for more than 16 years, and we look forward to continuing our strong partnership together," Ma said in a separate statement. "As SoftBank looks to strengthen its own balance sheet, Alibaba determined that it was the best use of our capital to re-invest in our own business through an efficient buyback of a large number of shares in our own company that is accretive to our stockholders." SoftBank said Alibaba itself would buy back at least USD 2.0 billion worth of the shares it is selling. SoftBank has seen its profits boosted thanks to Alibaba's record USD 25 billion market debut in 2014 in New York. Today's announcement came after the Chinese online giant disclosed last week that US securities regulators were probing its accounting for possible violations of US securities laws. SoftBank shares rose more than two percent shortly after the opening bell today. Alibaba's US-listed shares declined 3.1 per cent yesterday after the announcement of SoftBank's planned share sale. (AFP)

SoftBank to sell part of stake in China's Alibaba for $7.9 billion

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