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"We operate a micro-finance business that provides micro loans to small- and medium-sized enterprises who are sellers on our wholesale and retail marketplaces,

"We operate a micro-finance business that provides micro loans to small- and medium-sized enterprises who are sellers on our wholesale and retail marketplaces, or our SME loan business. We extend micro loans through our lending vehicles licensed by the relevant local governments in China." Turns out reading these is actually useful, I had no idea they issued microloans.

alaskamiller 12y ago
What they mean is AliPay - http://global.alipay.com/ospay/home.htm http://global.alipay.com/ospay/home.htm Jack Ma spoke on it last year at Stanford - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRp4jiJed3c http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRp4jiJed3c My prediction: Alibaba is on a path to take over the world. In the next 5 years the startup and silicon valley landscape will change dramatically with the introduction of Alibaba as a major player stateside. Yahoo will be bought, all these spree acquisitions and product dev based on borrowed time and money (ironically from Alibaba) is to walk away with as much money from Alibaba when that inevitable moment happens. Maybe that's why Marissa Meyer has such confidence. If you work on anything tangential and remotely related to ecommerce, enterprise, or logistics, at scale--the type of scale that can actually impress a man that has the indirect democratic approval of a a nation composed of a billion people--you now have an additional avenue for exit aside from Amazon. Alibaba will become an American household name overnight, that took 15 years to happen.
- jacquesm 12y ago
  That's quite the prediction. I have been following Alibaba for a while now and it is an incredible phenomenon. What you predict might very well come true. Reading up on Jack Ma is time well spent. Didn't he retire from Alibaba? He's listed as the CEO on the F-1 so I presume not but he announced his intention to step down quite publicly at some point.
  - presty 12y ago
    He (Jack Ma) stepped down and Jonathan Lu is now CEO http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-17/alibaba-ceo-lu-rises-from-holiday-inn-job-to-ma-confidant-tech.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-17/alibaba-ceo-lu-rise...
    - jacquesm 12y ago
      Right, the F-1 lists Jack Ma as "Executive Chairman", so he's leading the board rather than the company.
- presty 12y ago
  Jack Ma would say Alibaba was a household name since the beginning http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alibaba_Group#History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alibaba_Group#History :p
  - alaskamiller 12y ago
    Life is but a series of re-introductions :)
- crashandburn4 12y ago
  >My prediction: Alibaba is on a path to take over the world. I couldn't ask about some sources/information on this? I've only been tangentially aware of alibaba, reading the odd news story here and there, I'd be interested to hear what has inspired such strong words on the subject as that makes me think maybe there's something I'm missing about them.
  - alaskamiller 12y ago
    Start with that YouTube video at 1.5x Then look at this http://qz.com/206283/all-the-western-companies-youd-have-to-combine-to-get-something-like-alibaba/ http://qz.com/206283/all-the-western-companies-youd-have-to-...
    - nemothekid 12y ago
      The Quartz article is eye opening, but then I also realized Google also operates in a very similar fashion, and alot of those entities have Google counterparts. What will be interesting from the IPO would be to know if there is a single cash cow (like Google's Adwords) or if theres are more healthy split
instoftech 12y ago
Yes, their microloans business is what makes investors particularly excited. They have the technology (big data) and resource to disrupt internet finance. One note: <another comment posted here is inaccurate>. Their microloan business is not called AliPay (AliPay is the Chinese version of Paypal from Alibaba).

alaskamiller 12y ago

What they mean is AliPay - http://global.alipay.com/ospay/home.htm http://global.alipay.com/ospay/home.htm Jack Ma spoke on it last year at Stanford - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRp4jiJed3c http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRp4jiJed3c My prediction: Alibaba is on a path to take over the world. In the next 5 years the startup and silicon valley landscape will change dramatically with the introduction of Alibaba as a major player stateside. Yahoo will be bought, all these spree acquisitions and product dev based on borrowed time and money (ironically from Alibaba) is to walk away with as much money from Alibaba when that inevitable moment happens. Maybe that's why Marissa Meyer has such confidence. If you work on anything tangential and remotely related to ecommerce, enterprise, or logistics, at scale--the type of scale that can actually impress a man that has the indirect democratic approval of a a nation composed of a billion people--you now have an additional avenue for exit aside from Amazon. Alibaba will become an American household name overnight, that took 15 years to happen.

jacquesm 12y ago
That's quite the prediction. I have been following Alibaba for a while now and it is an incredible phenomenon. What you predict might very well come true. Reading up on Jack Ma is time well spent. Didn't he retire from Alibaba? He's listed as the CEO on the F-1 so I presume not but he announced his intention to step down quite publicly at some point.
- presty 12y ago
  He (Jack Ma) stepped down and Jonathan Lu is now CEO http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-17/alibaba-ceo-lu-rises-from-holiday-inn-job-to-ma-confidant-tech.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-17/alibaba-ceo-lu-rise...
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    Right, the F-1 lists Jack Ma as "Executive Chairman", so he's leading the board rather than the company.
presty 12y ago
Jack Ma would say Alibaba was a household name since the beginning http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alibaba_Group#History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alibaba_Group#History :p
- alaskamiller 12y ago
  Life is but a series of re-introductions :)
crashandburn4 12y ago
>My prediction: Alibaba is on a path to take over the world. I couldn't ask about some sources/information on this? I've only been tangentially aware of alibaba, reading the odd news story here and there, I'd be interested to hear what has inspired such strong words on the subject as that makes me think maybe there's something I'm missing about them.
- alaskamiller 12y ago
  Start with that YouTube video at 1.5x Then look at this http://qz.com/206283/all-the-western-companies-youd-have-to-combine-to-get-something-like-alibaba/ http://qz.com/206283/all-the-western-companies-youd-have-to-...
  - nemothekid 12y ago
    The Quartz article is eye opening, but then I also realized Google also operates in a very similar fashion, and alot of those entities have Google counterparts. What will be interesting from the IPO would be to know if there is a single cash cow (like Google's Adwords) or if theres are more healthy split

instoftech 12y ago

Yes, their microloans business is what makes investors particularly excited. They have the technology (big data) and resource to disrupt internet finance. One note: <another comment posted here is inaccurate>. Their microloan business is not called AliPay (AliPay is the Chinese version of Paypal from Alibaba).