Alibaba buys Kaola to improve its import services and customer experience
Alibaba has acquired Netease's Kaola for approximately US$2bn with the aim to elevate its import services and customer experience.
Alibaba acquires Netease's import e-commerce platform Kaola for US$2bn
Kaola will continue to operate independently under its current brand with Tmall import and export general manager Alvin Liu as its new chief executive officer.
Furthermore, Alibaba and Netease have partnered for Alibaba, together with Yunfeng, to invest approximately US$700m in Netease Cloud Music in its latest round of financing.
The completion of this transaction is subject to certain closing conditions and Netease will remain the controlling shareholder of Netease Cloud Music following the closing of this transaction.
According to Daniel Zhang, chief executive officer of Alibaba Group, the acquisition will help them with China’s import e-commerce market, which he believes remains in its infancy with great growth potential.
He added: “We welcome Kaola to the Alibaba family and value NetEase’s contributions in incubating an e-commerce platform with strong import capabilities. We welcome Kaola to the Alibaba family and value Netease’s contributions in incubating an e-commerce platform with strong import capabilities.
“Alibaba also looks forward to becoming a partner in the future development of Netease Cloud Music and exploring innovative collaboration in the digital entertainment space.”
William Ding, the chief executive officer of Netease said: “As the controlling shareholder of Netease Cloud Music, we will continue to fully support the growth of this business, helping it to realize its strategic goals in the music industry.”
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Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a Chinese multinational e-commerce, retail, Internet, AI and technology conglomerate founded in 1999.
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