Alibaba Buys E-Commerce Platform Kaola For $2B

Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA has acquired NetEase, Inc. NTES's import e-commerce platform Kaola for $2 billion.

Alibaba plans for Kaola to continue to operate independently under its current brand.

The group has named Alvin Liu as Kaola's new CEO. Liu previously held the position of export general manager of Alibaba's Tmall Import.

Alibaba and NetEase have also entered into an agreement for Alibaba, together with Yunfeng, to invest $700 million in NetEase Cloud Music in its latest round of financing.

"Alibaba is confident about the future of China's import e-commerce market, which we believe remains in its infancy with great growth potential,” Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang said in a statement. 

“We welcome Kaola to the Alibaba family and value NetEase's contributions in incubating an e-commerce platform with strong import capabilities. With Kaola, we will further elevate import service and experience for Chinese consumers through synergies across the Alibaba ecosystem."

Alibaba Group shares were trading down by 0.8% at $177.49 at the time of publication Friday. The stock has a 52-week high of $195.72 and a 52-week low of $129.77.

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Photo courtesy of Alibaba.