Alibaba has rocketed to the lofty position of being the world’s largest retailer.
The Chinese company started operations only 15 years ago in 1999 when Jack Ma created the Alibaba.com website to connect Chinese manufacturers with overseas buyers.
By the time it went public in September of this year, its market value was $231bn but when its valuation hit $251bn on 28 October, it overtook the American supermarket Wal-mart to become the biggest retailer.
Wal-mart operates 11,000 stores in 27 countries, including Asda in the UK. But business faith in Alibabi outstripped that in Asda after Jack Ma announced he hoped to work with Apple on an electronic payments system.
The Chinese e-commerce business has expanded from its original business-to-business operation and now runs a number of online marketplaces in China, including services that are similar to Amazon and eBay as well a discount sales website.
These three sites have attracted 279 million active buyers every year.
