Alibaba Group acquires NetEase Koala for $2 billion, the statement was made by both companies. With the acquisition, Alibaba wants to integrate it into Tmall. The project is going to be the largest cross-border e-commerce platform in China.
After the acquisition, Tmall’s import and export general manager, Alvin Liu, has been named as Koala’s new CEO. However, after the acquisition, Koala will remain to operate independently under its own brand.
Tmall and Koala are China’s largest and second-largest cross-border e-commerce platforms. They hold, respectively, 31.7% and 24.5% of the market. Therefore, their union means they will create a business that will far outstrip in size rivals like JD Worldwide, VIP International and Amazon China.
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Besides, Alibaba and Yunfeng, an investment launched by Alibaba founder, also agreed to invest $700 million to NetEase Cloud Music’s latest funding round.
NetEase
NetEase is China leading internet technology-company. It aims to provide premium online services, range from content, community, communication, and also commerce.
It develops and operates some of the most popular mobile games and PC-clients in China. Besides, the company services have also expanded rapidly into another international market, like Japan and North America.
Meanwhile, Koala is Netease’s marketplace. It has become one of China’s market giants besides Alibaba, JD, Xiomi, and Tencent. It sells various products. Most of the products are from China, South Korea, and also Japan.
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Earlier this year, the platform planned to open brick and mortar stores. The moves came as a bid to keep up with the new retail boom.
The plans accompanied by interactive screens feature. Later, it allows customers to browse products and view popular items.
With the new acquisition, Alibaba remains confident about the future of China’s import e-commerce market.
