BEIJING (Reuters) - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, the Chinese e-commerce titan gearing up for a mammoth U.S. initial public offering, has reported a blackmail attempt by a media organization to police, the company said on its official microblog on Friday.
Alibaba said on its Weibo microblog that the media organization sought $300,000 to suppress a negative report about the company. Alibaba said the matter had been reported to police in Hangzhou, where the firm is based.
Alibaba's listing on the New York Stock Exchange could be one of the biggest initial public offerings ever. The company, founded by Jack Ma, is now looking at a September debut, a source told Reuters on Thursday.
(Reporting by Paul Carsten. Editing by David Clarke)
Jack Ma is the CEO of Alibaba Group, the Chinese leader in e-commerce with counts five companies specialized in online shopping as Tabao.com, the second global site behind eBay and Yahoo China, the search engine and portal bought by Yahoo in 2005.
In his younger years, Jack Ma was a tour guide; his excellent command of English and his perfect knowledge of the province of Hangzhou where he comes from allow him to be really good in this job.
Graduated from Hangzhou Teachers' Institute in 1988, Jack Ma taught for some time before creating a translation agency that knows a big success thanks to U.S. and foreign companies who move in China.
During a trip he made in the USA as an interpreter, Jack Ma discovers computers and internet. Fascinated, he ordered to a friend a website for his translation agency.
Back in China, he borrowed $ 2,000 from friends and launched the website China pages, considered as the first commercial website in the country. The site has difficulties to find its business model and stops. Jack Ma got a job at the Ministry of Foreign Trade, a position which enabled him in 1998 to meet Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo.
Jack Ma really wants to invest in the web.He managed to borrow $ 60,000 for the launch of Alibaba.com in 1999. Quickly, the company is a leader in the sector of business-to-business (B2B). The credibility won lets Jack Ma to raise $ 25 million dollars, allowed by the most demanding investors like Goldman Sachs, or the Japanese Internet entrepreneur Masayoshi Son.
In March 2002, Alibaba.com counts one million users and starts to generate profits.
In 2003, Jack Ma is launching on online auction with Taobao.com, which means "the search of treasure." It quickly emerged as a serious rival to eBay. Yahoo, which closely follows the evolution of Alibaba pays $ 1 billion in 2005 to enter in it capital at 40%. In return, the company Alibaba, valued at $ 4 billion takes control of Yahoo! China.
In 2008, Alibaba.com has 23 million visitors, 65% in China. It aggregates five companies: Taobao, the largest e-commerce website CtoC, Alisoft, which provides software for companies. Alipay, the first online payment service in China and of course Yahoo China, a search engine and portal Yahoo bought in October 2005.
| Linked companies | |
|---|---|
| Alisoft (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. | Chairman |
Shanghai Yunfeng Investment Management Co. Ltd.
 Shanghai Yunfeng Investment Management Co. Ltd. Investment ManagersFinance Shanghai Yunfeng Investment Management Co. Ltd (Yunfeng Capital) is a private equity firm founded in 2010 by Feng Yu and Yun Ma. The firm is headquartered in Shanghai, China. | Founder |
