Jack Ma Explains Why Alibaba Won't Buy eBay, But Is Building Global Marketplace

Loading...
Loading...

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA executive chairman Jack Ma was interviewed by CNBC on Wednesday. In the interview, Ma discussed why Alibaba is not considering buying eBay Inc EBAY and why the company will succeed in building a global marketplace.

‘You Have To Create Something’

On why Alibaba is not buying eBay, Ma said, "Well, if you want to buy, I think— first, I don’t know whether they will sell; and the second, we have to think about one thing – if you [are] doing that’s not as simple as only buy, you have to create something. You have to create something that never exist for the future."

Ma continued, "So, we [are] focusing more thinking about the next 10–20 years [...] If eBay did not succeed, why we can be successful? What are the things we should do differently? I think, Internet is so young and to buy big companies to digest like us, it’s not easy. So, we have to think about how to develop ourselves."

‘Because We Control The Buy Side’

Ma was asked why he thinks Alibaba is going to succeed in building a global marketplace, when others like eBay have failed in it. He replied, "We will be focused on helping small business. And I think this time – because we have 350 million buyers in China – so, we think about bringing the American small business to China, bringing European small business to China, because we control the buy side. It will be easier.

"If you don’t have the buy side, it’s difficult to help the supply side. When we have such a huge demand in China, especially last year our GMV was $390 billion. For that demand it could support millions and millions of small business," Ma concluded.

Image Credit: Public Domain
Loading...
Loading...
Posted In: CNBCMediaJack Ma
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!

Loading...