Alibaba.com spins off Ali-Institute as an individual company

HANGZHOU, October 29, 2009 – Alibaba.com announced today in Hangzhou, China, that Alibaba (China) Education Technology Co., Ltd (informally known as “Ali-Institute”) was officially spun off as a subsidiary company of Alibaba.com.

Through its curriculum, Ali-Institute will serve as an important incubator for e-commerce talent in China, creating a pool of trained, qualified people for SMEs to recruit from to run their growing e-commerce operations. As an additional benefit, Ali-Institute will help enhance the employment rate of new university graduates. Ali-Institute is another example of Alibaba.com’s investments in helping SMEs survive the economic winter by assisting them in sourcing the talent they need to grow.

Established in September 2004, Ali-Institute has educated more than 30,000 people to date on e-commerce applications. Of the students who joined the course in 2007, more than 90% were either employed by a company or have started their own business.

According to iResearch, there was demand in China for 2.3 million e-commerce workers in 2008, but a lack of talented, experienced e-commerce executives meant that only 41% of the demand was met. Ali-Institute is designed to help close that shortfall.

“Ali-Institute is spinning out because education is a very different business model, and would be better as a standalone,” said David Wei, CEO of Alibaba.com. “However, we do feel that this is a key component to supporting the growth of small businesses, so it will be very well tied in with the B2B and all the other group companies. Going forward, Ali-Institute will continue to train and educate talent for the new business paradigm.”

About Alibaba.com

Alibaba.com (HKSE:1688) (HK.1688) is the global leader in business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce and the flagship company of Alibaba Group. Founded in 1999, Alibaba.com makes it easy for millions of buyers and suppliers around the world to do business online through three marketplaces: a global trade marketplace (www.alibaba.com) for importers and exporters, a Chinese marketplace (www.alibaba.com.cn) for domestic trade in China, and, through an associated company, a Japanese marketplace (www.alibaba.co.jp) facilitating trade to and from Japan. Together, its marketplaces form a community of more than 42 million registered users from more than 240 countries and regions. Alibaba.com also offers business management software solutions targeting small businesses across China under the “Alisoft” brand. Founded in Hangzhou, China, Alibaba.com has offices in more than 50 cities across Greater China, Japan, Korea, Europe and the United States.