Chinese Internet titan Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) is clearly not resting on its laurels after the firm’s recent record-setting IPO. According to a November 11th article in Bloomberg News, Alibaba is already involved in discussions with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) about its payments platform and is open to collaborations with PayPal in the future.
Alibaba focusing on global expansion
Just two months after its IPO, China’s largest e-commerce firm is now focusing on global expansion. The company’s financial affiliate is the largest payments processor in the country and already has 17.9 million active users abroad in more than 100 countries across the globe.
Alibaba has also recently begun marketing activities in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong using online advertising, videos and social media, including ads on Facebook Inc.
While Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) has been working to develop its U.S. operations and selected New York for its IPO, the company is far from a household name in the U.S.
In fact, among 3,500 U.S. online shoppers surveyed, more than 63% said they were unfamiliar with Alibaba, according to a recent survey Los Angeles-based marketing consultant Connexity Inc.
Interview with Alibaba Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai
“If you look at our footprint of being the largest online payment company in China, and PayPal’s position of having a very good international position, not just in the U.S. but also in some other countries, these are some complementary footprints,” Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA)’s Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai said Tuesday during an interview in Hangzhou, China.
Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Apple CEO Tim Cook noted they are open to working together on projects that would allow phones to become tools for buying and selling goods in October.
“Their team is talking to our team,” Tsai said in today’s interview. “We would be interested in working with them to power that payment function.”
