Thursday, September 28, 2017

Alibaba Thinks There's Money To Be Made In the Physical World: Announces $15 Billion Logistics Investment

Moving stuff around seems to still hold promise.
From Forbes:

Alibaba To Invest $15 Billion In Global Logistics And Takes A Controlling Stake In Cainia
China-based Alibaba has acquired a controlling stake in logistics company Cainiao. The e-retailer giant has further announced an intention to invest 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) in its global logistical capabilities over the next five years.

Cainiao currently executes 57 million deliveries a day. Alibaba had owned 47% of Cainiao, but has invested a further RMB5.3 billion (US$807 million) to increase its stake to 51%

“By enhancing the logistics capabilities within the Alibaba ecosystem and extending our investment in this sector,” said Daniel Zhang, chief executive of Alibaba Group, “we are further enabling our New Retail strategy to bring online and offline retail into one seamless experience for shoppers.”

Cainiao was founded four years ago as a collaborative venture to improve the delivery of online purchases across China. The backers were primarily financial institutions as well as other logistics companies but was always considered an extension of Alibaba’s own logistics capabilities....MORE