Alibaba invests in Sina’s Weibo at US$586m

Thu, May 2, 2013: SINA, an online media company serving China and the global Chinese communities, via its statement announced that Alibaba has invested RM1.8 billion (US$586 million) to purchase 18 per cent share of its wholly owned microblogging platform – Weibo.

SINA and Alibaba both agreed to jointly explore social commerce and develop innovative marketing solutions to enable merchants on Alibab e-commerce platforms to better connect and build relationships with Weibo users. The strategic alliance is expected to bring about 2 billion (US$380 million) revenue from the advertising and social commerce services for Weibo over the next three years.