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Alibaba Group Holding Limited

e-commerceFounded 1999
Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya
Company data updated: September 2026

Acquisitions

Alibaba Acquisitions

6

Major Deals Covered

$18.6B

Disclosed Deal Value

What are Alibaba's biggest acquisitions?

Alibaba's largest disclosed acquisition here is Ele.me for $9.5B in 2018. This page covers 6 major deals from 2014 to 2020, each with its price where disclosed and the reason behind it.

Major deals covered
6
Largest deal
Ele.me ($9.5B)
First deal
2014
Most recent
2020
CompanyYearPricePurpose
Lazada2016$1.0BAlibaba acquired a controlling stake in Lazada, the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia with operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam, for approximately $1 billion later increasing its stake in subsequent rounds that valued the company at much higher levels. The acquisition was motivated by the desire to establish a dominant position in Southeast Asia before the region's internet economy matured, preempting both Amazon and domestic competitors. Lazada gave Alibaba access to six of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing digital consumer markets simultaneously.
Ele.me2018$9.5BAlibaba acquired full ownership of Ele.me, China's second-largest food delivery platform, for approximately $9.5 billion in 2018, expanding from its position as an earlier partial investor. The acquisition was motivated by the desire to establish a competitive position against Meituan in the on-demand local services market and to build a physical commerce network that would complement Alibaba's digital commerce platforms with real-world, location-based services.
Youku Tudou2016$3.7BAlibaba acquired Youku Tudou, China's leading online video platform (often called 'China's YouTube'), for approximately $3.7 billion, taking the company private after it had been publicly listed. The acquisition was motivated by the belief that video content would become a dominant digital media format and that owning a leading video platform would generate large advertising revenue and create opportunities to distribute Alibaba's content and entertainment across a new medium.
Trendyol (stake investment)2018$750.0MAlibaba acquired a significant minority stake in Trendyol, Turkey's leading e-commerce platform, for approximately $750 million in 2018 a pioneering move into the Middle Eastern and European digital commerce market at a time when few international investors were backing Turkish technology companies at meaningful scale.
Sun Art Retail Group (Auchan Retail China)2020$3.6BAlibaba acquired a controlling 72% stake in Sun Art Retail Group, the operator of over 480 hypermarket stores in China under the RT-Mart and Auchan brands, for approximately $3.6 billion. The acquisition was part of Alibaba's 'New Retail' strategy integrating online and offline commerce by bringing digital commerce capabilities into physical store environments and using stores as fulfillment points for online orders.
AutoNavi Holdings Limited2014UndisclosedAlibaba Group Holding Limited acquired AutoNavi Holdings Limited in 2014.
What companies has Alibaba bought?
Major acquisitions by Alibaba documented here include Ele.me (2018), Youku Tudou (2016), Sun Art Retail Group (Auchan Retail China) (2020), Lazada (2016) and Trendyol (stake investment) (2018).
What is Alibaba's most recent acquisition?
The most recent Alibaba acquisition documented here is Sun Art Retail Group (Auchan Retail China), in 2020, for $3.6B.

Sun Art Retail Group (Auchan Retail China)

2020

$3.6B

Why

Alibaba acquired a controlling 72% stake in Sun Art Retail Group, the operator of over 480 hypermarket stores in China under the RT-Mart and Auchan brands, for approximately $3.6 billion. The acquisition was part of Alibaba's 'New Retail' strategy integrating online and offline commerce by bringing digital commerce capabilities into physical store environments and using stores as fulfillment points for online orders.

Impact

Sun Art gave Alibaba access to one of China's largest networks of physical retail locations, providing last-mile logistics nodes for grocery delivery within a 3-kilometer radius of hundreds of hypermarkets. The integration of Alibaba's digital commerce technology dynamic pricing, personalized promotions, mobile checkout into Sun Art's physical stores was intended to demonstrate a new retail operating model.

Outcome

The New Retail integration has produced mixed results, with the transformation of legacy hypermarket operations proving more complex and slower than anticipated. Sun Art's financial performance has been affected by competitive pressures from both online grocery platforms and newer physical retail formats. As part of its capital allocation reassessment, Alibaba has reduced its exposure to non-core retail assets and Sun Art's strategic priority within the group has diminished since the initial enthusiasm of the New Retail era.

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Ele.me

2018

$9.5B

Why

Alibaba acquired full ownership of Ele.me, China's second-largest food delivery platform, for approximately $9.5 billion in 2018, expanding from its position as an earlier partial investor. The acquisition was motivated by the desire to establish a competitive position against Meituan in the on-demand local services market and to build a physical commerce network that would complement Alibaba's digital commerce platforms with real-world, location-based services.

Impact

Ele.me gave Alibaba access to the high-frequency, location-anchored consumer behavior represented by food delivery a category where consumers make purchasing decisions multiple times per week, creating engagement density that benefits the entire Alibaba ecosystem. The platform's delivery network has also been repurposed for non-food local commerce, enabling hyperlocal delivery of groceries, pharmaceuticals, and general merchandise from Alibaba's Freshippo stores.

Outcome

Ele.me has remained solidly in second place behind Meituan in China's food delivery market, which has proved to be a duopoly resistant to meaningful disruption by either side. The acquisition required sustained heavy investment in subsidies and operations, contributing significant losses to the local services segment for several years. Recent management focus on loss reduction rather than market share maximization has improved the financial profile while accepting a structurally secondary market position.

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Trendyol (stake investment)

2018

$750M

Why

Alibaba acquired a significant minority stake in Trendyol, Turkey's leading e-commerce platform, for approximately $750 million in 2018 a pioneering move into the Middle Eastern and European digital commerce market at a time when few international investors were backing Turkish technology companies at meaningful scale.

Impact

Trendyol has grown into one of Turkey's most valuable technology companies and one of Alibaba's most successful international investments, expanding beyond Turkey into neighboring markets including Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, and other Middle Eastern countries. The platform's integration of Alibaba's technology and operational expertise accelerated its development of logistics capabilities, merchant tools, and consumer features.

Outcome

Trendyol is widely cited within Alibaba as the model for how the company's international investments should work a local team with deep market knowledge operating with significant autonomy while benefiting from Alibaba's technology, capital, and commercial expertise. The platform's success has influenced Alibaba's approach to managing Lazada, Daraz, and AliExpress, with greater emphasis on local team empowerment and market-specific product development.

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Lazada

2016

$1.0B

Why

Alibaba acquired a controlling stake in Lazada, the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia with operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam, for approximately $1 billion later increasing its stake in subsequent rounds that valued the company at much higher levels. The acquisition was motivated by the desire to establish a dominant position in Southeast Asia before the region's internet economy matured, preempting both Amazon and domestic competitors. Lazada gave Alibaba access to six of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing digital consumer markets simultaneously.

Impact

The Lazada acquisition established Alibaba as the leading cross-border and domestic e-commerce operator across most of Southeast Asia for several years following the investment. Lazada's logistics infrastructure, merchant relationships, and consumer brand recognition gave Alibaba a foundation it would have taken years to build organically. The platform served as Alibaba's entry point for deploying its entire ecosystem of services Alipay, Alibaba Cloud, Ant's financial products into Southeast Asian markets.

Outcome

Lazada's performance has been disappointing relative to the investment made it has been overtaken as the regional e-commerce leader by Shopee (Sea Limited) in most Southeast Asian markets and faces growing pressure from TikTok Shop. Alibaba has invested billions more in Lazada after the initial acquisition and has cycled through multiple CEO appointments. The platform remains operationally active and holds meaningful market positions in some markets, but the original thesis of Southeast Asian e-commerce dominance has not been achieved.

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Youku Tudou

2016

$3.7B

Why

Alibaba acquired Youku Tudou, China's leading online video platform (often called 'China's YouTube'), for approximately $3.7 billion, taking the company private after it had been publicly listed. The acquisition was motivated by the belief that video content would become a dominant digital media format and that owning a leading video platform would generate large advertising revenue and create opportunities to distribute Alibaba's content and entertainment across a new medium.

Impact

Youku gave Alibaba a major content distribution platform with hundreds of millions of registered users and a substantial content library. The platform provided a showcase for Alibaba Pictures' film productions, a distribution channel for live content associated with Alibaba's entertainment investments, and an advertising environment reaching premium urban consumers demographics important to Tmall's brand merchant advertisers.

Outcome

Youku has struggled to compete effectively against iQiyi (Baidu's streaming platform), Tencent Video, and the rapid growth of short-video platforms including Douyin and Kuaishou. The platform has required continued heavy content investment while facing audience fragmentation that has made advertising yield growth difficult. Alibaba has written down the value of its digital media assets substantially and the segment remains loss-making, leading the company to explore strategic options for the business as part of the 2023 restructuring.

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AutoNavi Holdings Limited

2014

Why

Alibaba Group Holding Limited acquired AutoNavi Holdings Limited in 2014.

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Alibaba Group Holding Limited's Growth & Acquisition Strategy

Facing intense regulatory scrutiny and fierce domestic competition, Alibaba's growth strategy recently underwent a large structural overhaul. They announced a plan to split the empire into six separate, independent business groups (like Cloud, E-commerce, and Logistics), allowing each to operate faster and potentially seek their own IPOs. Strategically, they are heavily focused on defending their domestic e-commerce turf through deep discounting, while aggressively pushing their 'Alibaba Cloud' division to capture the booming Chinese enterprise AI market.

How Alibaba Group Holding Limited Makes Money

Alibaba earns revenue from customer-management services and commissions on its China commerce marketplaces, direct sales and logistics services in international commerce, cloud products and services, Cainiao logistics, local services, and digital media. Taobao and Tmall primarily connect merchants with consumers rather than operating only as first-party retailers.

Alibaba Acquisitions FAQ

What was Alibaba's major acquisition of Lazada and how did it expand Southeast Asian presence?

Alibaba acquired a controlling stake in Southeast Asian e-commerce operator Lazada between 2016 and 2018 with cumulative investments exceeding $4 billion, integrating logistics and technology to establish a dominant regional presence across six countries.

When and why did Alibaba acquire on-demand food delivery platform Ele.me?

In April 2018, Alibaba and Ant Financial acquired on-demand delivery platform Ele.me in an all-cash transaction valuing the company at $9.5 billion, integrating its nationwide on-demand rider network into Alibaba's local consumer ecosystem.

How did Alibaba acquire video streaming platform Youku Tudou?

In November 2015, Alibaba acquired full ownership of leading Chinese video streaming platform Youku Tudou in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $4.8 billion, making it the core digital entertainment pillar of the conglomerate.

What is Trendyol and how did Alibaba acquire control of the Turkish e-commerce platform?

Alibaba acquired a majority stake in Turkish e-commerce leader Trendyol in 2018 for over $750 million, subsequently expanding Trendyol's marketplace footprint across Turkey, the Middle East, and European cross-border markets.

When did Alibaba acquire the South China Morning Post (SCMP)?

Alibaba acquired Hong Kong's English-language newspaper of record, the South China Morning Post (SCMP), in December 2015 for HK$2.06 billion ($266 million USD), investing in its global digital publishing platform.

What physical retail supermarket chains did Alibaba acquire or invest heavily in?

Alibaba acquired Sun Art Retail Group (China's leading hypermarket operator) for over $3.6 billion in 2020 and established the Freshippo (Hema) proprietary digital grocery chain to pioneer omnichannel 'New Retail' grocery delivery.

How did Alibaba acquire semiconductor design capability through C-SKY Microsystems?

In April 2018, Alibaba acquired Chinese embedded CPU developer C-SKY Microsystems, merging it with internal R&D teams to establish T-Head (PingTouGe Semiconductor) to design custom RISC-V and AI data center processors.

What divestment strategy is Alibaba executing regarding non-core retail acquisitions?

Beginning in 2023 to 2024, Alibaba initiated plans to divest or scale down capital allocations in non-core physical retail assets (such as department store operator Intime and Sun Art) to refocus capital exclusively on core e-commerce and cloud AI.

What companies has Alibaba acquired?

Alibaba aggressively acquired Lazada to dominate the Southeast Asian e-commerce market, along with massive stakes in Chinese media and logistics firms.

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Content is for informational purposes only. Not financial advice. Data sourced from SEC filings, annual reports, and public records. See our full disclaimer and methodology.