Shak - 3:16 am on Mar 5, 2005 (gmt 0)

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba is launching an online payment service it hopes will become the preferred way to buy things online in the world's second-biggest Internet market by users. With the official rollout of Alipay, privately held Alibaba is trying to steal a march on U.S. rival eBay Inc., the online auction firm whose PayPal service dominates the online payments market.

[cnn.com...]

This is a very strategic and important move for AliBaba.

For anyone following this market, 1 of the locks just got opened :)

Shak

Asked if he planned to make any acquisitions, Ma couldn't resist taking a jab at eBay, which firmly planted a stake in China with its purchase of auction site EachNet for $180 million. "Taobao is interested in buying eBay China. Everyone says 'Why don't you sell (your company) to eBay?' I say, why don't they sell to us?" Ma joked.