Alibaba inks JV for Japanese expansion

Alibaba.com, the Hong Kong-listed arm of Alibaba Group, and Japanese telecom group Softbank formed a joint venture yesterday to develop an e-commerce platform to link small corporate buyers and suppliers between the two countries, Reuters reported. Softbank, which already owns 30% of Alibaba Group, will pay US$20 million for a 65% stake in the venture - to be called Alibaba.com Japan. The Chinese company will hold the remainder. Alibaba.com Japan will take over operation of Alibaba.com's existing Japanese language website. The Chinese firm has also signed an agreement with India's Infomedia to develop a similar online trading platform for Indian businesses.