Alibaba.Com Re-Launches Yahoo! China As a Search Brand

          With New Focus on Search, Yahoo! China Poised to Surpass                       Baidu as China’s Search Leader   

BEIJING, Nov. 9 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ — Alibaba.com Corporation, China’s largest e-commerce company, announced today the re-launch of Yahoo! China, with a new home page and business model focused on search. As part of the re- launch, Yahoo! China’s search brands, including Yisou.com, have been consolidated and rebranded as “Yahoo! Search”.

“Yahoo! China’s new direction can be summed up in one key word — ‘search’,” said Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba.com, which in October acquired the China business of Yahoo! Inc. and became the exclusive licensee to the Yahoo! brand and search technology in China. “This is the first big step we are taking to reshape the Yahoo! brand in China since taking over its operations. We have successfully married Yahoo!’s world-class search technology with Alibaba.com’s expertise in China, to build the best search engine for China’s Internet users.”

The New Yahoo! China

The re-launched site, at http://www.yahoo.com.cn/ , provides a simplified look and feel with a home page focused on search:

   Before November 9, 2005    http://www.xfn.com/adv/xprn/media110901.htm    After November 9, 2005 Re-launch: Focus on Search    http://www.xfn.com/adv/xprn/media110902.htm    Poised for Market Leadership  

Yahoo! China already enjoys a strong second place position in the China search market, on the heels of market leader Baidu by only 5% in terms of market share. According to the latest available independent study from iResearch (Q1 2005), Yahoo! China’s search properties had a combined market share of 32% as measured by search queries, placing Yahoo! China in the No. 2 position behind Baidu (37%) and well ahead of third-place Google (19%) in China. “Search is an integral part of e-commerce,” said Ma. “We will soon be launching an aggressive and innovative marketing campaign to promote Yahoo! China as China’s leading search destination. Just as we’ve surpassed tough competitors to become the market leader in China’s business-to-business and consumer e-commerce sectors, we expect Yahoo! China will take the lead in search.”

Global Technology, Global Team and Local Expertise

With a team of Chinese-speaking search engineers based in both China and Silicon Valley, the partnership between Alibaba and Yahoo! Inc. will allow Yahoo! China to offer the best Chinese-language search technology to China’s Internet users. “To get it right locally, you have to have the right team globally. We have a team of world-class, Chinese-speaking engineers on both sides of the Pacific Ocean working to insure we provide Yahoo! China’s users with the fastest, most accurate, and most relevant Chinese-language search results,” said John Wu, Alibaba.com’s Chief Technology Officer. Prior to joining Alibaba.com in 2000 Wu worked at Yahoo! Inc. and served as a chief architect of Yahoo!’s directory search engine technology.

Yahoo! China now has the capacity to index one billion Chinese language web pages. In the three months since announcing the Yahoo! China acquisition, Yahoo! China’s servers have been moved to China to support large scale growth in search traffic on its site.

About Alibaba.com Corporation

Alibaba.com Corporation is China’s leading e-commerce company, operating the world’s largest online marketplaces for both international and domestic China trade, as well as China’s most popular online payment system, AliPay. Alibaba.com also owns and operates Yahoo! China, which it acquired in October, 2005.

Alibaba’s Portfolio of Businesses

Alibaba International ( http://www.alibaba.com/ ) is the world’s largest import-export marketplace primarily serving Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME’s) in the international trade community.

Alibaba China ( http://www.china.alibaba.com/ ) is China’s largest online marketplace for domestic trade among businesspeople.

TaoBao ( http://www.taobao.com/ ) is China’s most popular consumer-to- consumer trading site.

Yahoo! China ( http://www.yahoo.com.cn/ ). Yahoo! China, a division of Alibaba.com, is a leading internet search brand serving China’s consumers and businesses. In October 2005, Alibaba.com acquired Yahoo! China and formed a long-term strategic partnership with Yahoo! Inc.

AliPay Online Payment Solution

Alibaba operates AliPay ( http://www.alipay.com/ ) which enables individuals and businesses to securely, easily and quickly send and receive payments online.

Alibaba.com’s Team

Alibaba.com was founded in 1999 and is based in Hangzhou, eastern China. It has approximately 3,000 employees, 13 regional sales offices across China and other offices in Hong Kong, Silicon Valley, Europe, and Beijing.

   For more information, please contact:    Alibaba.com Corporation    Porter Erisman    Vice-President, Corporate Marketing    Mobile: +86-138-1782-6630    Email:  porter@alibaba-inc.com    Worldwide Communications & Television for Alibaba.com    Marcy Simon    Media Relations    Tel:    +1-212-445-8220    Email:  marcy@wctv.com  

Web Sites: http://www.yahoo.com.cn http://www.Alibaba.com http://www.AliPay.com http://www.China.Alibaba.com http://www.xfn.com/adv/xprn/media110902.htm http://www.xfn.com/adv/xprn/media110901.htm

Alibaba.com

CONTACT: Porter Erisman, Vice-President, Corporate Marketing ofAlibaba.com Corporation, mobile, +86-138-1782-6630, or porter@alibaba-inc.com;Marcy Simon, Media Relations of Worldwide Communications & Television,+1-212-445-8220, or marcy@wctv.com, for Alibaba.com