Our mission is “to make it easy to do business anywhere.” Our founders started our company to champion small businesses, in the belief that the Internet would level the playing field by enabling small enterprises to leverage innovation and technology to grow and compete more effectively in domestic and global economies. We believe that concentrating on customer needs and solving their problems – whether those customers are consumers, merchants or enterprises – ultimately will lead to the best outcome for our business.

Alibaba Group was founded in 1999 by 18 people led by Jack Ma, a former English teacher from Hangzhou, China. It began as an online wholesale marketplace for small Chinese exporters and entrepreneurs to reach global buyers.

Jack Ma chose the name because it is well-known around the world and it can be easily pronounced in many languages. E-commerce is global so we needed a name that was globally recognized. Alibaba brings to mind “open sesame,” representing that our platforms open a doorway to fortune for small businesses.

The principal executive offices of our main operations are located at 969 West Wen Yi Road, Yuhang District, Hangzhou, China.

Currently, the Alibaba Group corporate campus, located in the Yuhang District of Hangzhou, China, is not open to the public.

We maintain offices in many countries and regions, including mainland China, Hong Kong S.A.R., Singapore and the United States. In addition, we maintain data centers in a number of countries including China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, the UAE, Germany, the UK, Japan and the U.S.

As of March 31, 2025, we had a total of 124,320 employees.

To learn about our job openings, please visit the Careers page.

We have always felt a responsibility to help solve problems in society, because that is implied in our mission – “to make it easy to do business anywhere.” For more information, please refer to ESG.