Billionaire Jack Ma’s Alibaba, the dominant force in China’s USD1.6 trillion e-commerce market, may already have lost a battle with rival Tencent for the world’s biggest mobile market.
While Alibaba Group dominates in e-commerce, Tencent Holdings has taken over China’s smartphone screens with its WeChat, or Weixin, social messaging platform.
It’s a battle that is being more closely watched after Facebook’s USD19 billion WhatsApp buy, and puts the spotlight on Ma’s mobile strategy, especially as Alibaba winds up for a mega IPO that could value the company at close to USD130 billion.
(Source: CNBC)