Alibaba is the world’s largest online and mobile commerce business, specialising in e-commerce, retail, internet, and technology products, providing business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), and customer-to-customer (C2C) sales services. It was founded on 28 June 1999 by Jack Ma along with 17 of his friends and students. Its headquarters are in Hangzhou, China. Spanning three websites – Taobao, Tmall and Alibaba.com – it has become the dominant e-commerce force in China, with an 80% market share. The company’s mission was to improve the domestic e-commerce market, create a reliable platform for business enterprises, and improve the exportation of Chinese products to global markets. Its founder Jack Ma is now one of the world’s richest people with a reported net worth of $42.3bn in 2021.