Alibaba Group opened its Australian and New Zealand headquarters in Melbourne. Jack Ma, Alibaba's Executive Chairman and Founder, also made a huge donation.
Last month Alibaba Group's affiliate company Ant Financial agreed to buy U.S. money transfer service provider MoneyGram in a cash deal worth $880 million.
This month Jack Ma's ubiquitous e-commerce and fintech group has kept up its commercial momentum as at a ceremony attended by over 350 business, industry and government figures, the Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) headquarters were christened in Australia's Melbourne.
«With a local office and expert team, Alibaba Group will help Australian and New Zealand businesses share their world-famous products with billions of customers around the world,» said Ma.
There are over 1,300 Australian and 400 New Zealand brands on Tmall and Tmall Global, many of which entered China for the first time through these platforms, according to Ma.
The new Australian and New Zealand headquarters will be lead by Alibaba Managing Director Maggie Zhou (pictured).
Just The Start
«A physical Alibaba headquarters is a key step in ensuring Australian businesses have the support and information they need to succeed in China and the rest of the world,» said Zhou.
Longer term, Alibaba Group's vision for the ANZ region is to build the entire operating infrastructure needed to enable local businesses to expand globally.
Alibaba Cloud launched its services and opened its data center in late 2016 and there are now more than 1,000 bricks-and-mortar stores accepting Alipay across Australia and New Zealand. «This is just the start, with further growth planned in the areas of cloud, payments, digital entertainment and logistics,» added Zhou.
Jack Ma's Huge Philanthropic Gesture
Meanwhile the Jack Ma Foundation will give $20 million to fund a first of its kind scholarship program at the University of Newcastle (UON).
Marking the largest philanthropic commitment in UON’s history, and the Jack Ma Foundation’s first philanthropic contribution in Australia, the new scholarship program will pay tribute to Ma’s close personal connection to Newcastle.
When Ma was a teenager, he met Newcastle resident Ken Morley, while Morley and his family were on a tour with the Australia-China Friendship Society in Ma’s hometown, Hangzhou, China.
Morley went on to become a highly influential figure in Jack Ma's life, instilling core values and a global perspective that positively impacted Ma’s future and contributed to his personal success. Ma and Morley remained close friends until Morley’s death in 2004.
