Beijing Chuanfu Holdings Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, bought development and usage rights of land in the north core area of Shanghai Hongqiao Central Business District, for the bid price of 1.34 billion yuan ($203.28 million) on Oct 10, 2013.  

With an office area of 25,583 square meters set upon a construction area of 76,540 sq m, the land will be used for the construction of offices for Alibaba, which are scheduled for completion in 2017.

Alibaba Group, one of the world’s largest e-commerce businesses, was founded in 1999 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province by 18 people led by Jack Ma, a former English teacher. 

Alibaba Group aims to make it easy to do business anywhere.

It provides fundamental technology infrastructure and marketing reach to help merchants, brands and other enterprises that provide products, services and digital content to do business through its platforms.

The group’s businesses are comprised of core commerce, cloud computing, mobile media and entertainment, as well as innovation initiatives. Through investee affiliates, it also participates in the logistics and local services sectors.

The group’s businesses include Taobao.com, TMALL.com, Juhuasuan.com, AliExpress, Alibaba.com, 1688.com, Alimama.com, Aliyun.com and Ant Financial.