HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alibaba.com (HKSE:1688.HK) (HK.1688) has completed a share purchase agreement of China Civilink (Cayman), which operates in China as HiChina Web Solutions, a leading eCommerce company that provides domain name registration. This was the first of a two phase deal with Alibaba.com acquiring 85 percent of HiChina now, and the option to acquire another 14.67 percent equity interest from HiChina’s founders pending HiChina reaching certain performance targets.



The total consideration of RMB539.98 million (US$79.06 million) in cash for both phases, brings four key assets to Alibaba.com: a new, large customer base; new, value-added applications; advanced and automated “do it yourself” Web site technology; and additional leadership strength in HiChina’s strong management and operating team.



“As promised at our IPO, our investment focus is on opportunities to grow our customer base and acquire additional technology and new applications to achieve our mission to make it easy for customers to do business everywhere,” said David Wei, CEO, Alibaba.com. “HiChina is a strategic fit with that vision, and we are happy to close a great year of investment by completing this deal, bringing us that much closer to realizing the synergy of Alibaba.com and HiChina.”



For more information on this announcement, see Alibaba.com’s filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at http://img.alibaba.com/ir/download/200909/EngReleaseHiChina.pdf.



Note: All US dollar conversions are based on an exchange rate of USD1.00=RMB6.83



About Alibaba.com Limited



Alibaba.com (HKSE:1688) (HK.1688) is the global leader in business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce and the flagship company of Alibaba Group. Founded in 1999, Alibaba.com makes it easy for millions of buyers and suppliers around the world to do business online through three marketplaces: a global trade marketplace (www.alibaba.com) for importers and exporters, a Chinese marketplace (www.alibaba.com.cn) for domestic trade in China, and, through an associated company, a Japanese marketplace (www.alibaba.co.jp) facilitating trade to and from Japan. Together, its marketplaces form a community of more than 45 million registered users from more than 240 countries and regions. Alibaba.com also offers business management software solutions targeting small businesses across China under the “Alisoft” brand and incubates e-commerce talent for SMEs in China through Ali-Institute. Founded in Hangzhou, China, Alibaba.com has offices in more than 50 cities across Greater China, Japan, Korea, Europe and the United States.



About HiChina



HiChina, founded in 1996, is the leading Internet application service provider in China. HiChina is devoted to providing comprehensive Internet application services to businesses, which covers domain services, hosting services, email systems, Web site creation, as well as consultation services for E-commerce to assist businesses in applying E-commerce to their business. Having established a strong position in the Internet infrastructure industry in China, HiChina currently serves more than 200,000 paying enterprise members.