Former President of B&Q China brings solid operational experience and industry expertise to drive expansion of Alibaba’s business-to-business marketplaces

Hangzhou, China, 20 November 2006 -- Alibaba.com Corporation, a global e-commerce leader and the largest e-commerce company in China, today announced that David Wei has joined the company as president of its B2B Division. Mr. Wei will be responsible for Alibaba’s two flagship marketplaces: Alibaba International, the world’s largest online B2B marketplace for global trade, and Alibaba China, China’s largest online B2B marketplace for domestic trade. Together the two sites have over 18 million registered members in over 200 countries and territories.

The appointment comes as the Alibaba Group restructures its operations into two divisions: one B2B division, including the Alibaba websites, and one consumer division, including the Taobao, Alipay and Yahoo! China businesses.

“David brings a strong combination of leadership, management experience and industry expertise,” said Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba.com. “David’s extensive experience in growing a large-scale retail and sourcing organization will be instrumental to further building our success as a global e-commerce company serving customers around the world.”

Mr. Wei said: “Alibaba.com is a company I have long admired not only for its foresight and vision but for its steadfast commitment to creating value for customers. The company has exciting opportunities ahead and it’s a great honor for me to join its leadership team.”

Prior to joining Alibaba.com, Mr. Wei served as President of B&Q China since June 2002, and Chief Representative of Kingfisher Asia Limited since June 2003. During his tenure as President of B&Q China, Mr. Wei grew the company from 5 stores and 1,300 employees to 51 stores and over 10,000 employees in 23 cities in mainland China, making it the third largest foreign retailer in China. While at B&Q China, he also played a leading role in growing B&Q’s global sourcing operation.

Mr. Wei was the managing director and head of investment banking at Orient Securities Company Ltd. from 1998 to 2000 and worked at Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) from 1995 to 1998. He graduated from the London Business School and holds a bachelor’s degree in international business management from Shanghai International Studies University.

Mr. Wei serves as the Vice Chairman of the China Retail Chain Association, plays a leading role in a number of industry associations and will continue to serve as a non-executive director for several companies.