Alibaba (01688.HK) announced its acquisition of Vendio, a US e-commerce site, on June 25, according to China Securities Journal.
The deal is Alibaba's first overseas acquisition.
Based in Silicon Valley, California, Vendio has been working in the e-commerce field for 11 years. It's helped more than 80,000 retailers to run businesses on eBay, Amazon and other business-to-consumer platforms. Their annual transaction volume exceeds US$2 billion.
Alibaba regards these retailers as potential users of AliExpress.com, a website it launched this April to help Chinese manufactures and overseas buyers find each other and conduct online transactions.
"The reverse acquisition will bring Chinese suppliers more than 80,000 high quality US online shops and an annual trading potential of some US$1 billion," said David Wei, chief executive.
The acquisition will close next month. Vendio will keep its brand, business and work team, while AliExpress.com will be accessible to all Vendio customers.
China's business press carried the story above on Monday. China.org.cn has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
