Alibaba: Opening global markets for small businesses

This week's article in Global Times is about Alibaba. Of all the China Internet companies, Alibaba is the most original. While others replicated successful western models, there was no booming western company doing what Alibaba does. Jack Ma (the person in the picture), an ex-English teacher, become one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country by having the simple idea of setting up an electronic message board for small businessmen in China and entrepreneurs around the world to exchange trade information. Read more in Global Times

Xiaonei and 51.com - merging social network with games

Global Times, a newspaper in China, is running a series about the book- one article a week. It started in May 2009 and has been going on for the last 2 months. .

This week's article is about Xiaonei and 51.com - the Chinese answers to Facebook and Myspace. The two realized that merging social networking sites with online games could be a formula for success in China. Read Global Times' article.

The person in the picture is Joe Chen - China's king of Web 2.0. He owns Xiaonei and a bunch of other online communty / social networking sites

Youtube on track to turn profitable

Google said Youtube is on track to turn profitable - finally. The turnround is being driven by banner ads on the YouTube home page and “pre-rolls”. Read Financial Times article for details.

Its Chinese counterparts, Youku and Tudou, have yet to break even. But, at least, they seems to be on the right track. The majority of their revenue have been banner ads and “pre-rolls” ads when they formally introduced advertising program last year.

Youku and Tudou: leading with profession content

This is another of our articles at Global Times. It was the Editor's Choice on the publishing date.

While US-based Youtube is derived from homemade videos, Chinese video-sharing sites, such as Youku and Tudou decided to focus on professional content such as TV shows and movies. They were able to do so because the TV and film industry in China is highly fragmented. With close to 300 TV stations and over 1,000 production houses, finding partners is not difficult. Read more.

Wireless Value Added Services: Uncertain Future

Alongside the growth of China’s Internet market is the development of its wireless data sector. More than 640 million people have mobile phones in China and the mobile operators open their platforms for third parties to provide wireless value added services (WVAS) such as ring tone downloads and games.

Initially, they wanted to encourage third-party participation and terms were very generous. New companies such as Tom Online, Kongzhong, Hurray and Linktone flourished. But, starting in 2004, the mobile operators tightened controls and took part of the wireless value added services in-house. The fate of third-party players changed overnight. Many have been running losses since mid 2006. With 3G’s arrival in 2009, could it be another boom-bust cycle? Read the article in Global Times.

Other articles at Global Times

These are the other articles published previously at Global Times:

• Ctrip: redefine the formula of success in online travel Editor's Choice|Read
• Shanda makes comeback with free games|Read
• Shanda: The art of getting paid Editor's Choice|Read
• Turning instant messaging into a gold mine|Read
• Google's China odyssey Editor's Choice|Read
• Building China's largest search engine Editor's Choice|Read

The person in the picture below is Robin Li, founder and CEO of Baidu, the Chinese Google.