阿里巴巴283亿入股苏宁云商

Alibaba Group has announced it will invest nearly 28.3 billion yuan (about US$4.6 billion) in Chinese offline electronics retailer Suning Commerce Group.

Alibaba, China's largest e-commerce company, and Chinese home appliance retailer Suning have signed a big-money deal to work together on online and high-street sales.

The acquisition will be the biggest step taken by Alibaba to integrate online and store-based shopping.

Alibaba will use the money to buy the newly issued Suning shares and will ultimately hold a 19.99 percent stake, making it Suning's second largest shareholder.

Suning will in turn invest 14 billion yuan to acquire 1.1 percent of Alibaba through the purchase of new shares.

Their alliance will allow online customers to go into one of Suning's 1,600 outlets in China to try out a product before purchasing it on Alibaba's website.

Jack Ma, chairman of the board of Alibaba says the cooperation will ensure a better future for online and offline retailers.

"Chinese Internet giants like Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba look impressive in appearance, but in fact we have suffered over the past few years,” Ma said.

“All of us worry about our futures. Traditional retailers are not doing well, and online retailers have also had a tough time. We hope that through mergers and acquisitions we can have a brighter future."