Alibaba is pushing further into the very sector that it helped to disrupt with a $2.6 billion bid for Intime Retail, a department store and mall operator in China.
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Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce behemoth, already owned 28% of Intime, which is listed in Hong Kong, and made an offer with Shen Guo Jun, the founder of the department store chain, to take the company private.
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The buyers have offered 10 Hong Kong dollars, or about $1.29, per Intime share, a 42% premium over its closing price on December 28, when trading of its stock was suspended. The deal, which is subject to shareholder approval, would give Alibaba a controlling stake of about 74%.
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The takeover of Intime is part of a strategy that makes Alibaba a rarity among major global e-commerce companies-it has spent billions buying up pieces of the very retail sector it disrupted.
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The e-commerce giant argues that physical retailers will remain relevant and can be improved with technology. In that respect, it seems to be in agreement with its American peer, Amazon, which has begun experimenting with physical shopping spaces. But unlike Alibaba, Amazon has been opening its own stores.
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Alibaba has also bucked the trend among its peers with logistics. Unlike Amazon and JD.com, its Chinese rival, Alibaba has shied away from owning its own inventory or trying to build out logistics.
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Although China is the world’s largest delivery market, the country is still struggling with decades of underinvestment in inland logistics. This has given rise to a raft of businesses that specialize in ferrying goods to people’s homes. Alibaba comprises the majority of business for one courier, ZTO Express, which raised $1.4 billion in an initial public offering last year.
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But as a result, Alibaba has also made a number of recent acquisitions and investments that seem designed in part to bolster…