Half Billion Dollar Big Data Buy for Alibaba

Chinese eCommerce giant Alibaba is investing $US 486m for a minority stake in hotels and retail sector big data specialist Shiji Retail Information Technology Co.

The target firm provides software and data systems to clients including InterContinental Hotels Group and Starbucks Corp, as well as entertainment companies.

The huge spend, via subsidiary Alibaba Investment Ltd, buys a 38 percent stake in the data company, which is itself a subsidiary of Beijing Shiji Information. The parent company announced the deal in a filing with the Shenzhen stock exchange on Thursday, while Alibaba has thus far said little about it. According to www.channelnewsasia.com , Alibaba 'has been beefing up its retail presence with more than US$10 billion of investments into brick-and-mortar outlets amid rising competition in the space from rival Tencent Holdings Ltd'.

Alibaba's investments include New York-based location intelligence firm PlaceIQ, and in 2013 it acquired Chinese app analytics firm Umeng. Over the past few years it has also concluded analytics and targeting-focused alliances with the likes of Nielsen and Unilever.

Web sites: www.alibaba.com and www.shijigroup.com .