The Chinese Internet firm will provide online computing services and data analytics for the sporting contest, while creating a marketplace for official merchandise. And it will help develop an online video channel for viewers in China, the world’s largest consumer market. Alibaba, which typically eschews costly marketing, is keen to showcase its nascent cloud computing business on an international stage while reaching out to consumers around the world. Alibaba wants to get half its revenue from outside its home country, yet as of 2016 three-quarters of sales still come from China. It’s been touting that dominant home-market share to try and get US merchants to use its sites to sell to Chinese consumers – a way to offset slowing growth at home – but Alibaba remains an unfamiliar name to many.

Source: The Star January 19, 2017 23:31 UTC