TAG

# Alibaba

2026-10-22

Taobao: Free Storefronts, IM Haggling, and Escrow—How a SARS Quarantine Startup Flipped eBay's 72% China Monopoly in 24 Months

Ranked #28 in '100 Products That Changed the World': Taobao (OVR 89.35: Impact 93, Business 92, Scale 91, Durability 91, Originality 85, Experience 85). Built in 30 days by seven engineers quarantined inside a Hangzhou apartment during the 2003 SARS outbreak, Taobao dismantled eBay's 72.4% Chinese market share with three localization masterstrokes: zero listing fees, live instant-messaging bargaining (AliWangwang), and Alipay escrow trust.

2026-09-10

No. 14 on the greatest product managers list: Jack Ma — how a man who says he can’t write code made the top 15

Alipay launched on 15 October 2003. Its first transaction: Cui Weiping, studying in Japan, sold a used Fuji camera for 750 yuan; Jiao Zhenzhong in Xi’an bought it; it cleared two hours later. That year eBay’s EachNet held 72.4% of China’s C2C market — two years later that exact number belonged to Taobao. Jack Ma ranks 14th at 93.20, with taste at 80, his lowest, 19 points below Zhang Xiaolong at No. 3.

2026-06-15

From Wuzhao to Zhou Jingren: Alibaba Has the Best AI and the Hardest Execution. The One Thing It Lacks Is Judgment

In a single week, Wuzhao was pushed out of DingTalk, and word spread that Chief Scientist Zhou Jingren was leaving too, six days after he took the title. Alibaba quickly denied the Zhou rumor, but the steady exit of Tongyi's core people this year is very real. Put it all together and you see something strange: Alibaba owns the strongest AI model in China and the most relentless execution culture there is, yet its technical talent and its product captains keep walking out the door. The problem isn't the technology. It isn't the execution. It's the one seat nobody can fill: judgment.