Alibaba to invest over US$100mil in China's Mei.com: source

TWO-PRONGED ATTACK: Alibaba sees the Mei.com investment both as a way to expand Alibaba's luxury goods offerings in China, and as a form of damage and image control with foreign luxury brands that are still sore at them for allegedly inadvertently selling counterfeit luxury goods.

BEIJING: Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is investing more than US$100mil (RM379.66mil) in Mei.com, a "flash sales" platform for luxury and fashion goods, according to a source with knowledge of the deal. 

Alibaba had said earlier on Wednesday it would form a team within its Tmall business-to-consumer platform to help Mei.com expand its user base, product offerings, logistics and IT infrastructure, but did not disclose the size of its investment.