Financial Times writes on how China has become an Alibaba nation. Yes, from shopping to movies, lending to payment, and to anything including brick-and-mortar supermarkets, you cannot avoid Alibaba in China. Then, it began to evolve as a Jack Ma nation: “When a foreign leader came to China and the first person he wanted to meet was Jack Ma rather than President Xi , you knew the company was going to be in trouble”. When that happened, Jack Ma started feeling heat – and had to retire to early golfing regime!
It is indeed a sprawling enterprise. Chinese people can shop at Alibaba’s ecommerce platform, apply for a loan from its financial unit, pay for goods with Alibaba’s e-wallet, and get their purchases delivered through Alibaba’s logistics network. When they are tired of their stuff, they can sell it on Alibaba’s second-hand goods platform. It runs a brick-and-mortar supermarket called Freshippo and operates a food-delivery app. Some of the movies on its streaming site — including this year’s Best Picture Oscar-winning Green Book — are produced by Alibaba Pictures. And all of these services are powered by AliCloud.
Alibaba is huge. Fintech Collective reports on how it uses crowdfunding to provide health insurance to communities and users:”Ant Financial launched a healthcare-coverage product Xiang Hu Bao in October and already has about 65 million clients. They pay small monthly fees that are pooled to help cover treatment costs for members stricken by diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and even Ebola.”
Call it crowdfunding for health care –- an emerging industry in China that itself is becoming crowded. Ant Financial is one of at least 50 companies, including ride hailing giant Didi Chuxing and a startup backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd., upending the conventional health-insurance business by creating what essentially are online collectives. It’s a unique business model that probably only can be pulled off in China. The country’s leapfrog into the smartphone age means more than 700 million people can sign up, make monthly payments and even upload medical documents and bills with just a few clicks.
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