Jack Ma has emerged as the symbol of China’s rise to number one in Internet and mobile phone users. His e-commerce firm, Alibaba Group, whose IPO in New York in 2014 set a record as the world’s biggest public stock offering, has made a swath of deals, investing in movies like “Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation,” creating a sports division with Chinese partners and forming an online portal with U.S. department store Macy’s. In contrast, amid allegations that it was selling counterfeit goods, Alibaba Group’s stock price declined throughout most of 2015 and fell below its IPO price in September 2015, a drop of 50% from its November 2014 peak. Alibaba said in a September 2015 statement that “The sale of knock-off goods by third-party merchants is a risk that all operators of third-party transaction platforms globally face, including eBay and Amazon.” -
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