Alipay Expands Global Footprint

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the financial arm of China’s Alibaba Group, Alipay, is looking to create partnerships in areas as diverse as the United States and Europe. The goal is to build a platform of payments across the globe. The newest link may come this week with an announcement that Alibaba will work with Thai firm Charoen Pokphand.

The immediate aim, said WSJ, is to broaden the range of the Chinese consumers who use Alipay mobile applications. Alipay, of course, has gotten a tailwind from eCommerce’s own growth and umbrella holding company Ant Financial’s expansion of its roster of services offered to its users.

Beyond China, Alipay has acceptance at 80,000 merchants through more than 70 countries.

Should Ant Financial go public, said the WSJ, it could be valued at as much as $100 billion, though no specific time or place (read: exchange) has been decided yet.