Alibaba Group, the operator of the largest B2B and C2C platforms in China, is inclined to not invest in the operation of web portals and online gaming services, according to the group's founder and CEO Jack Ma who delivered a lecture on November 5 at the Global Leader Forum held in Taipei by Taiwan-based Chinatrust Financial Holding.

There are already many large web portals in China and this will make it a very difficult market for newcomers, Ma pointed out. Online gaming services have a large market potential, but the operation involves many problems, Ma indicated.

The fast growth of Alibaba's B2B business operation was mainly due to the conducive situation afforded by China's immature IT environment, meaning most small- and medium-size enterprises were incapable of setting up their own e-commerce websites, Ma pointed out.

On the other hand, Taobao, the C2C website of Alibaba, faced challenging competition from eBay immediately after it was established in 2003, Ma said. However, Taobao eventually gained the upper hand through a better understanding of local users and accordingly delivered a better market response, according to Ma. The C2C website now has a dominant market share of 85% in China, Ma added.

Alibaba attempted entry into the Taiwan market in 2001, but the bid was frustrated due to the negative impact of the bubbling Internet industry, Ma indicated. Alibaba cooperated with Yahoo! Kimo (Yahoo! Taiwan) for the technology to set up and operate Taobao and both sides are cooperating on new projects, Ma revealed.

Ma flew to Hong Kong after the lecture to prepare for Alibaba's debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on November 6.