Chinese technology giant Alibaba is purchasing Koala for £1.6bn ($2bn).
In brief:
The companies were widely reported to be in talks, but Caixin Global has just confirmed that Alibaba will complete the purchase in cash.
The ecommerce site focuses on imported goods, carrying more than 9,000 brands.
Koala already works with Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao.
What does this mean?
In purchasing Koala, Alibaba is buying a key rival to its cross-border ecommerce platform, Tmall. As such, it will mean ecommerce in China is more consolidated than ever.
