Rumor: Alibaba Acquires Handset Vendor
DoNews, 1/16/12
According to an industry source, Hangzhou-based e-commerce company Alibaba Group recently finalized its acquisition of Beijing-based handset maker Tianyu Communication Equipment (K-Touch). According to the industry source, the merger agreement was reached in mid-2011 prior to Alibaba's launch of its Aliyun smartphone, which served as the first partnership between the two companies. Satisfied with Tianyu sales channels and teams, Alibaba chose to strengthen the partnership after six months of sales of the Aliyun smartphone, approximately 100,000 units of which have been sold each month since mid-2011 for a total of nearly 1 mln units sold as of January 2012.
The source also reveals that a growing number of Alibaba employees have chosen to resign since the partnership was struck last year. These include several senior executives who resigned in late 2011, among them former VP Xiao Chaojun and the entire marketing department beneath him.
Senior Alibaba executives and PR spokespersons contacted by DoNews declined to either deny or comment upon the news.
Keywords: K-Touch handset smartphone wireless Tianyu Xiao Chaojun Aliyun OS Alibaba Group handset vendor M&A enterprise-branded handset
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