Alibaba's World

February 23, 2015
When Alibaba went public in September 2014, many Americans first became aware of this international trade behemoth’s true size and potential. Erisman’s comprehensive account of “how a schoolteacher rose from obscurity to build the world’s largest e-commerce company” provides a dizzying look at this company’s startling birth, growth, and success. Erisman was an Alibaba v-p from 2000 to 2008, during which time he collected 200 hours of footage for his documentary, Crocodile in the Yangtze; this detail is evident in the book. The star of the story is CEO Jack Ma, an unlikely Internet hero who twice failed his college entrance exams and started an online business when less than 1% of China’s population had Internet access. Alibaba began as a message board for companies to post trade leads, later declaring “war on eBay” by creating a rival Internet marketplace, Taobao. Ma went on to purchase Yahoo! China and to work with Google, all while dealing with the Chinese government and the Great Firewall. Within a few years, Alibaba had surpassed Amazon and eBay’s sales combined, and by the time of the IPO, it was the largest Internet company in China and the fifth most valuable in the world. This is a fascinating insider’s look at the digital opening of China.