The stage of industry formation

2003

In 2003, the outbreak of SARS brought opportunities for the development of e-commerce, online games and other Internet services. China's three major portals SOHU, SINA and NETEASE reported profits in an annual reporting period for the first time. Listings, mergers, acquisitions and other capital-related activities were also in full swing in this year. It was also in this year that the founder of NETEASE Ding Lei became the richest man in China.

The year 2003 ushered in the spring of the e-commerce industry. Alibaba seized opportunities to lay a solid foundation for its sustainable development in the future. In addition to its growing B2B operations, Alibaba also launched the C2C platform Taobao and the third-party payment platform Alipay, which pushed the company into the limelight. 2003 saw the rapid development of Alibaba's B2B platform. The average daily increase in supply and demand information grew three to five times from 2002. During the SARS outbreak, 52 percent of the enterprises on the B2B platform reported revenue increases despite adverse market conditions. Alibaba also launched new operations, including the C2C platform Taobao and the third party payment platform Alipay. Since then, Taobao has gradually become China's largest C2C platform by allowing individual sellers and business owners to open stores on the platform free of charge and almost become synonymous with online shopping in China. Alipay has also become China's largest third-party electronic payment platform. These platforms are still in a dominant position in today's market. Other e-commerce companies also did very well in 2003. The B2C e-commerce website Joyo, sold twenty percent of shares and obtained RMB 52 million worth of investment from the Tiger Fund, a US.fund, indicating that global investors saw a positive e-commerce outlook in China.

In 2003, China's three major website portals SOHU, SINA and NETEASE achieved full year profitability. The stocks of the three company, especially NETEASE, performed very well on the NASDAQ Stock Market in the United States. The stock of NETEASE touched bottom in the second quarter of 2002. On October 10, 2003, NETEASE's stock rebounded to USD 70.27 per share. NETEASE's stock also performed very well on capital markets. The founder of NETEASE Ding Lei also became the richest man in China in 2003.