Vision - Alibaba

46 Annual Report 2007
Directors’ Report
Our directors are pleased to present the fi rst annual report and the audited consolidated fi nancial statements of
Alibaba.com Limited (our “Company”) together with its subsidiaries (collectively, our “Group”) for the year ended
December 31, 2007.
CORPORATE REORGANIZATION AND PUBLIC LISTING
Our Company was incorporated in the Cayman Islands with limited liability as an exempted company on
September 26, 2006 under the laws of the Cayman Islands. Pursuant to a reorganization to rationalize the
structure of our Group in preparation for the public listing of our shares on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange
of Hong Kong Limited (the “Stock Exchange”), the corporate entities, assets and liabilities comprising the
business-to-business (“B2B”) operation of our ultimate holding company, Alibaba Group Holding Limited (formerly
known as Alibaba.com Corporation, “Alibaba Group”) and its subsidiaries were transferred to our Company, and
certain assets and personnel not related to the B2B business were transferred out of our Company.
Details of our reorganization were set out in our prospectus issued on October 23, 2007 and are set out in note
1.1 to our consolidated fi nancial statements on pages 92 to 95 of this Annual Report.
PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES
Our Company is an investment holding company. Our subsidiaries are principally engaged in the provision of
software, technology and other services on the online B2B marketplaces with the uniform resource locators
www.alibaba.com and www.alibaba.com.cn and under the trade name “Alibaba”. Details of the activities of the
subsidiaries are set out in note 17 to our consolidated fi nancial statements on pages 124 to 126 of this Annual
Report. There were no signifi cant changes in the nature of our Group’s principal activities during the year.
RESULTS AND APPROPRIATIONS
Our results for the year ended December 31, 2007 and the state of our affairs as of that date are set out in our
consolidated fi nancial statements on pages 84 to 86 of this Annual Report.
Our directors do not recommend the payment of a fi nal dividend for the year ended December 31, 2007. In 2006,
our subsidiaries established in the PRC declared and paid dividends of RMB392.5 million to their then equity
owners.
PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT
Details of movements in our property and equipment during the year are set out in note 16 to our consolidated
fi nancial statements on page 123 of this Annual Report.
BANK LOANS AND OTHER BORROWINGS
As of December 31, 2007, we had no interest bearing borrowings.