Stake Purchase

Alibaba Group Holding， Chinas Internet giant， and Yunfeng Fund have invested 1.33 billion HK dollars （$171.23 million） to obtain 54.3 percent of shares in CITIC 21CN， an integrated information and content service provider.

Alibaba and Yunfeng， which will take 38.1-percent and 16.2-percent stakes respectively， plan to help fund a pharmaceutical information platform being developed by CITIC 21CN Co. The ratio of its current major shareholder CITIC Group will drop to 9.92 percent and its current executive directors will resign and be replaced by five new ones commissioned by Alibaba.

CITIC 21CNs statement filed to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange said the company would continue its current businesses and plans to expand its domestic pharmaceutical data platform. Alibaba will probably introduce new businesses or other forms of cooperation.

Taxi Call Apps

Heated competition in the mobile payment sector has spread to calling for taxis as two Chinese Internet giants offer incentives to passengers and taxi drivers to boost usage.

Alipay， the payment service of Chinas largest e-commerce company Alibaba Group， is providing 10 yuan （$1.6） cash coupons for taxi passengers and 15 yuan （$2.5） for drivers per ride through Kuaidi Taxi to boost its market position.

Since the partnership started in May 2013， Alibaba-backed Kuaidi Taxis service now covers more than 400，000 cab drivers in 40 cities. In Shanghai， Kuaidi Taxi and Alipay are connected to over 60，000 cabs.

Tencent-backed and Beijing-based Didi Taxi， another popular mobile taxi-calling software， provides incentives of 10 yuan （$1.6） for both drivers and passengers for each successful order paid through Tencents WeChat payment service. Didi Taxi plans to expand to 100 cities by the end of this year.endprint