Alibaba Group has bought the e-commerce platform of NetEase for about $2 billion and will participate in a $700 million investment in NetEase's music streaming service, the two Chinese firms said on Friday. The move will see e-commerce titan Alibaba take control of Kaola, one of China's top online shopping platforms for foreign brands. The two US-listed internet giants said Kaola would continue to operate independently under its current brand but Alvin Liu, an executive with Alibaba's Tmall platform, would take over as chief executive.

Alibaba and NetEase also have reached an agreement under which Alibaba - along with co-founder Jack Ma's private equity firm Yunfeng Capital - would invest approximately $700 million in NetEase Cloud Music in its latest round of financing. The deal is expected to boost Alibaba in its battle against Chinese rivals such as JD.com and Pinduoduo to remain the country's top brand for e-shopping.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019