Alibaba to Set up European Headquarters in London

From Interfax China: Alibaba to set up European headquarters in London

"Alibaba.com, operator of China's largest B2B portal, will establish the company's European headquarters in London, Chief Executive Jack Ma said Saturday at the China Internet Summit in Hangzhou."

"A major portion of Alibaba's B2B business is helping buyers outside of China buy goods and supplies from Chinese manufacturers. The Chinese e-commerce company currently has about 200,000 customers in Europe, with a large portion of those located in the U.K., Ma said.
In August, Yahoo announced it was investing USD 1 bln in Alibaba and injecting all of its China-based assets into the e-commerce company in return for a 40% stake. New capital from this deal will, among other business expansion plans, allow Alibaba to further increase its presence on international markets."