The relationship between shareholders. SoftBank is the major shareholder of Alibaba, and ICBC is rumored to be the shareholder behind SoftBank

In 1999, Alibaba website was officially launched. At the same time, the 500,000 yuan raised by Jack Ma in the early stage was almost exhausted, and the company fell into crisis. During this period, many well-known entrepreneurs were approached for financing, including Lei Jun, but they were all rejected.

In January 2000, Japan SoftBank, together with Fidelity, Asia Capital, Japan Asia Investment, Swedish Investment, TDF and other six companies, jointly invested 25 million US dollars in Alibaba.