Who owns Taobao?
Taobao is owned by Alibaba (Hong Kong, NYSE: BABA).[1]
Evidence: Alibaba Group Holding Limited Annual Report on Form 20-F filed 2026-05-20, SEC EDGAR, 20 May 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Alibaba Group Holding Limited verified
- Owner HQ
- 🇭🇰 Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- Origin
- 🇨🇳 China
- Founded
- 2003
- Category
- Internet & digital › Online commerce › Marketplaces
- Parent ticker
- NYSE: BABA
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About Taobao
Taobao is Alibaba's retail e-commerce app, which the group's own page says was founded in 2003 and whose name means "search for treasures". Through the Taobao app, consumers reach fashion and local specialities from Taobao stores, brand goods from Tmall flagship stores, daily necessities from Tmall Supermarket, imported goods from Tmall Global, and second-hand goods from Xianyu. Alibaba describes it as a consumer lifestyle platform.
How often Alibaba names Taobao in its annual report
A plain count of the times the name appears in the text of each annual report, not counting the start of a sentence. A brand that an owner writes about more is usually one it treats as central. The brand is named less often than it was three years earlier.
Ownership timeline of Taobao
Where Taobao sits in Alibaba
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Alibaba ownership tree →
See the full Alibaba brand portfolio (14) →
Other brands owned by Alibaba
Alibaba controls 14 brands on Brandtree, 13 of them in internet & digital.
Also in internet & digital
Other brands in marketplaces, and who owns them
Alibaba has more brands in marketplaces on Brandtree than any other owner: 7 of 50.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Allegro | Allegro | 🇵🇱 Poland |
| anibis.ch | SMG Swiss Marketplace Group | 🇨🇭 Switzerland |
| carsales | CAR Group | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| Kaspi.kz | Kaspi.kz | 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan |
| Duo Duo Grocery | PDD Holdings | 🇮🇪 Ireland |
| Depop | eBay | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Estante Virtual | Magalu | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| Mercado Envíos | MercadoLibre | 🇺🇾 Uruguay |
About the owner: Alibaba
Alibaba is a publicly listed company headquartered in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, founded in 1999. Brandtree records 14 brands under its control, and it is listed as NYSE: BABA.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a Cayman Islands holding company that files annual reports on Form 20-F; the business address on its SEC record is in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, although its consumer platforms are run from China. Its own site says Alibaba.com, launched in 1999, was the first business of the group. It organises its businesses into China e-commerce, international digital commerce, cloud intelligence and other units. Lazada, Daraz, Ele.me and Alibaba Cloud are not listed as brands here because their country of origin is not stated on the group page or the product is not a consumer brand.
🇨🇳 Taobao and other Chinese brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 319 brands that began in China. 39 of them (12%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Taobao among them.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Taobao?
The parent company of Taobao is Alibaba, a publicly listed company headquartered in Hong Kong.
Is Taobao Chinese or Hong Kong?
Taobao originated in China in 2003, but it is owned today by Alibaba, which is headquartered in Hong Kong. So Taobao is a Chinese-origin brand under Hong Kong ownership.
Is Taobao still owned by Alibaba?
Yes. As of 4 October 2026, Taobao is still owned by Alibaba. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Alibaba Group Holding Limited Annual Report on Form 20-F filed 2026-05-20 — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 20-F, published 20 May 2026; retrieved 4 October 2026.
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