• Alibaba's Executive Chairman Jack Ma and Shanghai Media Group (SMG) Chairman Li Ruigang at a news conference in Shanghai.

Alibaba's Executive Chairman Jack Ma and Shanghai Media Group (SMG) Chairman Li Ruigang at a news conference in Shanghai. (Photo : www.scmp.com)

Alibaba has signed an investment deal worth 1 billion yuan ($160 million) with Shanghai-based media firm China Business News, allowing the creation of a financial information database and gives the latter access to the e-commerce giant’s database of statistics, including sales trends.

An article published by english.cri.cn said that the deal was formalized in a ceremony involving Alibaba exec Tiger Wang and CBN chairman Li Rong in a ceremony held on June 4, Thursday, in Shanghai.

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The report said that the deal would give Alibaba a 30-percent stake in the Chinese financial media outlet.

"The era of Data Technology is here and it will surpass the Information Technology era. The DT era is about transparency, sharing of information and enabling others," said Alibaba Group Founder and Executive Chairman Jack Ma in a statement announcing the deal.

An article in techcrunch.com said that Alibaba's idea was to create a Bloomberg-style product for the Chinese market, but that would especially cater to businesses rather than to investors.

In its statement, Alibaba described the new venture as a "financial data and information services company that will help Chinese small and medium enterprises tap a rich mine of financial data."

The investment is part of a wider strategic agreement between Alibaba and CBN's owner, Shanghai Media Group, where Alibaba will be providing the technology and cloud platform while CBN will be supplying the news content.

"By utilizing Alibaba Group's big data and cloud computing capabilities, both companies will jointly develop a comprehensive financial data and information platform that will provide users with timely financial news and information in order to enhance their investment and financial decision-making capabilities," the Alibaba statement said.

The report added that it was not the first time that Alibaba and CBM will be working together, since CBN already uses Alipay to provide stock quote information and for a wealth management information product.