Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. agreed to take a 10% stake in one of Russia’s biggest tech players—part of a broader deal creating what Alibaba and its new Russian partners say will be the biggest online-shopping platform in the country. Through Vkontakte and other social networks and platforms, Mail.Ru claims it reaches 90% of Russia’s internet users at least once each month. The deal was disclosed in Vladivostok, Russia, as Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. That has led to a Chinese internet infrastructure largely walled off from the rest of the world, populated by giant companies like Alibaba. Alibaba said Tuesday it believes its experience expanding to markets outside China could help Russian e-commerce companies, too.

Source: Wall Street Journal September 11, 2018 12:05 UTC