Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group Holding Limited is investing nearly USD194 million into a Chinese financial news media company.

Alibaba Group signed a strategic agreement with Shanghai Media Group to leverage both companies' Internet technology and media resources to penetrate China's financial information services industry. Alibaba Group intends to invest CNY1.2 billion into China Business News, a Chinese financial media subsidiary of SMG, to create a financial data and information services company.

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.

Financial news and information is a high value vertical sector within China. Foreign entrants Euromoney Institutional Investor, Economist, WSJ, Haymarket, Financial Times, and Incisive Media are trying to cope with other local players like China Money Network and China Finance Online who have a much better grasp of the Internet news needs of Chinese investors and decision-makers.

The aim of this combined CBN and Alibaba platform is to raise the bar on enterprise efficiency in China by leveling the information playing field. By giving a greater number of Chinese enterprises access to precious financial data that can be easily mined and analyzed for actionable investment and business decisions, this platform is expected to help these enterprises scale and expand their businesses.

This strategic agreement with SMG is expected to help Alibaba Group develop data-driven financial products and services to enrich the lives of Chinese users.