Amazon Files A Suit Against Former Executive

Upon joining domestic rival Target, Arthur Valdez is sued by Amazon for violating his non compete clause.

Amazon Inc. is pushing efforts to build its own shipping network. The company’s rising multi billion dollar logistics bill has proved to be a liability in the past year and it will keep on increasing considering the increase in growth significantly. Being one of the biggest online retailers in the domestic and international markets, the e-commerce giant is now trying to become an evolving advanced logistics giant in the coming times. And for that, it is investing a lot of money such as Amazon leased 20 cargo jets to begin the air delivery process.

When it comes to delivering products within the US boundaries, Amazon believes that taking a full day is not good enough. It seeks to deliver packages a little faster to its customers. Furthermore, the company wants to reduce its reliance on other shipping giants including FedEx and UPS and will bolster its relations with the United States Postal Service. With so much going on for the company at this moment, the seasoned logistics executive of Amazon was approached and hired by its domestic rival Target. This did not greatly effected the online retailer but a loss is a loss at such a crucial time.

According to the recent news, it is believed that the e-commerce leader has sued its former logistics executive for joining Target. The move came just a month after he joined the domestic rivals and said that Arthur Valdez has violated the non compete clause inserted in his contracted when he was joining. This clause prohibits him from joining any rival firm for at least 18 months after leaving Amazon.

Amazon said, “Mr. Valdez new position with a key Amazon competitor will involve the disclosure and use of Amazon's confidential and proprietary information to Amazon's detriment and Target's advantage in a core area of competition between the companies: the cost-effective and rapid movement of goods in the most efficient way possible for retail customers.”

Amazon stated that Arthur Valdez signed his non compete clause back in 2012 and he is a well reputed 16 year  veteran at the world’s largest retailer. He was the vice president of operations and had the responsibility to handle Amazon.com’s international supply chain expansion for a long time.

On this suit filed by Amazon, the Target spokeswoman, Molly Synder, wrote in an email to The Associated Press Wednesday, “We have taken significant precautions to ensure that any proprietary information remains confidential and we believe this suit is without merit. However, as this is pending litigation, we are not going to comment further at this time.”

Yahoo Japan Stock Reached 12-month High On Tie-Up With Alibaba Group Holding Ltd

YAHOO JAPAN shares rose the most in a year, following a tie-up announcement with e-commerce giant, Alibaba.

YAHOO JAPAN stock rose over 11% during regular trading session on Friday. The increase was mainly because of a joint announcement and collaboration with Chinese e commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. The increase is the highest ever recorded for the company in around a year, Bloomberg reported. conversely, stock of Alibaba lost ground and stood at $90.95 at market close on Friday.
Yahoo Japan is ranked amid the top 3 e-commerce firms in Japan. It was established as a joint venture between Softbank -a premier internet co. in japan and Yahoo Inc.

Earlier on Friday, Bloomberg mentioned Yahoo Japan emailed statement, in which it confirms the alliance between the firms. The email stated that a collaboration with Alibaba will lead to several synergies, and support number of e-commerce firms from the country in reaching to large number of population in China. The company also said that the partnership was targeted at decreasing the internet companies charges in Japan that are looking to list on online marketplace of Alibaba namely, Tmall.

Tmall.com  was previously spun off from the TaoBao platform of the company, approximately five years ago, and presently serving as a B2C marketplace for Alibaba. Tmall enable international brands and Chinese brands to do business in China with consumers. Moreover, the company also told Bloomberg, that the latest increase in demand of Japanese brands in China seems as a great opportunity to do alliance with Alibaba.

Hiroko Sato an analysts at jefferies was quoted by Bloomberg as supporting the collaboration between Alibaba and Yahoo Japan. He mentioned in a research report that an alliance with Alibaba would open open gates for the company to a $404 billion with of market, which is roughly 5 times bigger as compared to Japan market.

Significantly, new Chief Executive Office of Alibaba, Daniel Zhang talks about the significance of globalizing the marketplace of company. in his very first speech to its workers and staff as new CEO, he said, “We will organize a global team and adopt global thinking to manage the business, and achieve the goal of ‘global buy and global sell."

Majority of analyst are bullish on baba stock. Almost 51 covered the stock , 44 gave Buy rating, 5 assigned a Hold, and only 2 rated the stock as sell. The twelve month price target stands at $109.41,reflecting an upside of more than 20% compared to $90.95 closing price on Thursday.

Chairman Of Alibaba Group Jack Ma Assures Employees About Recent Lawsuits

United States shareholder welcomed the year with positive attitude. After the 2008 housing bust, the economy shuffles towards a full recovery mode. American stocks are considered to be the best source to generate wealth for shareholders. However, it’s not true in the case of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd for a time being.

Alibaba Group has been welcomed by a lot of troubles, with its shares plunging by nearly 15% this year. The e-commerce giant company’s miseries started as Chinese regulator State Administration for industry & Commerce (SAIC) issued a white paper accusing the company for carelessness towards it fake sales. Alibaba’s ordinary revenue growth has worsened the situation for the company.

However, another lawsuit was filed against Alibaba by Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP Law firm. The Law firm accused that the company obscured significant regulatory inspection and deceived public before its IPO last year.

In the start of this week, Alibaba Group faced another class case filed by Wolf Popper LLP. They claimed that Alibaba Group dishonored Security Exchange Act Sections 10(b) and 20(a), by deceiving investors about the company’s response to tackle the fake goods sales at its marketplace.

Executive Chairman, Jack Ma, however pursues to calm its employees on the subject of lawsuits flung at the firm. Jack Ma said in his annual letter to his employees before Chinese New Year, “As for the lawsuits company faced from some latest events, I ask Alibaba employees to be at comfort. The Group will attribute high importance to the matter, and we will sustain the principles of objectivity, transparency and honesty to tackle the problem.”

According to Reuters, a Chinese antitrust watchdog is planning to investigate the pricing strategies of China’s e-commerce companies like Alibaba and JD.Com Inc. This effort is the part to ensure a “fair” market and will help in increasing online retailer’s scrutiny.

Alibaba shares have declined by 4% following by a white paper issued by SAIC, which was later withdrawn. Alibaba spokesperson said, “We are continuously monitoring the lawsuits. The company has always been crystal clear in its daily business operations and corporate governance, and always tries its best to safeguard the interest of each shareholder. Alibaba will strongly guard itself and its business practices”.

Alibaba Group Holdings(NYSE:BABA)stock is down by 0.05%, with share price of $86.70 during per-market  trading  as of 08:42 AM on Wednesday February 18th, with 30-days average volume of 17.78 million shares. The Chinese multi-national company has a 52-week low of $82.81, and a 52-week high of $120.00, with market cap of $215.75 billion and price to earnings ratio of 48.18.

No Company Including Alibaba Is “Too Big To Fail “Jack Ma Told Regulators

Jack Ma, Chairman of Alibaba Holding Group, told government of China that the “company is not too big to fail” as he guaranteed the federal regulators that he was addressing corruption allegations on its online e-commerce website.

According to his Beijing speech transcript during CSR commission he said, as Alibaba grows in size it should focus to monitor the behavior of employee. He further said, “Alibaba absolutely isn’t the company that is too big to fail, big companies failed in China like Politburo members, standing members. No company can say it’s too big to fail … that’s rubbish.”

Since the State Administration for Industry & Commerce had issued a White Paper against Alibaba reproving its online mall business of taking bribes, and selling counterfeit, fake products and peddling knock-offs. Alibaba was founded 15 years ago in its chairman Ma’s apartment, faced many mistakes and errors in the country, which was run by communist party.

Jack Ma also said on his visit to CSRC that the China’s state run banks should not fear from the services being offered by Alibaba financial firm Zhejiang Ant Small and Micro Financial Service Group.

Alibaba want honest and trustworthy businessmen to become wealthy, Ma Said as exactly mentioned in the transcript. “Only if we do this, can our company complement the finance industry, and not compete with them”.

Jack Ma elaborated the company goals and objectives to the Chinese government regulators. He talked about Yu’E Bao, an online market fund of its affiliate. He also told regulators about credit scoring system of financial group companies and Zhejiang Ant Small.

Earlier this January, according to Shanghai Securities news, Alibaba Holdings was interested in making an investment in New China Life Insurance Company Ltd., which valued nearly $24 billion. The company is also looking to obtain a stake in Insurance Company by acquiring some shares from New China’s largest shareholder, Central Huijin Investment Ltd.

Alibaba Holdings is also looking for initial public offering (IPO) of its financial firm Zhejiang Ant Small, the owner of Alipay, that is valued at approximately $50 billion.

Alibaba Group Holding share price have fallen 16% in New York stock exchange this year.

Alibaba Holding Group Ltd (NYSE:BABA) stock is down by 1.44%, trading at $86 as of 4:30 pm EST on Thursday, with 30-days average volume of 17.53 million shares. The company has a market capitalization of $215.81 billion and price to earnings ratio of 47.66.