Alibaba Buys $56.2 Mln Stock In Zulily

(RTTNews) - Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA) bought $56.2 million of stock in U.S. online retailer Zulily Inc. (ZU). The purchases brought Alibaba's holdings of Zulily to 11.5 million shares, or a 9.3 percent stake.

Alibaba's Zulily holdings were worth $153 million at Friday's closing price of $13.30.

Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma has set a goal of getting 50 percent of sales from outside China as the nation's economy is projected to grow at its slowest pace since 1990.

Zulily, formerly known as BSI Holdings Inc., was founded in 2009 by Mark Vadon. The company went public in November 2013.

ZU closed Friday trading at $13.30, up $1.49 or 12.67%. However, in after hours, the stock dropped $0.07 or 0.49%.

BABA closed Friday trading at $87.06, up $1.06 or 1.23%.