E-commerce JVs abound

Somewhat hidden amid the excitement surrounding Alibaba's Q1 results was an announcement that the company has agreed with Softbank (a major shareholder since the early days) to establish a joint venture in Japan. Details are a bit scarce at this stage, but the reports suggest that ownership will be split 65:35 in Softbank's favour while another piece says that the venture will target Japanese SMEs. It seems this was all rumoured back in November.

Meanwhile, we picked up in Seeking Alpha's weekly tech summary a note about a collaboration between U.S.-based CyberSource Corporation (NASDAQ: CYBS) and China-based PayEase Technology Ltd. The press release is here and CyberSource says "technical and logistical issues pose significant challenges for merchants wanting to enter the China eCommerce market. CyberSource Corporation and PayEase Technology Ltd. are collaborating to remove these barriers and facilitate merchants' entry into the China market".

PayEase CEO Fred Sum (pictured) is quoted as saying "Electronic payment in China is an underserved market with great potential".