NO 3 Alipay

In 2010, according to new regulation authorized by People's Bank of China, China's central bank, all third-party payment companies should apply for management license.

Before June, 2009, Alipay, Alibaba's affiliated payments business, was a fully foreign-owned company. In order to secure the license, Alipay was transformed as a domestic-funded company by Ma in 2010. But during the stock right transferring process, share holders of Alibaba, such as Jerry Yang from Yahoo and Masayoshi Son from SoftBank, disagreed with Ma's decision.

Although Alipay got the license at last, the argument within Alibaba's board dented Ma's reputation.

An Alipay poster is displayed at a fair in this file photo taken on June 15, 2006. [Jing Wei/Asianewsphoto]

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