Alibaba is up after buying a big stake in China's largest grocer
- Alibaba is rising after buying a major stake in a Chinese grocer.
- The move echoes Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion earlier this year.
- Watch Alibaba's stock move in real time.
Shares of Alibaba are up 2.33% to $189.45 on Monday after the company bought a $2.87 billion stake in China's largest grocery operator.
Alibaba said on Monday it would make an investment in Sun Art Retail Group, which owns 8.2% of China's total grocery market.
The move is reminiscent of Amazon's $13.7 billion deal for Whole Foods, though Alibaba will be only the second-largest shareholder in Sun Art, as opposed to owning the company outright. Alibaba's stake would represent about 36.16% of the company's shares, second only to the French retailer Groupe Auchan's 36.18% stake.
China's food retail sector is worth about $500 billion annually, and about 85% of those sales are made offline.
"Physical stores serve an indispensable role during the consumer journey, and should be enhanced through data-driven technology and personalised services in the digital economy," Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba, said in a statement.
Alibaba is up 113.61% this year, and recently outsold all of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Amazon's "Prime day" during its Singles Day Celebration.
