Ma's whirlwind tour aims to lure US firms

Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, began a three-day visit to the United States on Monday with the goal of attracting more US-based businesses to the company's e-commerce ecosystem.

"Our US strategy is quite simple and clear: We want to help US entrepreneurs, small business owners, and brands and companies of all sizes sell their goods to the growing Chinese consumer class," Ma said in an article in The Wall Street Journal ahead of his trip to New York.

Seeing China's growing number of online shoppers as an opportunity for US companies, Ma said China's middle class, which is equal in size to the entire US population, has a growing appetite for American products.