Alibaba.com will pay Alibaba Group $30.5 million for the business-management software division of Alisoft, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alibaba Group. Included are a suite of small-business applications that allow business owners to keep track of their customers, inventory and money, and a software development tool that will allow creation of future business-management-related software solutions.

Alibaba.com said it would leverage its sales and marketing organization to increase the sale of Alisoft's customer relationship management and marketing software for exporters and small businesses engaged in domestic trade. The BMS products have been developed specifically to address the emerging needs of small businesses engaging in ecommerce, according to Jack Ma, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Alibaba Group, and chairman of the board of Alibaba.com.

Alibaba.com CEO David Wei said, "The addition of these software offerings and related services continues Alibaba.com's drive to transform ourselves from "Meet at Alibaba" to "Work at Alibaba" by offering small businesses the tools to manage key aspects of their business operations via the Internet." The acquisition is expected to be closed by September 1, 2009. After the closing, the BMS Division, with more than 250 employees, will be integrated with Alibaba.com's Information Technology Business Unit.

http://www.alibaba.com