Alibaba buys China's biggest advertising tech outfit

Alibaba (BABA.NYSE) announced on Wednesday it had purchased a controlling stake in China’s largest independent adtech company, AdChina, for an undisclosed sum, Tech in Asia reported. AdChina was integrated with more than 60,000 mobile apps and had purportedly reached over 80% of China’s mobile internet users as of the end of 2013. The digital advertising technology platform will work closely with Alibaba’s marketing and cloud computing units to develop an end-to-end marketing service that Alibaba said would allow it to increase brand-building and sales integration now used by companies and merchants.