Alibaba Group Holding (NYSE:BABA) has announced it will allow shoppers on its Taobao and Tmall platforms to use Tencent Holdings' WeChat Pay, marking a significant step in breaking down barriers between China's two largest tech ecosystems.
The move grants Alibaba’s hundreds of millions of customers access to WeChat Pay, the country's most widely used online payment service.
Previously, Alibaba had exclusively promoted its own payment option, Alipay, developed by its affiliate Ant Group Co.
The decision comes amid a challenging economic environment and the increasing dominance of Tencent’s WeChat, which has grown into a leading social media and commerce platform with over a billion users.
This shift also follows a period of intense government scrutiny of Alibaba and other tech giants.
Last week, Beijing formally announced the conclusion of its regulatory campaign against Alibaba, signaling renewed support for the industry.
“We have always been open to collaborations and have actively explored interoperability and partnerships with our peers,” Alibaba stated, underscoring its evolving approach to partnerships in the tech space.
As of the time of compiling this report, Alibaba's share price stood at $82.27, up over 1% in premarket trading.