What does Alibaba own? The answer: A lot more than just e-commerce websites.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) is a $209 billion Chinese conglomerate best known for its e-commerce platforms.
It maintains a network of 14 websites that all operate differently.
Alibaba.com is the world's largest business-to-business platform for small businesses. Tmall.com is a consumer-to-consumer platform that operates similarly to eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY). Alibaba's largest site, TaoBao, is similar to Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN).
While those sites are what Alibaba is best known for, the company is involved with a lot more than just e-commerce.
Here are five things that Alibaba owns that very few investors know about...
On June 5, 2014, Alibaba's founder Jack Ma decided to pay $192 million for a 50% stake in the Chinese professional soccer team Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club.
Following the purchase, the team was renamed Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club. It's one of the most popular teams in China and was the winner of the 2013 Asian Football Championship.
According to a report from Bloomberg at the time, Ma struck the deal over drinks with billionaire Hui Ka Yan and later finalized it over a 15-minute phone call.
After the deal, Ma said the purchase was part of his plan to transform Chinese society and the landscape of soccer in the country.
In early July 2015, Ma shelled out $23 million for a property in New York's Adirondacks that was once owned by William A. Rockefeller, Jr.
The 28,100-acre estate, called Brandon Park, is roughly 30 miles northwest of Lake Placid.
"Mr. Ma plans to form a nonprofit entity to manage Brandon Park," Ma's spokesman Jim Wilkinson told The Wall Street Journal. "The land is Ma's first investment in conservation land outside of China, where he is a prominent supporter of conservation efforts."
Ma has a history of environmental conservation. He chairs the China board of the Nature Conservancy and also sits on its global board. He co-founded the Sichuan Nature Conservation Foundation and the Laohegou Nature Reserve in Sichuan.
Continue reading for three more things you probably didn't know Alibaba owns...
In March 2014, Ma purchased a 68% stake in ChinaVision Media for $805 million. The entertainment company has since been renamed Alibaba Pictures Group.
Alibaba Pictures is the largest film company in China, with a market cap over $10 billion. Since Ma bought a large stake in the company, it has added popular filmmaker Wong Kar Wai to produce the company's first film.
The company also announced in March that it had acquired a minority stake in the television company Enlight for roughly $380 million. Shares of Alibaba Pictures trade on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Alibaba Pictures reported a loss of $53 million at the end of the first quarter. The company's value is based almost entirely on its potential.
Alipay is a third-party online payment platform that operates similarly to its American counterpart PayPal Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: PYPL).
The service was launched in 2004, and it currently dominates the online payment market in China. According to Statista, Alipay has a 48.7% market share in China in 2013. The next closest competitor is Tenpay, with just 19.4% of the market.
China's Internet market is staggeringly large, with nearly 650 million users. By comparison, the entire U.S. population is just 319 million.
The company is also leading the way in mobile payments. In 2013, Alipay reported nearly $150 billion had been processed over its mobile platform. PayPal had processed just $27 billion over mobile devices in 2013.
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It may not own them outright, but Alibaba owns numerous minority stakes in American tech companies.
Some of the e-commerce firm's more notable U.S. investments include $215 million in the messaging app Tango, $170 million in the online sports memorabilia seller Fanatics, $120 million in the video game startup Kabam, and an undisclosed amount in the ride-sharing app Lyft.
These acquisitions took place well before the Alibaba IPO of September 2014, and they've helped Alibaba increase its brand awareness in the United States.
Additionally, by investing in various tech and Internet companies, Alibaba can continue to expand its reach over the Chinese Internet market - rather than focusing solely on e-commerce.
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