Alibaba buys mobile Internet business

Alibaba Group, China's largest e-commerce company, on Wednesday announced it will purchase UCWeb, a provider of mobile Internet software and services.

Although the two sides did not reveal the total sum of the deal, the merger is expected to be the largest in China's Internet business.

The previous record was set last August when the Nasdaq-listed Baidu Inc. closed a 1.9 billion U.S. dollar deal to acquire 91 Wireless Websoft, a major Chinese smartphone application distributor.

Chairman of the board of UCWeb Yu Yongfu, who will act as president of Alibaba's future UC mobile platform, said the valuation of the Alibaba-UCWeb merger far exceeds the one set by Baidu, China's most popular search engine.