Ant Group

To Bring the World
Small and Beautiful Changes
01 / Mission & Vision
A Founding Commitment to Trust
In 2004, Alipay was born from a simple yet ambitious purpose: to solve the problem of trust in society. Starting with escrow payments on Taobao, we used technology to build a bridge of trust between buyers and sellers. Twenty years on, that purpose has never changed.
Mission
Making Trust Simple
We use technological innovation to give small businesses and ordinary people a little more opportunity to grow. This is our business model, and it is why we exist. We don't strive to be the biggest or the strongest. We strive to be a good company that grows healthily for 102 years.
Vision
An Open Platform for Digital Life
Through technological innovation, we empower our partners to deliver inclusive, convenient digital life and digital financial services to consumers and small businesses. By continually opening up our products and technologies, we help enterprises digitize and collaborate, bringing small and beautiful changes to the world.
02 Core values
The New Six Values
Ant Group has inherited and evolved Alibaba's “New Six Values.” They are how we recognize kindred spirits among countless people, and the compass that guides us to the right decisions at critical moments.
Customers First, Employees Second, Shareholders Third
Customer value is our most important KPI. We let customer needs lead the way and keep raising the bar on the experience our products and services deliver. Only when our customers succeed can we succeed. We are grateful for every user's trust and listen to every piece of feedback with humility.
Trust Makes It Simple
Trust is in Ant's DNA. We value authenticity over pretense and trust that has each other's back. Teamwork is built on mutual trust, and only simple, genuine relationships unleash our greatest creativity. We reject flattering superiors while bullying subordinates, claiming credit while shifting blame, and reporting good news while hiding the bad.
Change Is the Only Constant
From payment tool to lifestyle services platform, from fintech to digital technology, Ant has always embraced change. We find opportunity in change, stay steady amid uncertainty, and meet every challenge with innovation.
Today's Best Is Tomorrow's Baseline
Never settle for the status quo. Keep learning and keep challenging yourself. We think independently, take ownership and stay true to an entrepreneurial mindset. Yesterday's success is not today's achievement, and tomorrow's challenges demand today's preparation.
If Not Now, When? If Not Me, Who?
Ownership is a cornerstone of Ant's culture. When it matters most, we step forward and take on the responsibility that is ours. We focus on results and always deliver on our mission. That is the standard we hold ourselves to.
Live Seriously, Work Happily
Work is part of life, not all of it. We champion a healthy work-life balance: doing our work with care while also enjoying all that life has to offer. Only happy teams create outstanding products.
“Trust is the most valuable thing in the world. Over the past 20 years, Ant's greatest fortune has been to focus on one thing: using technological innovation to give small businesses and ordinary people a little more opportunity to grow.”
— Eric Jing, Chairman and CEO, Ant Group
03 / What Makes Ant Distinct
A Distinctive Cultural DNA
Trust in Our DNA
From Alipay's escrow payments to AntChain's blockchain technology, from Zhima Credit to the Trusple international trade platform, we have always used technology to solve the problem of trust. Trust is where Ant began, and it remains our enduring pursuit.
Inclusive Finance
MYbank serves 86 million small business owners. Yu'e Bao opens wealth management to ordinary people from just RMB 1. Huabei and Jiebei give young people access to consumer credit. We believe financial services should not be a privilege for the few, but a right for everyone.
Tech-Driven
In 2024, we invested RMB 21.19 billion in R&D, open-sourced nearly 800 projects, and advanced blockchain, large AI models and the OceanBase distributed database. Our evolution from “Ant Financial” to “Ant Group” marks a fundamental shift from a financial company to a technology company.
Open Ecosystem
The Alipay Open Platform has opened more than 1,300 technical interfaces and plugins, helping over a million merchants run their businesses digitally. We are not building a closed empire, but an open ecosystem where we grow and win together with our partners.
Social Responsibility
Ant Forest has engaged 550 million people in tree planting, putting more than 300 million real trees into the ground in desertified regions. During the pandemic, we were first to launch the Health Code, contributing technology to public health efforts. We believe business value and social value should be one and the same.
Global Outlook
Partnering with local payment platforms across Southeast Asia, South Asia, Europe and beyond, we have helped build nine local versions of Alipay. Alipay+ connects 15 overseas e-wallets, enabling merchants and consumers worldwide to collect, pay and remit globally.
04 History
Twenty Years of Building Trust
From a small feature on Taobao to a world-leading open platform for digital life, every step Ant has taken has used technology to reshape trust.
2004
Alipay is founded and introduces escrow payments, solving the trust problem between buyers and sellers on Taobao. This seemingly simple innovation ushered in the golden age of Chinese e-commerce.
2010
The “Camel Conference”: Lucy Peng takes over as CEO. Over four days at the Liangzhu Hotel, the team redefined Alipay's direction in what became the most important strategic reflection in the company's history.
2013
Yu'e Bao launches, offering money market funds from just RMB 1 and truly democratizing wealth management. Within a single year, its assets surpassed RMB 500 billion, making it the world's largest money market fund.
2014
Alibaba spins off its payments and financial services business, formally establishing Zhejiang Ant Small and Micro Financial Services Group. Huabei launches, offering consumer credit to young people.
2016
Ant Forest launches, turning users' low-carbon actions into “green energy” that plants real trees in desertified regions. An innovative fusion of business and social good.
2020
Ant is first to launch the Health Code during the pandemic, offering the simplest way to rapidly identify infection risk. The company is renamed Ant Group, marking its transformation into a technology company.
2024
Ant restructures its voting rights so that it no longer has a controlling party, strengthening corporate governance. R&D investment exceeds RMB 20 billion, and the company launches Ring-1T, a trillion-parameter large model.
2024
Alipay marks its 20th anniversary, fully supporting the digital transformation of society and the economy. Ant establishes its Digital Payments and Alipay business groups to accelerate the development of its digital lifestyle services platform.
05 / Culture in Practice
Culture, Expressed Through Action
Culture is not a slogan on the wall. It is the choices and actions we make every day. Ant's culture lives in every product detail, every key decision and every defining moment.
Escrow Payments: Where Trust Began
In 2003, Taobao faced a crisis of trust between buyers and sellers. Alipay introduced escrow payments: once a buyer paid, the money was held by Alipay and released to the seller only after the buyer confirmed receipt. This simple innovation unlocked the entire e-commerce ecosystem.
Express Pay: The Power of Technology
Early on, payment success rates were just 50%, severely undermining the user experience. In 2010, the team broke through banking constraints to launch Express Pay, raising success rates above 95%. A classic case of technology transforming experience.
Yu'e Bao: The Power of Inclusive Finance
Traditional wealth management products required a minimum of RMB 50,000, putting returns out of reach for ordinary people. Yu'e Bao starts at RMB 1, letting everyone take part. A benchmark for using technology to democratize finance.
Health Code: Technology Against the Pandemic
In the early days of the 2020 pandemic, paper-based registration was slow and carried a high risk of cross-infection. Within 72 hours, Alipay launched the Health Code, solving a complex problem in the simplest way, and it was rapidly rolled out nationwide.
Ant Forest: Business as a Force for Good
Through gamification, Ant Forest has inspired 550 million people to act for the environment, planting more than 300 million real trees in places such as Alxa and Kubuqi and turning desert into oasis. Proof that business and social good can go hand in hand.
AntChain: The Next Alipay
With the Trusple international trade platform, AntChain uses blockchain technology to solve the trust problem in cross-border trade. Just as Alipay did for domestic e-commerce, AntChain will rebuild trust in global trade.