A few days ago, a local website published an article about Daraz.pk being acquired by Alibaba. They even sponsored it on Facebook to increase reach.
A combination of the news being plausible, considering months of speculation, and excitement (or dismay depending on your point of view), meant that everyone started sharing the information.
In the last day, tons of no-name sites have also started regurgitating the same news and are peddling it as truth.
However, we’d like to set the record straight. According to our sources, Daraz definitely hasn’t been acquired by Alibaba – yet.
We can confirm that talks are taking place between Alibaba Group, Telenor Bank and Daraz. Alibaba officials have been regularly visiting Pakistan over the last few months and are in advanced stages of discussion with a few key people but there is no confirmed deal yet.
Alibaba has also been in touch with the government and has promised as much as $400 million investment in Pakistan. However, the ecommerce giant hasn’t stated anything about either the nature of this investment or its time frame.
