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    • .alibaba

    Generic top-level domainsDNSSEC

    Overview

    .alibaba is a brand generic top-level domain (gTLD) applied for and operated by Alibaba Group Holding Limited. The string is derived from the Alibaba brand (Chinese: 阿里巴巴) and was created to protect the company’s trademark and provide a trusted, hierarchical namespace for Alibaba’s e-commerce, trade and payment services. Afilias provides back-end registry services for the TLD.

    History

    Application and delegation

    • Applied for under ICANN's New gTLD Program (application materials reference Reveal Day, 13 June 2012).
    • Delegated to the DNS Root Zone on 16 January 2016.

    Operators

    • Registry manager: Alibaba Group Holding Limited (applicant/registry operator).
    • Back-end registry services: Afilias.

    Usage and Audience

    • Intended primarily for Alibaba Group and its affiliated or wholly owned entities.
    • The applicant described an initial model that limits registrations to a small set of Corporate Internal Users (CIUs), representatives of registrant entities that are part of or affiliated with Alibaba Group.
    • Use cases focus on corporate, e-commerce, cloud, payments and related Alibaba services and properties.

    Registration Rules

    • The applicant proposed a conservative initial registration policy:
      • Allow only a limited number of Corporate Internal Users (CIUs) to register second-level .alibaba domains.
      • CIUs would represent entities wholly owned or affiliated with Alibaba Group.
      • The approach is intended to meet trademark-protection goals and minimize operational and marketing risks.
      • The applicant indicated policies could be reviewed and potentially changed after the first three years of operation, following consultation with ICANN and stakeholders.

    SEO and Brand Impact

    • The stated purpose of .alibaba is trademark protection and to provide a "trusted, hierarchical and intuitive namespace" for Alibaba services, supporting brand consistency and customer trust.
    • Alibaba reported holding the "Alibaba" trademark internationally in approximately 73 countries, reinforcing the brand-protection rationale for the TLD.

    Notable Cases or Examples

    • The application materials list core Alibaba Group businesses and services that the TLD is intended to support, including:

      • Alibaba.com (global trade platform)
      • 1688.com (domestic Chinese marketplace)
      • AliExpress (transaction-based wholesale for small buyers)
      • Taobao (consumer-to-consumer marketplace)
      • Tmall (business-to-consumer retail marketplace)
      • Alipay (online payment platform)
      • Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun)
      • eTao (shopping search engine)
      • Juhuasuan (group-shopping platform)

    • The applicant also noted Alibaba.com's significant corporate milestones (for example, its USD 1.7 billion IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in November 2007) when describing the brand's prominence and rationale for protecting the Alibaba name in DNS.

    Operator

    Alibaba Group Holding Limited

    Whois

    % IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       ALIBABA

organisation: Alibaba Group Holding Limited
address:      Fourth Floor, One Capital Place, P.O Box 847
address:      George Town Grand Cayman KY1-1103
address:      Cayman Islands (the)

contact:      administrative
name:         Project & Process Manager
organisation: Alibaba Group Holding Limited
address:      Fourth Floor, One Capital Place, P.O Box 847
address:      George Town Grand Cayman KY1-1103
address:      Cayman Islands (the)
phone:        852.2215.5100
fax-no:       852.2215.5200
e-mail:       ngtld-alibaba@cscglobal.com

contact:      technical
name:         Senior Director, DNS Infrastructure Group
organisation: Afilias
address:      300 Welsh Road
address:      Building 3, Suite 105
address:      Horsham PA 19044
address:      United States of America (the)
phone:        +1 215.706.5700
fax-no:       +1 215.706.5701
e-mail:       tld-tech-poc@afilias.info

nserver:      A0.NIC.ALIBABA 2a01:8840:82:0:0:0:0:9 65.22.132.9
nserver:      A2.NIC.ALIBABA 2a01:8840:85:0:0:0:0:9 65.22.135.9
nserver:      B0.NIC.ALIBABA 2a01:8840:83:0:0:0:0:9 65.22.133.9
nserver:      C0.NIC.ALIBABA 2a01:8840:84:0:0:0:0:9 65.22.134.9
ds-rdata:     7516 8 2 9bb7ac1c7877373106e72e767ef0a772f43682d030ad67b2c7e3e473a9b7b69f

whois:        whois.nic.alibaba

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://www.alibabagroup.com

created:      2016-01-08
changed:      2023-08-11
source:       IANA