The People's Daily, China's official newspaper, reported that China Investment Corp. (CIC) is in talks with Alibaba Group. CIC is China's sovereign wealth fund headquartered in Beijing. The official media source, however, did not specify what the nature of the discussions even if it briefed Chinese media that the two parties held the talks.

It can be recalled that CIC helped Alibaba with the funds it needed to partially buy back its stake in Yahoo! Inc. last year. Alibaba has already delisted Alibaba.com, its subsidiary, in 2012, in preparation for an initial public offering. Alibaba representatives, however, have not yet commented on the said talks.

CIC, a whole state-owned company, was established on September 29, 2007 through special bonds issued by the Ministry of Finance worth RMB 1.55 trillion. Company website information reveals that the bonds were "used to acquire approximately USD 200 billion of China's foreign exchange reserves and formed the foundation of its registered capital."