The Alibaba Group logo displayed on a mobile phone.
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Chinese tech giant Alibaba on Wednesday said that its core Taobao and Tmall e-commerce platforms will now allow payment through Tencent’s WeChat app for the first time.
Previously, Alibaba’s Chinese e-commerce sites only accepted limited payment options and pushed WeChat Pay rival Alipay as one of the main ways to pay. Alipay is run by Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba that was also founded by Jack Ma.
“We have always been open to collaborations, and have actively explored interoperability and partnerships with our peers,” an Alibaba spokesperson told CNBC. “We are constantly working to enhance user experience by making shopping more convenient, enjoyable, and efficient.”
Taobao and Tmall will likely begin accepting payments through WeChat Pay this month, a source familiar with the matter who was not authorized to disclose the details publicly, told CNBC.
The historic move comes as Alibaba looks to reignite growth in its China e-commerce business, which has been under pressure from a sluggish Chinese consumer and from competitors like JD.com amd Temu-owner PDD.
Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu has previously said that the Taobao and Tmall business should return to growth toward the latter half of the firm’s fiscal year 2025.
WeChat has more than 1.3 billion users globally, the majority of whom is located in China. WeChat Pay is one of the biggest mobile payments apps in the country.
By allowing users to transact through WeChat Pay on Taobao and Tmall, Alibaba could therefore increase its market share in less developed parts of China, the source said.
The company’s biggest rival JD.com has also allowed WeChat Pay to be used on its platform for a long time.
Another theme in the background is the regulatory scrutiny that Beijing has put on Chinese technology companies, urging these firms to bring down their so-called walled gardens that block competitors’ products.
Alibaba and Tencent are two of China’s largest internet companies that have built dominance through their sprawling services, which often center around their so-called super apps. That prominance created a situation where, for a long time, rivals would not allow access to each others’ services on their respective platforms.
Tech giants started to change these practices over the past few years, amid criticism from regulators. In 2021, Tencent began allowing users to access external links in one-on-one chats. For example, if someone shared a link from Alibaba’s Taobao in WeChat, a user would be able to open that without leaving the messaging app. That same year, some of Alibaba’s other apps began supporting WeChat Pay.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg makes a keynote speech during the Meta Connect annual event, at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Sept. 25, 2024.
Manuel Orbegozo | Reuters
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday said Shengjia Zhao, the co-creator of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, will serve as the chief scientist of Meta Superintelligence Labs.
Zuckerberg has been on a multibillion-dollar artificial intelligence hiring blitz in recent weeks, highlighted by a $14 billion investment in Scale AI. In June, Zuckerberg announced a new organization called Meta Superintelligence Labs that’s made up of top AI researchers and engineers.
Zhao’s name was listed among other new hires in the June memo, but Zuckerberg said Friday that Zhao co-founded the lab and “has been our lead scientist from day one.” Zhao will work directly with Zuckerberg and Alexandr Wang, the former CEO of Scale AI who is acting as Meta’s chief AI officer.
“Shengjia has already pioneered several breakthroughs including a new scaling paradigm and distinguished himself as a leader in the field,” Zuckerberg wrote in a social media post. “I’m looking forward to working closely with him to advance his scientific vision.”
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In addition to co-creating ChatGPT, Zhao helped build OpenAI’s GPT-4, mini models, 4.1 and o3, and he previously led synthetic data at OpenAI, according to Zuckerberg’s June memo.
Meta Superintelligence Labs will be where employees work on foundation models such as the open-source Llama family of AI models, products and Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research projects.
The social media company will invest “hundreds of billions of dollars” into AI compute infrastructure, Zuckerberg said earlier this month.
“The next few years are going to be very exciting!” Zuckerberg wrote Friday.
Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies, speaks on a panel titled Power, Purpose, and the New American Century at the Hill and Valley Forum at the U.S. Capitol on April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images
Palantir has hit another major milestone in its meteoric stock rise. It’s now one of the 20 most valuable U.S. companies.
The provider of software and data analytics technology to defense agencies saw its stock rise more than 2% on Friday to another record, lifting the company’s market cap to $375 billion, which puts it ahead of Home Depot and Procter & Gamble. The company’s market value was already higher than Bank of America and Coca-Cola.
Palantir has more than doubled in value this year as investors ramp up bets on the company’s artificial intelligence business and closer ties to the U.S. government. Since its founding in 2003 by Peter Thiel, CEO Alex Karp and others, the company has steadily accrued a growing list of customers.
Revenue in Palantir’s U.S. government business increased 45% to $373 million in its most recent quarter, while total sales rose 39% to $884 million. The company next reports results on Aug. 4.
Buying the stock at these levels requires investors to pay hefty multiples. Palantir currently trades for 273 times forward earnings, according to FactSet. The only other company in the top 20 with a triple-digit ratio is Tesla at 175.
With $3.1 billion in total revenue over the past year, Palantir is a fraction the size of the next smallest company by sales among the top 20 by market cap. Mastercard, which is valued at $518 billion, is closest with sales over the past four quarters of roughly $29 billion.
CEO Elon Musk first teased the concept of building a drive-in themed charging station in 2018. On Monday, that vision was finally realized. Tesla describes the two-story restaurant, constructed of a steel exterior inspired by the Cybertruck, as retro-futuristic. It features 80 charging stalls and two 66-foot megascreens playing a rotation of short films, feature-length movies and Tesla videos.
The diner operates 24/7 serving classic American comfort food, such as burgers, grilled cheese sandwiches and milkshakes, to both electric vehicle owners charging their cars and the general public. CNBC visited the site and spoke with early patrons, who praised both the design and the food.
“It’s pretty cool. It has a very vintage vibe, but futuristic vibe at the same time” said Taju, who stopped by with a friend who drives a Tesla.
“I would bring friends from out of town, they would be very impressed coming to a place like this” said Don, a Model 3 owner who visited with his wife and neighbor.
Also on display for a limited time was Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robot, which served popcorn and interacted playfully with guests. Less than 24 hours after opening, the line to order food stretched around the block.
Musk has said that if the concept proves successful, Tesla may open similar diner Supercharger stations in other major cities.
Watch the video to see what it’s like inside Tesla’s first diner charging station.