Can't buy me love: Alibaba makes $1 billion in 17 minutes of 'Singles Day'

Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba brought in $1 billion of sales in about 17 minutes of its Singles Day sale — Singles Day being the equivalent of Black Friday (USA), in the company's home country.

[01:00] In a little over an hour, the #1111sale exceeds USD 2 billion in GMV; 45%+ of it coming from mobile #Alibaba #singlesday #China
— Alizila.com (@Alizila) November 10, 2014

Singles Day began in the early 1990s, and it's a numerological holiday: it celebrates the four 1s in the date, 11/11. Something of an anti-Valentine's day in China, the day is marked by parties and outings for single people — as well as a torrent of online shopping. Alibaba brought in $5.75 billion on Singles Day 2013.

The company recently went public in the U.S. with a market capitalization of $230 billion — larger than Amazon and close to Facebook. It holds the title of the largest IPO of all time, having raised $21.8 million.

Credit: Mashable