Celsias

Thanks to the folks over at Celsias for helping spread the word on Alibaba.com and shark finning.

And the Alibaba.com conversation goes on...

Have a look at the comment thread on this New York Times blog...

Alibaba.com - will the shark fin story ever end?.....

Alibaba is making some exciting news in the financial world. The IPO in Hong Kong is going so well that the targeted amount of US-$ 1,3 billion might have to be increased to US-$ 1,5 billion to satisfy at least some of the huge demand for the new shares.

While that will be rather healthy for both Alibaba's CEO, Mr. Jack Ma, and the new shareholders, it will not help the sharks as long as Alibaba sticks to its online shark fin brokerage.

The latest news is that Alibaba have retained Hill & Knowlton, a leading international PR agency as their consultants.

I have read two comments in a shark discussion group regarding Alibaba's new PR advisors:

- "H&K is a heavyweight PR firm. They step in to assist large companies when they have image problems. The fact that Alibaba felt it was necessary to hire H&K is a good sign. Wolfgang is reaching them."

- "It is not a good sign - they dont like loosing."

Whoever might be right, here is an update on the collaboration between Hill & Knowlton and Alibaba:

http://www.stopsharkfinning.net/news.htm

Alibaba.com - not just sharks

So it turns out that Alibaba.com not only facilitates the trade of shark fins, but also Northern leopard cat skin, ivory, and turtle eggs. See the article by Wildlife Extra. Also, Paul Watson, founder and president of the Sea Shepherd Foundation wrote a letter to Yahoo asking for an explanation as to why they would invest in a company that supports the trade of shark fins. To-date he has not received any response from Yahoo.

No answer from George Burgess - what could that mean?....

If I were to speculate why George did not answer my letter I'd like to interpret his silence as a tacit approval of what I said. :-)