Alibaba Agrees To Buy Minority Stake In Logistics Company YTO Express

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. said Thursday it has agreed to buy a minority stake in Shanghai YTO Express (Logistics) Co. Ltd. YTO is one of 14 logistics partners that work with Alibaba's logistics unit, Cainiao. No terms of the deal were disclosed. Alibaba said the two partners will work to improve the industry's logistics management capabilities and international and rural delivery services. "This will in turn raise the bar on service quality and user experience for merchants, consumers and logistics companies," it said in a statement. Shares were down 0.9% in premarket trade, and are down 16% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 2%.