Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce or e-comm, refers to the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. Electronic commerce draws on such technologies as electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at one point in the transaction's life-cycle, although it may encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail, mobile devices and telephones as well.

E-commerce can be divided into:

Originally, electronic commerce was identified as the facilitation of commercial transactions electronically, using technology such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). These were both introduced in the late 1970s, allowing businesses to send commercial documents like purchase orders or invoices electronically. The growth and acceptance of credit cards, automated teller machines (ATM) and telephone banking in the 1980s were also forms of electronic commerce. Another form of e-commerce was the airline reservation system typified by Sabre in the USA and Travicom in the UK.

Jack Ma (simplified Chinese: 马云; traditional Chinese: 馬雲; pinyin: Mǎ Yún; born September 10, 1964) is the founder, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, he is formally an English teacher at Hangzhou Teachers College.

Ma was born in the city of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Ma attended Hangzhou Teachers College and graduated in 1988 with a bachelor's degree in English. Ma initially failed the entrance exam twice. While at the school, Ma was elected student chairman. He later became a lecturer in English and International Trade at the Hangzhou Dianzi University. Ma first started building websites for Chinese companies with the help of friends in the US. Ma has commented that "The day we got connected to the Web, I invited friends and TV people over to my house," and on a very slow dial-up connection, "we waited three and a half hours and got half a page.... We drank, watched TV and played cards, waiting. But I was so proud. I proved (to my house guests that) the Internet existed"^{[original research?]}

Jason Goldberg (born 1972) is an American film and television producer. Goldberg is the producer of the films Guess Who and The Butterfly Effect and executive producer of the shows Beauty and the Geek and Punk'd. He often works with Ashton Kutcher.

Born in Bel Air, California, Goldberg got his start as a producer on the film Homage with Blythe Danner in 1994. Next, he produced Cafe Society with Lara Flynn Boyle and Peter Gallagher. He and Ashton Kutcher run a production company, Katalyst Films.

Goldberg married actress Soleil Moon Frye on October 25, 1998 in a traditional Jewish ceremony in Los Angeles. Their first child, daughter Poet Sienna Rose Goldberg, was born on August 24, 2005. Their second child, daughter Jagger Joseph Blue Goldberg, was born on March 17, 2008.

Goldberg is on the Board of Directors for EMA, an environmental action group based in Los Angeles.