Alibaba, China's largest e-commerce company, has acquired a minority stake in US online shopping firm ShopRunner, according to a Financial Times report on Friday.

The acquisition is part of a series of investments by Alibaba as it considers going public, the newspaper said, quoting sources.

Alibaba will pay $75 million for the stake in ShopRunner, run by former Yahoo chief executive officer Scott Thompson, the FT said.

Alibaba's public relations team had no comment on the purchase when approached by China Daily on Monday.

Jonathan Lu, Alibaba's chief executive officer, said in an interview in July that money raised from a potential listing will be utilized to fund further acquisitions.