Zulily welcomes Alibaba as a new major shareholder.

Alibaba has purchased a 9% stake in the U.S. online retailer Zulily Inc., a move that has sparked questions of the Chinese e-commerce giant’s intentions over the American market.

The value of the purchase is worth over $150 million and was disclosed in a securities filing which highlighted Alibaba spent millions of dollars buying Zulily stock as the U.S. company’s shares plunged due to lower than expected earnings being released. Zulily reduced its 2015 sales forecast after seeing a 29% increase in first-quarter revenue to $306.6 million compared to a growth rate of 52% last year.

Zulily’s shares were valued at $40 per share just in October 2014 however due to continuously disappointing quarterly results since the shares have crashed to a 52 week low of $9 making them a potential bargain for Alibaba. The drop in sales growth has been blamed on the company’s difficulty to retain customers, with many not returning to make a second purchase.

Zulily had its IPO in November 2013 launching at $22 a share. The stock surged to it’s highest point of $70 in early 2014 as results showed fast sales growth and the company gaining new customers at record pace. Its sales topped $1 billion last year, making it one of the quickest online retailers to meet the milestone.

Zulily offers over 4,500 product styles which are targeted at moms purchasing for themselves, their children and homes. They offer their products through various flash sale events, which have a limited duration each day on its site. It wasn’t previously known that Alibaba had any investment in the company’s shares.

CEO of Zulily Darrell Cavens said his company respects Alibaba and welcomes it as a shareholder of the company.

Alibaba spoke of its confidence in the company, saying it believes Zulily has “a compelling vision for the future.”

Amongst the shares recent selloff, Alibaba purchased roughly 4.8 million Zulily shares at prices varying from $10.63 to $12.70 each. The company now owns 11.5 million Class A shares, giving it 9.3% ownership of the company’s shares according to their latest quarterly filing.

The structure of Zulily’s dual-class share would make it hard for the company to be acquired without prior consent of its directors, who hold Class B shares which have the most voting power. Andreessen Horowitz a venture-capital firm also has some Zulily Class B shares through various affiliated entities.

Zulily’s shares closed at $13.30 on Friday, down 43% for the year but up 12.59% for the day. The company’s market capitalization is just below $1.5 billion.