Asia Asset Management published an article on July 8 called, "Money Market Funds Drive Growth in China's Asset Management Business." The article states, "Money market funds continue to play a key role in the growth of mainland China's asset management industry during the first half of the year, which financial pundits partly attributed to a lack of innovative investment products available on the market. Citing figures from financial web site howbuy.com, Shanghai Morning Post reported that Beijing-based Tianhong Asset Management, which paired up with e-commerce giant Alibaba Group to launch the online fund platform Yu'e Bao, trumped conventional asset managers with total AUM of 586.1 billion RMB (US$93.88 billion) as of the end of June. The assets overseen by Tianhong considerably dwarfed its nearest rival, China Asset Management Corporation, by 270 billion RMB. Tianhong's ballooning AUM has mainly been driven by its partnership with Alibaba, through which it launched its first online MMF, the Tianhong Zenglibao Monetary Fund, in June 2013."