China’s Singles’ Day brought in nearly $9 billion in sales in the first 20 minutes

Retail giant Alibaba’s annual Singles’ Day, a daylong bonanza of sales on just about every type of product it sells, has only just begun, and it’s already generated an inordinate amount of cash for the Chinese company. The event, which originally began in universities in China in the 1990s, falls on Nov. 11, and was started as a sort-of retaliation to Valentine’s Day, celebrating singletons. Many Chinese companies, from Alibaba’s Tmall and Taobao sites to JD.com and Pinduoduo, have since latched on to the day, ballooning it into an international shopping spree, with customers from across Asia looking to snag deals, much like Amazon has done in the US and Europe with its also made-up Prime Day shopping holiday.