Sales of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's e-commerce business are expected to surpass those of the total retail e-commerce market in the United States by year-end, Alibaba's chairman said on Friday.

Jack Ma made the forecast during his first public appearance after retiring from the chief executive officer's position on May 10.

In addition, Ma said, Alibaba has a near-term target. "Alibaba hopes to exceed Wal-Mart to become the world's biggest e-commerce retail company by 2015," Ma told reporters in Beijing as Alibaba signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China Telecom Corp Ltd.