Alibaba IPO could raise up to $24.3B, breaking records along the way
The Chinese e-commerce giant, poised to make US stock market history, sets some high expectations for its pricing.
Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba could raise up to $24.3 billion with its highly anticipated, and historic, initial public offering.
Alibaba plans to sell its stock for a price between $60 and $66 per share, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing published Friday. This means the company could raise up to $24.3 billion, making it the largest public offering in US history. It also puts the company's value at about $155 billion at the midpoint of the range, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Alibaba is the dominant force in Internet retail in China, owning several e-commerce sites. Its most notable consumer portals are Taobao, a consumer-to-consumer marketplace similar to eBay, and TMall, a shopping hub for brands like Apple and Gap, to sell direct to customers. While the company was best known in the US for its connection to Yahoo -- the tech company owns a minority stake in Alibaba -- the upcoming IPO has it making headlines on its own. Shares should start trading later this month.
If successful, Alibaba's IPO will raise even more than Facebook, the world's largest social network, which currently takes the top slot for an Internet public offering at $16 billion raised. Additionally, Alibaba could also beat out Visa, which raised $19.1 billion in 2008 -- the largest IPO in US history thus far.
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Alibaba's IPO could also mean a new major player in online retail in the US. Established in 1999, the company has become a leader in e-commerce with a hyper-growth rate trumping better-known US competitors such as Amazon and eBay. The company's revenue rose 66 percent in its fourth quarter of 2013. In contrast, Amazon's revenue rose 22 percent while eBay's climbed 14 percent.
Alibaba launched a new marketplace, 11 Main, this summer that competes with Amazon and eBay, but it's unclear if it's had any traction among consumers or merchants.
CNET has contacted Alibaba for comment and will update this report with any new information.
Correction, 4:51 p.m. PT: The original article misstated the amount raised by Facebook's IPO. It is $16 billion.