Ali Baba Floats on New York Stock Exchange in World’s Largest IPO

Chinese internet giant Alibaba (BABA) floated on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday in the world’s largest IPO. Alibaba shares soared 38 percent in their first day of trading as investors jumped at the chance to invest in the tech giant, which is the Chinese equivalent of Amazon and Ebay combined. The shares floated at the IPO price of $68.00 and rose to a high of $99.70 on the opening day of trading before settling down at $93.89. This gave rise to a market cap of a staggering $231 billion on the opening day. Alibaba is valued at 39 times its estimated earnings per share which is similar to Facebook’s price earnings ratio at the time of listing. The flotation is estimated to have raised between $20-$25 billion making Alibaba the world largest ever IPO.

The Chinese e-commerce company, which was founded by Jack Ma in his apartment in 1999, now accounts for 80 per cent of online sales in China and is set to grow in line with China’s burgeoning middle class. This is certainly one to watch.