Alibaba’s pre-IPO S1 document laid bare the breadth of the business, which operates a string of online marketplaces, including Taobao, an equivalent to eBay, the Amazon-style Tmall, and Juhuasuan, China's version of Groupon. Last year, 8m merchants used the three websites to sell $248bn-worth of goods to 231m buyers.
But although the size of Alibaba is impressive, it is its rapid growth trajectory that is most likely to pique investor interest. The business, which was founded by former school teacher Jack Ma in his flat in Hangzhou, doubled its profits to $1.35bn in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same period in 2013. Revenues jumped 66pc to $3.1bn.
“That is stunning growth considering its size,” said Sam Hamadeh, founder of PrivCo, a New York-based analysis firm.
The filings also revealed that it is sat on $7.9bn of cash, cash-equivalents and short-term investments – a major war chest which will help to fuel its expansion by buying up smaller players.
Alibaba did not disclose whether it will list on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, but it is understood to be leaning towards the former of the two trading platforms. At one point it was considering listing in Hong Kong, but it opted for the US because it its rules enable Alibaba' to retain tighter control of the company.
It is a considerable coup for New York. The listing is expected to bring in around $1.1bn in underwriting, legal and trading fees, at the same time as cementing America’s status as the most importance finance centre in the world.
Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup will all share in the bonanza, as lead under-writers for the deal.
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