Alibaba.com hits gold as second-largest internet IPO ever

Chinese business-to-business sales web site Alibaba.com raised a staggering US$1.5 billion on its November 6 2007 initial public offering (IPO) in a transaction said to be one of the largest IPOs ever by an internet company worldwide, second only to Google¡¦s 2004 US$1.66 billion debut. The IPO saw the company sell 858.9 million shares.

Alibaba.com shares nearly tripled from an issue price of HK$13.50 (US$1.74) to more than HK$40 (US$5.13), but had lost more than 30% of their peak value just one week after the stock¡¦s debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange, closing just above HK$27 (US$3.46) on November 13 2007.