Alibaba's IPO Could Be the Biggest Ever, Report Says

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Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group's headquarters in Hangzhou, China.

Image: Hong Wu/Getty Images

By Todd Wasserman2014-04-25 16:10:07 UTC

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is considering offering more shares in its IPO, a move that could make its initial public offering the largest ever, according to a report.

The Wall Street Journal says no final deal has been made, but new shares could push the amount of the offering beyond the Agricultural Bank of China's record $22.1 billion in Shanghai and Hong Kong in 2010. (Visa had the largest U.S.-based IPO with $19.7 billion that same year.)

See also: Here Come China's Tech Giants: Weibo, Alibaba to IPO in U.S.

Prior to the latest report, Alibaba was said to be pursuing an IPO in the $15 billion range, which is around the same figure Facebook sought to raise in its 2012 IPO. The offering is expected to hit in late summer.

While the world's largest IPO would make headlines, there are downsides to making so many shares public. Since founders and early investors would have a smaller stake, there would be less incentive for them to try to influence the stock's performance. However, it isn't clear whether Alibaba Founder Jack Ma plans to sell stock in the IPO. Ma and a group of early founders plan to keep some control of the company regardless of their stake by retaining the power to appoint a majority to the company's board, according to the report.

Yahoo plans to sell a stake of about 10% in the IPO, cutting its investment in the company to about 14%. Yahoo's stock price has risen about 37% over the past year. Many analysts credit the run-up in Alibaba's business for that jump.

Topics: AliBaba, Business, IPOs, Yahoo