By Ryan Mac and Brian Solomon
Alibaba Group, the Chinese online retailing giant, revised plans for its initial public offering on Monday by announcing in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had raised the price range for its American depositary shares to be between $66 to $68 per share. Earlier this month, the company said it expected shares to price between $60 and $66 for an IPO that is forecasted to happen later this week.
Monday's filing reinforces the fact that Alibaba will have the largest IPO of any company to list on an American stock exchange. At $68 per share, the company could raise more than $25 billion and have a valuation of around $168 billion, larger than
The increased price range comes as potential investors have shown strong demand for the Chinese e-commerce company's shares. Alibaba began its IPO roadshow last week and held an event on Monday in Hong Kong where chairman and founder Jack Ma addressed reporters and investors, according to the Wall Street Journal. According to reports, Ma noted that the company would spread its business aggressively into the United States and Europe following its listing.
In Alibaba’s latest earnings report, sales in the quarter ending in June rose 46% from the same period in 2013 to $2.54 billion, while net income nearly tripled to $2 billion from the year prior. Alibaba also showed strong growth in mobile, where it has fierce competition from Tencent and other Chinese internet companies. E-commerce transactions over mobile comprised one-third of gross merchandise volume. Mobile revenue was about $400 million for the quarter, up from $190 million in the previous quarter.
The company plans to trade under the ticker "BABA" on the New York Stock Exchange.
Update on Sept. 12, 2014 at 10:15 p.m. PDT: An earlier version of this post mistakenly stated that Amazon.com's market capitalization was $150 million, not $150 billion. The post has been updated to reflect the correct amount.
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