The Alibaba IPO: 'Don't Facebook It'

THE JEROME CHAZEN CASE SERIES In September 2014, Alibaba, the largest Internet commerce company in the world, was due to go public on the New York Stock Exchange. The IPO was expected to be around $20 billion in aggregate, valuing the company at more than $150 billion and setting a record for the largest US IPO in history. In this case, students are asked to analyze what Alibaba was actually worth—and whether the company's positive attributes (dominant market shares in a high-growth country and an innovative management team) outweigh the negatives (complex structure with potential regulatory and tax risks).