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China's largest ecommerce site set to float

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Alibaba.com, China's largest ecommerce site, is to float on the stock market in what is likely to be the largest ever initial public offering by a Chinese internet firm.

Alibaba has two main strands of business: a consumer site for Chinese residents with 16 million registered users, and a business to business website - Alibaba International - which claims over 500,000 visitors every day. Only the B2B site is to float.

Alibaba International claims to offer big savings on traditional product sourcing. The vast site claims over 97,000 categories of "home supplies". Reportedly, 609 new companies have signed up today.

The site includes a TrustPass feature, to reassure buyers that the sellers are who they claim to be.

Alibaba bought Yahoo! China! in October 2005 and Yahoo! invested $1bn in the company. At the time it was valued at $4bn.

Three banks - Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley - are advising the firm.

There's more on the International Herald Tribune here. ®

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Latest Comments

So refreshing...

to see a novel approach of hate-mongering. Tying in large banking corporations AND China with the Nazi regime. Refreshing.

Let's just ignore the fact that every time you buy clothes, electronics, hell, probably any plastic item, that free-speech hating government gets a little cut.

Oh, and please tell me, which countries tried to cut up China into colonial sectors?

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None of these banks

Have any relation to those during WWII that enabled Nazis to stash the money and possessions of millions of Jews murdered in concentration camps.

Their involvement with China and a company that assists the Chinese government in imprisoning free speech activists is purely for the benefit of their investors.

I'm sure they will agree when I say that supporting companies like Yahoo China allows western corporations to influence the actions of the Chinese government, turning them into a more tolerant regime by showing them the economic benefits of a free society - and helping to lock up anyone that says differently.

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