This article was published on May 6, 2014

Alibaba files for its IPO with 618 million users and $5.55 billion in annual revenue


Alibaba files for its IPO with 618 million users and $5.55 billion in annual revenue

Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba has filed for its US IPO. The company reported a massive 618 million users and $5.55 billion in revenue for fiscal 2013, which ran through March 31.

According to the filing, Alibaba is seeking to raise as much as $1 billion, though that figure could change as the IPO date approaches. In fact, Alibaba’s public offering is expected to rank as the largest tech IPO to date.

Alibaba touts itself as the “largest online and mobile commerce company in the world” in its Form F-1. It had $248 million in gross merchandise volume (GMV) in calendar 2013 from its three retail marketplaces, Taobao, Tmall and Juhuasuan.

The firm reported $1.73 billion in income from operations and $1.39 billion in net income for fiscal 2013, and that’s just for 2013. Alibaba’s revenue numbers for 2014 are even better. In its first nine months of fiscal 2014, it raked in $6.5 billion in revenue and $3.13 billion in income from operations.

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alibaba-ipo

While the initial draft of the F-1 is now public, Alibaba’s IPO is still a bit of a moving target, as many of the financial specifics for the listing have yet to be filled in.

2014 is shaping up as a breakout year for Chinese tech companies. In addition to Alibaba’s mega-IPO, Sina’s Weibo microblogging platform is also going public in the US.

Alibaba Form F-1

See also: What Alibaba’s IPO means for e-tailing in the US

Image credit: Mike Clarke / AFP / Getty Images

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