Although the market is still waiting for news on Alibaba, there are signs of life in the initial public offering (IPO) market, where pricings this year have consistently fallen short of expectations.
We are hopeful that we may get more details on Alibaba's offering in the next couple weeks, specifically more granularity on revenues, and a better valuation on the many joint ventures they have. Analysts will need that—and more—to get a better sense of its growth rate and profit, and to put a multiple on the total business. What I want to know is where will they be listing: the NASDAQ or the NYSE? Neither one has said a peep about the listing.
However, I can tell you that the exchanges were in China last week pitching their causes!