现在阿里巴巴希望下个月能够进军纽约股票市场，那将会是有史以来最大规模的首次公开股票发行之一。分析者预测这次股票发行在规模上将达到200亿美元，同时会使公司市价超过1500亿美元。阿里巴巴刚刚更新它的招股说明书，把美国的证劵交易委员会登记在案，并且更改了六月份它的估价1170亿元，改为七月份的1300亿元左右。
阿里巴巴这个技术巨头在把美国的证券交易委员会登记在案的过程中采取了额外两个步骤，这样的做法激起了人们的争论，但是对经常这样做的公司来说就不会令人惊奇。可能是受到了美国改革者们的刺激，阿里巴巴试图解释为何让支付宝这样一个重要的网上支付平台下线，导致2011年那个时候不同意下撤支付宝平台的阿里巴巴的一个大股东雅虎公司大发雷霆。阿里巴巴不断地宣称其无从选择因为有来自中央银行即将实行的改革措施，看起来好像是中央银行在惩罚支付宝因为它没有完全本土化。公司治理的拥护者将不会受到压制。
他们不会为给马云的公司和其24个合伙公司更紧的控制这样的新措施而高兴。这种所谓的合伙关系使其合伙公司有权任命阿里巴巴公司的九位董事中的四位。人们希望日本软银公司（拥有巨大资金的投资公司）任命阿里巴巴公司的第五位董事，而其余的四位董事将独立产生。现在马云行事非常谨慎。在改变招股说明书的过程中，他非常清楚地指出其合伙人有权增加两个董事会成员，即将九位董事会成员增加到十一位，而额外的两个董事会成员将由控制合作伙伴任命。
最后总结，阿里巴巴比任何时候都要大，而马云仍然不肯认错并且对阿里巴巴有完全的控制权。不管阿里巴巴首次募股的这艘火箭是一飞冲天还是不幸坠落，这件事将会在很长时间让人难以忘记。当心！
JACK MA wanted to list Alibaba on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The founder and chairman of China’s biggest internet firm had hoped that local authorities would accept his demand that a small clique around him would maintain control of the business after flotation. But officials in Hong Kong refused to allow such a share structure, and so Alibaba headed to America, wher the founders of technology firms like Google commonly use dual-share structures to ensure they stay in charge.
Alibaba is now expected to float on the New York stock exchange next month in what may be one of the biggest initial public offerings ever. Analysts speculate that the offering, which may approach $20 billion in size, could value the firm at well over $150 billion. The firm itself has just updated the prospectus it filed with America’s Securities and Exchange Commission, and has revised its own estimate of its valuation from $117 billion in June to some $130 billion now.
The technology giant took two other steps in the revised SEC filing. These have provoked controversy, but come as no surprise to old lags. Perhaps prodded by American regulators, Alibaba has tried to explain why it spun out Alipay, a vital online-payments division, in 2011. Yahoo, a big shareholder that did not approve the move, was outraged at the time. Alibaba repeats its claims that it had no choice given that pending regulations from China’s central bank looked as though they might penalise Alipay for not being wholly domestic. Advocates of corporate governance will not be impressed.
Nor will they be pleased by new measures that give even tighter control of the firm to Mr Ma and some two dozen associates. This so-called partnership already had the right to nominate four of Alibaba's nine directors. SoftBank, a Japanese investment company with a big stake, was expected to nominate a fifth friendly director; and the remaining four others were to be independent. Now, Mr Ma is taking no chances. In the revised filing, he makes clear that his partners have the right to expand the board by two members from nine to 11—and that these two additional directors are to be named by the controlling partnership.
To sum up, Alibaba is bigger than ever and Mr Ma remains unapologetic and in complete control. Whether it skyrockets or fails miserably, Alibaba’s IPO certainly looks to be the most memorable in ages. Hold on to your hats.
