Alibaba is said to be seeking to raise at least $15 billion in the IPO at a valuation of around $120 billion for the entire company. Yahoo! owns a 24% stake in Alibaba, and Japan’s Softbank, which recently acquired a controlling interest in Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S), owns a 37% stake.
Alibaba has failed to convince the Hong Kong stock exchange to change its rules forbidding the company’s partnership. Weibo, which filed for a U.S. IPO after markets closed on Friday, will adopt a dual-class share structure. In Alibaba’s case, the company wants to maintain its current partnership structure which gives management complete control over naming members to the board of directors.
Yahoo!’s 24% stake in Alibaba would be worth as much as $37 billion according to Bloomberg News, and the company is under a contractual obligation to sell a substantial portion of its shares as soon as Alibaba goes public. And Yahoo! must sell at the IPO price.
Alibaba also holds a 19% stake in Weibo, which is majority owned by Sina. Weibo, the Chinese answer to Twitter, is seeking $500 million in its IPO.
Sina shares were up about 7.7% in early afternoon trading Monday, at $69.51 in a 52-week range of $45.54 to $92.83.
Yahoo! shares were up about 4.2%, at $39.18 in a 52-week range of $21.87 to $41.72.
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