Alibaba sets share price at $68 ahead of today’s massive IPO

Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) today confirmed it’s setting a share price of $68 ahead of its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. Alibaba lists shortly after the US markets open for Friday trading.

$68 is at the top of Alibaba’s share range, which it upped to $66-68 a few days ago after initially pricing it at a more modest range of $60 to $66. Investor interest has been strong in China’s top ecommerce company.

Debuting at $68 per share, Alibaba – which makes most of its money from its Chinese estores, Taobao and Tmall – will raise $21.8 billion. As indicated by Alibaba’s recently updated SEC filing, that could stretch to $25 billion if more shares are freed up shortly after the listing. It will be a record-breaking IPO – the biggest ever in the US.

Today’s IPO will see Alibaba valued at US$168 billion – more than Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) current market cap of $149.7 billion at the close of Thursday’s trading.

See: Here are all the must-see numbers on Alibaba ahead of record-breaking IPO