Chinese online retailer in biggest US public offering

Alibaba Group Holding, the e-commerce company started in 1999 with $60,000 by Jack Ma, yesterday cemented its status as a symbol of China’s economic emergence by raising $21.8bn (€16.9bn) in a US initial public offering.

The company and shareholders, including Yahoo!, sold 320.1m shares for $68 each. The sale values Alibaba at $167.6bn, making it larger by market value than rival Amazon.com, as well as China’s Tencent Holdings.

The IPO is already the largest by any company in the US, and has the potential to break the global record — currently held by Agricultural Bank of China’s $22bn sale in 2010 — if underwriters issue more shares.