Alibaba Group in China may be sitting on one of the largest Initial Public Offerings (IPO) in history.
I’ve written about Alibaba many times. My focus in writing about the company is the import/export platform they built. You can see it at Alibaba.com. This platform or exchange is helping small entrepreneurs around the world make money.
I used Alibaba.com and AliExpress.com (a subsidiary) as a focal point in my import/export instructional guide called Importing Fortunes.
Granted, making money trading stocks or IPOs and making money in the import/export market are two completely different things.
But the Alibaba IPO has awakened a giant opportunity and showcases a hot rising trend for small entrepreneurs; namely importing and reselling products.
What’s more, Alibaba is not just about importing products from China. Entrepreneurs can meet and network with suppliers in more than 100 countries.
The Alibaba IPO could surpass the $16 billion Facebook raised two years ago.
But I think it’s interesting to point out that Alibaba has built an actual exchange and platform that is generating revenue, as compared to what Facebook is doing. I mean, Facebook is generating massive advertising revenue today. But in the beginning it was just a website.
Alibaba is an e-commerce exchange that makes more money than Amazon.com Inc. and ebay Inc. combined!
The site is also responsible for the rise of e-commerce in China…in my opinion.
Alibaba’s new online payment system, Alipay, helps shoppers without credit cards buy stuff. Think about this for a minute. A billion people without credit cards shopping for stuff online and on their phones.
And get this…Alibaba’s properties attracts more than 620 million Web surfers, that’s about twice the size of the U.S. population.
The Alibaba IPO is casting a big spotlight on Alibaba’s extraordinary rise, which has drawn comparisons with some of Silicon Valley’s famous success stories.
Even more amazing is the fact the company was started in 1999 with just $60,000 in the apartment of Jack Ma, a former English schoolteacher with no previous experience in business or technology.
Ma, 49, stepped down as Alibaba’s CEO a year ago and was succeeded by Jonathan Lu.
But Ma remains Alibaba’s executive chairman. He’s also a big hit at the company’s annual “Alifest.” Jack Ma is a multibillionaire based on his stake in the company.
Putting IPOs and trading stocks aside for a minute, and simply look at the opportunity to connect, interact, and network with legitimate product suppliers and manufactures around the world, is an incredible business opportunity.
This is how the Alibaba IPO could help your business.
