Alibaba Group’s 2014 public offering was the largest initial public offering ever at the time.
Alibaba raised US$21.8 billion in its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange on September 19, 2014. Underwriters later exercised an option that increased the total to US$25 billion, setting the record for the largest IPO at that time.
The Chinese company was founded by Jack Ma and began as an online business-to-business marketplace. It expanded into consumer e-commerce, payments, cloud computing, logistics, and digital media. Its listing gave international investors access to one of China’s most important technology groups.
Saudi Aramco later surpassed Alibaba’s IPO record in 2019. An IPO’s size measures shares sold and money raised, whereas market capitalization measures the value of all outstanding shares after listing.