Alibaba’s 2014 stock-market debut was the largest initial public offering ever at that time.
Alibaba Group listed on the New York Stock Exchange on September 19, 2014, under the ticker BABA. The company initially raised about $21.8 billion, and the total increased to roughly $25 billion when underwriters exercised an over-allotment option.
The Chinese company operates major e-commerce platforms including Taobao and Tmall, alongside businesses in cloud computing, logistics, digital media, and payments-related services. Its enormous offering reflected both the scale of China’s online consumer market and strong international investor demand.
Saudi Aramco later surpassed Alibaba’s record in 2019. That means Alibaba is correctly described as the record holder at the time of its listing, but not as the current all-time record holder. IPO size also differs from market capitalization: the former is capital raised, while the latter is the value assigned to all listed shares.