Alibaba
Alibaba's logo is seen at its headquarters on the outskirts of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province April 23, 2014. Picture taken April 23, 2014. REUTERS/Chance Chan

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Holdings starts on Monday, Sept 8, its roadshow for the company's initial public offering (IPO) expected to raise as much as $24 billion, documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday showed. The roadshow kicks off in New York.

Alibaba plans to sell 320.1 million shares priced between $60 and $66. The IPO would be the largest for a US-listed firm. It would value Alibaba at $163 billion.

Once the company's shares are listed, Alibaba stocks are expected to be traded the following week under the ticker BABA. The Chinese giant's shareprices are expected to go up after the public launch. The $24 billion e-commerce giant expects to raise would exceed the record $22 billion raised by Agricultural Bank of China in 2010.

Forbes reckoned that Jack Ma, who established Alibaba in his garage, could make more than $840 million before taxes if he sells 12.75 million shares at $66. Even with the IPO, Ma's total stake in Alibaba would still be worth about $12.76 billion for his 193 million shares.

In Q2 2014, Alibaba reported a 46 per cent boost in earnings to $2.54 billion, while its net income grew three times to $1.99 billion compared to the same quarter in 2013. The earnings and income growth came about despite stronger competition from other Chinese e-commerce sites such as Tencent.

Alibaba makes money by charging advertising fees sellers who want to promote their products in its online bazaars with about 279 million active buyers and 8.5 million active sellers.

YouTube/Bloomberg News