Alibaba

[freedom]

i tihnk you are not marrying the habits and acceptance of the mobile platform with the behavior of a new group of people that have a different set of values.

I just think that the service/product they provide can be easily copied by any competitor or even national banks, if they put their mind it; and, it is easily threatened by changes in PRC monetary policy. It also doesn't seem to be something only Alibaba is good at/can do, per se.

It has potential, but a simple SWOT analysis shows significant weakness in their strategy.

Don't get me wrong, if I am a Chinese national, I may put some of my free cash in there if I could, provided there is indeed no withdrawal fees etc, while the party last. However, once a renown national bank comes up with a similar product, I would transfer my cash to the bank instead in a heartbeat.

Alibaba does have unmatched strength against competitors(not banks as Alibaba is not a financial service provider, but Tecent/Baidu or even security/brokerage companies). That's Alipay. The service Alipay provides turns the money invested almost like cash. You can buy quite a lot of stuff within Alibaba(Taobao and Tmall) and you can use it to pay plenty of service providers such as credit cards and some bills. For Tecent and Baidu, that's their weakness. It would turn away a lot of people because the only way to use the money invested is to transfer it back to your bank account and then use it.

People put their money into the banks not just because the banks give interest and safety of deposit, also because the banks provide services such as bill payment, cash withdrawal(domestic and oversea) and NETS in the case of Singapore.

[yawnyawn]

Alipay's YuErBao basically invest the money in treasury bonds, money market funds and bank deposits.
http://www.thfund.com.cn/column.dohsmode...1.htm#goto

The app to monitor your return is pretty easy even for non finance people to understand. It shows a 7 day annualised return for the fund, cumulative return for the prior week/month, return per 10,000RMB.

With currently 7 day annualised return at 6.286% and china banks 1 yr FD at 3.25%, no wonder the fund has managed to grow to a size of RMB250B!

[CityFarmer]

It seems IPO in US exchange, rather than SEHK is confirmed. The valuation of US$130 billion is a new world record, IIRC. What a miss for SEHK...

Alibaba’s American IPO could dwarf Facebook’s

HONG KONG — Chinese online commerce giant Alibaba Group confirmed today (March 16) that it plans to begin the process of becoming a public company in the United States.

In a post on its corporate blog, the company said it plans to list on an American stock market to become “a more global company”.

The short blogpost formally highlights that the company is on its way toward setting up its long-awaited initial public offering, one that could set new records for the biggest ever. Among China’s burgeoning contingent of Internet titans, Alibaba is unique — part eBay, part Google, part PayPal.

The move ends months of speculation over where the company would list its shares after talks for a stock sale in Hong Kong fell apart late last year.

Analysts speculate that the company could fetch a valuation well north of US$130 billion (S$164 billion). The American IPO could eventually raise more than the US$16 billion that Facebook reaped in its public debut nearly two years ago
...
http://www.todayonline.com/business/alib...-facebooks

[opmi]

2 share-tiers share listing. May come and bite Alibaba shareholders in the future. in area
of corp governance.

[CityFarmer]

Will SGX follows, if SEHK changes its listing rule to include multi-class shareholders, due to competition?

HK stock exchange panel to continue work on listing rules after Alibaba IPO loss: CEO
17 Mar 2014 13:29
[HONG KONG] Hong Kong's stock exchange needs to find ways to be more competitive as a listing venue for technology companies, without rushing into any decisions, the head of the exchange operator said on Monday, a day after Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said it will list shares in the United States.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) respects Alibaba's decision and wishes the company well, chief executive Charles Li said in a statement.

Alibaba's move to hold a US initial public offering is a blow to the HKEx, which was initially the company's preferred listing venue for the deal. "We have to consider possible changes where they might be necessary, with everything according to our due process," Li said in the statement. "The Listing Committee's work on shareholding structures didn't start because of Alibaba and will not end now because of Alibaba." - Reuters

Ref: Business Times Breaking News

[opmi]

unlikely. Then you will see the tycoons starts doing 2 tier to control big with small.

which some already did with their cross-holdings web.

[specuvestor]

Will profit or integrity wins?

In the short run it is a voting machine, in the long run it is a weighing machine... applies to many things than just the stock market

[CityFarmer]

Will profit or integrity wins?

In the short run it is a voting machine, in the long run it is a weighing machine... applies to many things than just the stock market

Do you mean the US exchanges have no integrity? Supporting multi-class shareholding doesn't automatically mean no integrity, right?

[specuvestor]

The world's largest capital market have other mechanisms like ERISA, S144A, Sarbanes Oxley, class action, consumer/ shareholder's rights, activist funds etc to keep it in check. Clearing houses and exchanges know integrity is paramount. If SGX and HKSE does multi-class then they also have to change the system and structure to support it.

[CityFarmer]

The world's largest capital market have other mechanisms like ERISA, S144A, Sarbanes Oxley, class action, consumer/ shareholder's rights, activist funds etc to keep it in check. Clearing houses and exchanges know integrity is paramount. If SGX and HKSE does multi-class then they also have to change the system and structure to support it.

Yes, that sound right to me. Total package counts. Thanks for the answer.