Leading Chinese e-commerce site Alibaba will seek a Hong Kong stock market flotation this year in a deal that could raise up to $1 billion, South China Morning Post is reporting based on unidentified sources. That would mean Alibaba has decided not to follow its domestic internet brethren Sina, Sohu and Baidu, which have all listed on the Nasdaq. The reason – Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma doesn’t like the tighter U.S. corporate laws. Alibaba runs Yahoo China’s operations; Yahoo U.S. owns 40 percent of Alibaba’s shares.
China Knowledge: “An industry insider said: ‘Analysts based in Hong Kong are more familiar with international trade – imports and exports. The U.S. ones do not understand that.’”