华联学院英文报刊阅读教案08 Alibaba jumps more than 40 percent in trading debut

1、Passage 8 4/4Passage 8Alibaba jumps more than 40% in trading debut(Agencies)Updated: 2014-09-20 00:0Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. founder Jack Ma celebrates after ringing a ceremonial bell at the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate the companys initial public offering (IPO) under the ticker BABA in Ne

2、w York September 19, 2014. Photo / AgenciesNEW YORK - Alibaba Group Holding Ltds shares surged by more than 40 percent in their first day of trading on Friday as investors jumped in to buy what looks likely to be the largest IPO in history.More than two hours after trading began at the New York Stoc

3、k Exchange, the stock opened at $92.70 and rose from there, hitting a high of $99.70 in active trading, during which more than 100 million shares change hands in composite trading in the first 10 minutes of trading.Cheers went out among traders on the NYSE floor at Wall and Broad Streets as the stoc

4、k started to trade shortly before noon ET (1600 GMT).This is by far the biggest IPO event-extravanganza that weve had, said Peter Costa, floor trader at Empire Executions Inc.The pricing on Thursday initially raised $21.8 billion for the Chinese e-commerce company. Scott Cutler, head of the New York

5、 Stock Exchanges global listing business, told CNBC that underwriters would exercise their option for an additional 48 million shares, to bring the IPOs size to about $25 billion, making it the largest IPO in history.Alibaba is nearly unknown to most Americans but is ubiqu HYPERLINK /business/2012-0

6、8/24/content_15702997.htm itous in China, where it is responsible for 80 percent of online sales. The company earned $3.7 billion in the 12 months ended March 31, 2014, up about $2 billion from the prior 12-month period.The sale values the company at about $168 billion, more than American icons such

7、 as Walt Disney Co and Coca-Cola Co . Should the stock close at $98 on its first day, it would be worth about $241 billion, nearly the value of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.Jack Ma, a former English teacher, founded Alibaba in 1999 in his apartment. His personal fortune is more than $14 billion on paper, vau

8、lting him into the ranks of such tech billionaires as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. The deal is also expected to make millionaires out of a substantial chunk of the companys managers, software engineers and other staff.The rise in the stock exceeds the average gain by new IPOs on US exchanges of late.

9、In the second quarter, the average first-day gain was 9.2 percent, according to Renaissance Capital IPO Intelligence. Underwriters usually aim for a gain of 10 percent to 15 percent on the first day.We did put in for the IPO and we are getting an allocation, though not the full allocation we put in

10、for. We probably got about 10 percent of that, said Michael Matousek, head trader at US Global Investors Inc in San Antonio.Demand was intense among the retail investor crowd as well. J.J. Kinahan, chief market strategist at retail brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp, said the company received cust

11、omer orders amounting to about 70 percent of what it saw for Facebook, and about three times the customer orders it had for Twitters IPO.With underwriters electing to sell more shares, the companys initial public offering becomes the largest in history, surpassing Agricultural Bank of China Ltds $22

12、.1 billion listing in 2010.Alibaba Groups orange banners were festooned around the exchange, with its logo on NYSE computer screens. Ma was on hand at the trading floor to watch several long-time customers ring the opening bell at the exchange.I dont want disappointed shareholders, I want to make sure they make money, Ma said of the pricing, on CNBC, adding that he worries most when customers are happy.NYSE held extensive te