Chinese tech titan Jack Ma is set to become the world's 11th richest person after the financial arm of his e-commerce titan Alibaba raises billions in a mammoth public listing, according to the Bloomberg News.

Ant Group said Monday it plans to raise $34 billion in a listing shared between Hong Kong and Shanghai -- making it the biggest IPO in history.

The e-payments behemoth, which runs China's dominant online payment system Alipay, plans to sell 1.67 billion shares at HK$80 ($10.30) each in Hong Kong from Tuesday.

Ant Group's split float would exceed the $29 billion chalked up by Saudi Aramco in December, a high-profile win for a Chinese company during a period of bad headlines for mainland tech firms as Beijing and Washington face off on a number of fronts.

According to Bloomberg former English teacher Ma's 8.8 percent stake in Ant is worth $27.4 billion based on the stock pricing, and will lift the entrepreneur's fortune to $71.1 billion.

That would send him rising up Bloomberg's Billionaires Index, with his wealth exceeding that of Oracle's Larry Ellison, L'Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers, and individual members of the Waltons, whose family own US retail giant Walmart.

The charismatic Chinese businessman was a cash-strapped entrepreneur when someone showed him the internet on a 1990s trip to the United States.

He launched various internet-related business projects in China that met with mixed success before convincing a group of friends to give him $60,000 to start his Alibaba e-commerce venture in 1999.

Bloomberg said at least 18 other people will become billionaires from the IPO, including director Lucy Peng, the biggest individual Ant owner after Ma, and chairman Eric Jing.

Ant operations have expanded over the years from consumer e-payments to offering business credit and areas including cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

A study last week from the Hurun Report found Ma's wealth had climbed a whopping 45 percent this year, as online shopping firms saw a surge in business owing to people being shut indoors for months during strict lockdowns to contain the virus.

rox/tjx/dan

Alibaba

ORACLE

WALMART

L'OREAL

Saudi Aramco

Related Links
Satellite-based Internet technologies

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Google's 'free' business model put to test in US antitrust suit
Washington (AFP) Oct 21, 2020
Google's long-running business model based on free services and advertising will be put to the test in the landmark antitrust lawsuit filed this week by the US Justice Department. But the government is likely to face challenges proving monopoly allegations against the tech firm which grew into one of the world's most successful companies by leveraging its powerful search engine for a network of services such as maps, email, shopping and travel that feed its data-driven digital advertising. Legal ... read more