Article by Drew Bernstein, Co-Managing Partner of Marcum Bernstein & Pinchuk, “Betting On Jack Ma: Three Keys to Alibaba’s Success,” Featured in Forbes
As Seen In
The Alibaba Group IPO has all of Wall Street enthralled as the company hits the New York Stock Exchange. Little wonder, as this is a company of superlatives.
The offering is set to be the largest tech IPO ever with more than $20 billion of stock for sale. Six lead underwriters, 160 bankers, over 300 institutional salespeople, and thousands of brokers are working the deal. Alibaba is the largest online merchant in the world, with $240 billion in merchandise sold in 2013.
More than the company, this is an opportunity to invest in Jack Ma, who has proven himself to be the most resourceful and dynamic CEO in all of China. Beyond Alibaba he also founded China’s dominant online payment service, Alipay, and runs Yu’e Bao, a provider of wealth management products that are sucking consumer savings out of China’s largest banks.
Jack Ma is often favorably compared to the likes of Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, and Warren Buffett, but if Alibaba is going to be successful as a U.S.-listed company he has to convince investors he will do as well for them as he has done for himself.