Alibaba shares priced at $68 in IPO

Alibaba’s shares have been priced at $68, giving the company a market value of $168 billion.

Major institutional investors such as BlackRock will likely receive the bulk of roughly $22 billion worth of shares in the initial public offering (IPO).

By restricting the allocation so narrowly to large institutions, the underwriters of the IPO hope to prevent volatile trading of the Chinese e-commerce company’s shares after trading begins on Friday and in the weeks to come, according to sources .

Alibaba handles more transactions than Amazon. com and e-Bay combined. The IPO represents a milestone for the company founded 15 years ago in former English teacher Jack Ma's one-bedroom apartment and which has drawn a plethora of investors lured by its surging revenue growth and solid profit margins.

Alibaba is responsible for 80 per cent of online sales in the world’s second-largest economy, and works with a number of businesses there including consumer online marketplace Taobao and payment service Alipay.

- Reuters