They got to be kidding No red flags here Who needs enemies when you got a friend like Jack Ma top ticking the market and selling to his "friends and family" http://online.wsj.com/articles/alibaba-ipo-will-have-friends-and-family-share-program-1409929970
This isn't out of the ordinary, even GM did it. What does it matter who gets the IPO shares, if the price and number are the same? I mean, unless you personally were hoping to get some, in which case there are fewer for you and more for Ma's friends.
top ticking the market? like when GOOG and FB and TWTR went public? in a few months there will be an even bigger IPO...that must then be the top!!!! who needs TA when you have this logic?
There will be plenty, PLENTY of stock available at the engineered price in the $60s for Ma's friends and family to buy this great company variable interest entity where investors are 3rd in priority. But I'm glad BABA is here now as this will be a good one to hammer when there is any tension between China and US A swath of early investors in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will be able to sell more than $8 billion worth of shares on the day the Chinese e-commerce company goes public, an unusual arrangement that is influencing how bankers price the offering. Insiders and other investors in companies staging initial public offerings are generally required to hold on to shares for several months, in “lockup” arrangements banks design to help protect the stock’s price in its early days. But with Alibaba, a number of shares equal to about a third of what could be sold in the deal aren’t covered by such restrictions, according to the company’s public filings. In contrast, no pre-IPO shares of Facebook Inc. FB, +0.75% were allowed to be traded when the social-media company made its market debut. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/alibabas-structure-is-dangerous-mark-mobius-2014-09-18
Once again congratulations to Jack "top tick" Ma for doing it again. Top tick Ma himself said shareholders come last in priority, fully disclosed in the F1. WEDBUSH RAISES PRICE TARGET TO $105