For VOA Learning English, this is the Economics Report.

Investors in the United States are preparing for the first public sale of stock in the Chinese company Alibaba. The company sells goods by linking buyers and sellers int he huge Chinese online market. Alibaba is expected to make its initial public offering, called an IPO, in September on the New York Stock Exchange. The total value of the company, based in Hangzhou, has been estimated at about $200 billion.

Reports from Bloomberg News say Alibaba is offering investors a 12 percent share of the company. That would mean the company could raise more than $20 billion in the public stock sale. After the IPO, Alibaba could become one of the most valuable technology companies in the world. The e-commerce company is responsible for most online sales in China. It dealt with more exchange last year than U.S. companies Amazon and eBay combined. And it has more than 230 milion active buyers.

Scott Kennedy is director of Indiana University's Research Center for Chinese Politics and Business. He says Alibaba has grown from a very small company 15 years ago to the main online seller in China. The company holds about 80 percent of the Chinese online sales market.

Scott Kennedy says the company is profitable which is unsusual for a technology company fist offering an IPO. Alibaba has chosen to sell its to the public on the New York Stock Exchange rather than in China. China is now the world's second largest market for a e-commerce.

For VOA Learning English, I'm Carolyn Presutti.
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