The recent big tech IPOs of companies like Facebook, Twitter and Tesla could all soon be dwarfed by a company with roots far outside Silicon Valley. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group just filed documents for its own offering (choosing to trade its stock in the US over Hong Kong) and while its value has not been determined, it could result in the biggest IPO ever when it's all said and done.Alibaba built its empire on a number of online sales platforms described as a blend of Amazon, eBay and Paypal, and its reach is starting to include the US, thanks to investments in companies like Lyft. Alibaba's other well-known US links are from investment stakes held by Yahoo and Sprint's owner Softbank, but once it offers shares on an exchange stateside -- it hasn't specified whether that's NYSE or NASDAQ -- that could change. So before its founder Jack Ma (who has retired as CEO last May but remains its executive chairman) snaps up the next Oculus VR out from under Mark Zuckerberg's nose or we're all shopping Tmall and Taobao for our same day-deliveries by drone, let's get to know Alibaba.
[Image credit: Hong Wu/Getty Images]
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