It's Not All Roses But Thorns Too As Alibaba IPO on NYSE Nears

As Alibaba prepares for its gigantic IPO on NYSE, more concerns over investor risks are popping up. Central to the issues is the corporate structure for Alibaba. Its use of a variable interest entity (VIE), which allows for foreign investment through an offshore holding company, has been under the recent spotlight of Capitol Hill — and Wall Street too. While VIEs have been the accepted way of investing in venture-backed China-based companies listed in the U.S., Chinese courts could strike down its legality in China, which in turn could leave investors with fewer rights. If that all sounds remote, remember what happened with AliPay. The financial business was spun out from Alibaba in 2011 and put under Jack Ma’s control to comply with Chinese regulations — a move that Yahoo YHOO +1.78%, which owns a 22.5% chunk of Alibaba, claims it was surprised by. Corporate governance issues are proving to be a thorn in other ways for the China-based e-commerce company. Keep reading post at Forbes: Alibaba IPO risks Link here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccafannin/2014/06/27/its-not-all-roses-but-thorns-too-for-alibaba-as-nyse-ipo-nears/