As Alibaba gets ready to go public in the U.S. this September, it’s worth a look at how Internet players from emerging countries have fared in the public markets.
The answer is exceedingly well. Research from San Francisco-based venture capital firm Rise Capital, which invests in emerging markets, shows that $300 billion in market value has been created in the last five years by e-commerce and media companies from developing nations.
Little surprise, most of those companies are from China. Russia, India and Brazil do factor in though, accounting for nine of the 35 in the top ranks.
Tencent is number one on the list with a market cap of $143 billion, figures dating from June 2014 show. Baidu ranks second at $66 billion. Alibaba rival JD.com is third, with a market cap of $35 billion.
If Alibaba hits the estimates of a $200 billion market capitalization, we’ll have to get out the measuring sticks again. Alibaba, which drawfs Amazon and eBay for merchandise sold through its multiple business and consumer sites, could rank up there among the top 10 U.S. tech firms by market valuation — and also surpass Tencent. Bets are on too, that Alibaba will bypass Facebook as the biggest tech IPO ever in the U.S.
Keep reading: Alibaba prospects
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccafannin/2014/08/14/sizing-up-alibaba-prospects/
