ONLINE SESAME

摘要

China's online retailing giant Alibaba is one of the country's most conspicuous corporate success stories, having grown from a modest start-up to the world's biggest online retailer in just 15 years. Whether the company is simply basking in the "second honeymoon" being enjoyed by dotcom or its enterprise value is justified is the big question as its IPO looms. Alibaba is an extraordinary cash cow. Its Ebitda last year was around the US$3bn-equivalent mark on the back of US$248bn of sales and its net income doubled to US$1.4bn in the last quarter of 2013.