What Does Alibaba’s Entrance on the NYSE Mean for US Businesses?

Good News for Small Business? Wait and See
Good News for Small Business? Wait and See

Investors can celebrate now that the Chinese enormous e-commerce business Alibaba has brought billions to several mega-wealthy players. Friday’s IPO of Alibaba reaped a wildly huge amount of money for its owner and founder Jack Ma to the tune of $18 billion. Several other well-placed personages, including Japan’s richest man, Masayoshi Son woke up on Saturday quite a bit richer. And the US-based Yahoo also saw a nice profit from its stake in Alibaba. What about the little guy? How have smaller US businesses been impacted by this historic Wall Street event?

Jack Ma says Alibaba’s success will bring success to regular businessmen.

“At Alibaba, we fight for the little guy, the small businessmen and women and their customers,” CEO Jack Ma said. “Our proposition is simple: we want to help small businesses grow by solving their problems through Internet technology.”

Is this really true? CEO Michael Tudor of Ripen eCommerce, a consulting firm for online retailers, agrees with Ma. Tudor says that Alibaba will help businesses “establish themselves in the Chinese market.”

About Peter Jefferson

Peter Jefferson is a full-time researcher for www.businessdistrict.com, a task he took on in 2011 when the site was launched. He brings to the position a wealth of practical experience in the field of fiscal policy, having consulted with various government bodies on revenue collection, expenditure and economic growth. Contact Peter at peter[at]businessdistrict.com