Chris Nagy Explains Why Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd Picked U.S. For IPO
Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd.'s (NYSE: BABA) listing on the New York Stock Exchange was driven by its desire for a dual-class share structure that enables founder Jack Ma and a group of insiders to retain voting control, a consultant told Benzinga's #PreMarket Prep Friday.
Stock exchanges in China, Hong Kong and elsewhere exclude the practice, leaving Alibaba with little choice outside of the U.S. exchanges, Christopher Nagy, founder and chief executive of the KOR Group LLC, market structure research and analysis firm said.
"The U.S. is one of the few countries that permits a dual class structure for publicly traded companies," Nagy said. "It was popular in the 1960s, but it's starting to come back."
Nagy cited Google Inc and Facebook Inc as relatively recent examples.
Other well-known examples include Berkshire Hathaway Inc., as well as media companies News Corp and The New York Times Co.
Class A shares typically carry 10 votes per share, while Class B shares carry just a single vote.
"Effectively there's like 28 people that really control Alibaba," Nagy said.
Alibaba traded recently at $90.80 per share, up 33 percent from its open.
Check out the video below for a full recap of Chris Nagy's guest spot on #PreMarket Prep:
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