Chinese Internet giant Alibaba files IPO in the United States

New York -- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., the Chinese Web behemoth, filed paperwork on Tuesday for what some experts claim could be one of the biggest initial public offerings in U.S. history. The company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $1 billion, but many analysts say the company could bring in more than the $16 billion Facebook raised in 2012.



Alibaba is involved in nearly every faucet of digital operations, including e-commerce, online payment systems, online streaming and social media. It operates China's largest consumer-to-consumer site, Taobao, as well as the business-to consumer Tmall site.



According to the filing, in the 12 months ended Dec. 31, Alibaba's three marketplaces — Taobao, Tmall and Juhuasuan — had 231 million active buyers and 8 million active sellers that generated $248 billion of transactions, or roughly equal to the economy of Finland, the Wall Street Journal reported.



Alibaba did not say which exchange it plans to list on. Both Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange are competing for assignment.