Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) as we know has a stake in Alibaba and the upcoming Initial Public Offering has become very important for the company. Alibaba was rumored to conduct its IPO in August, as eight is considered to be a lucky number in China. Chinese prefer things of the most importance and value to be connected to the number eight somehow. Chinese believe that this number adds prosperity and good luck. As rumored, Alibaba is indeed targeting August 8 for its IPO. This date might sound familiar as the Beijing Olympics also started on August 8.
Leslie Picker of Bloomberg reported on this earlier today and she had something interesting to share about the launch date and the reason behind it:
“To get into the vibe of having good luck on their IPO Debut, it’s said that the founders are targeting that day (August 8th) for good luck charm”
When she was asked on the progress of the IPO so far, Leslie said that it was going good so far and she also cited that the date was very far so a lot of factors can impact it in the meantime. She also cited about market conditions and said:
“The climate for IPOs hasn’t been stellar. We saw JD.com, it was a really successful IPO. They raised a solid amount of money and traded up from there”
She also said that the IPO might be pushed to a later date in September if market conditions don’t suit the company in the first week of August as in general trading is a little low in the rest of August. Alibaba would surely be taking into account Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)’s interests as it’s the Chinese E-commerce giant’s selling shareholder.
So even if they push the date to September, it won’t hurt the Chinese superstition much as 9 is also considered to be a lucky number for the Chinese. And rather than number crunching, it would always be good if they assess the market conditions and then release the IPO. So as long as it’s not the number 4, which means bad luck for the Chinese any good date would be a reasonable and agreeable for both Alibaba and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO).
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) might be eagerly waiting for this IPO as it would be a key date for the company and it would also have an impact on the way ahead. It is plans to sell 40% of its current stake, which represent roughly 208 million shares.
Disclosure: none
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