VOA慢速英语:US Investors Eye IPO for China's Alibaba

Investors in the United States are preparing for the first public sale of stock in the Chinese company Alibaba. The company sells goods by linking buyers and sellers in the huge Chinese online market. Alibaba is expected to make its initial public offering, called an IPO, in September on the New York Stock Exchange.
美国投资者正在为中国阿里巴巴公司首次公开发售股票做准备。该公司通过连接中国庞大的网上市场的买卖双方以销售商品。阿里巴巴有望于今年九月在纽约证券交易所首次公开发行股票。

The total value of the company based in Hangzhou has been estimated at about $200 billion. Reports from Bloomberg News say Alibaba is offering investors a 12 percent share of the company. That would mean the company could raise as much as $20 billion in the public stock sale.
这家总部设在杭州的公司的总市值预计约为2千亿美元左右。来自彭博社的报道称，阿里巴巴将向投资者开放该公司12%的股份。这意味着该公司在这次公开发售股票中可能募集到高达200亿美元。

After the IPO, Alibaba could become one of the most valuable technology companies in the world. Apple for example, has a market value of about $600 billion, Google is valued at about $390 billion, and Microsoft is worth about $370 billion.
在上市后，阿里巴巴将成为全球最有价值的科技公司之一。苹果拥有6千亿美元的市值，谷歌市值约3900亿美元，而微软市值约为3700亿美元。

The e-commerce company is responsible for most online sales in China. It dealt with more exchanges last year than U.S. companies Amazon and eBay combined. And it has more than 230 million active buyers.
这家电子商务公司占据了中国大部分的网上交易。去年该公司处理的交易超过了亚马逊和eBay两家美国公司的总和。同时该公司拥有超过2.3亿位活跃买家。

Scott Kennedy is director of Indiana University's Research Center for Chinese Politics & Business.
Scott Kennedy是美国印第安纳大学中国政治与商务研究中心的负责人。

"Alibaba has grown from a very small company doing e-commerce 15 years ago or so to now being the dominant e-business company in China," Kennedy said.
Kennedy说，“阿里巴巴已经从15年前从事电子商务的一家小公司成长为目前在中国最具实力的电子商务公司。”

Mr. Kennedy says Alibaba has expanded into new areas while growing its share of the e-commerce market.
Kennedy先生称，阿里巴巴公司在扩大其电子商务市场份额的同时，已经扩张到新的领域。

"It is also involved in banking and other areas and has just been growing so dramatically that it now accounts for 80 percent of e-commerce in China," Kennedy said.
Kennedy说，“该公司还涉及银行等领域并且急剧成长，现在它占据了中国电子商务80%的份额。”

He says the company is profitable which is unusual for a technology company first offering an IPO. Alibaba has chosen to sell its stock to the public on the New York Stock Exchange rather than in China. Scott Kennedy says that selling stock on Chinese exchanges has been difficult.
他说，该公司是盈利的，这对一家首次公开募股的科技公司来说不同寻常。阿里巴巴公司已经选择在纽约证券交易所发售其股票而不是在中国。肯尼迪说，在中国的证券交易所发售股票很难。

"Chinese companies have been trying to raise capital on stock markets for a long time. Within China listing has been difficult and that market has not done very well," Kennedy said.
他说，“中国企业很长一段时间内一直试图在股票市场募集资金。在中国上市已经很难，而且该市场表现不是很好。”

He says that the Chinese economy has grown quickly over the years, but has not supported strong stock market activity. The California based Internet company Yahoo owns about one-forth of Alibaba. The IPO in September could increase the value of Yahoo's share. China is now the world's second largest market for e-commerce.
他说，多年来，中国经济迅速增长，却一直未能带动股市走强。总部位于加州的互联网公司雅虎拥有阿里巴巴约四分之一的股份。九月的新股发行会提高雅虎拥有的股份的价值。中国目前是世界第二大电子商务市场。