ALIBABA SEEKS TO RAISE BILLIONS IN IPO Investors in the United States are preparing for the first public sale of stock in the Chinese company Alibaba. The company sells goods { } linking buyers and sellers in the huge Chinese online market. Alibaba is expected to { } its initial public offering, called an IPO, in September on the New York Stock Exchange. 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 { } of the company. That would mean the company could raise { } $20 billion dollars in the public stock sale. After the IPO, Alibaba could become one of the most { } 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.