Alibaba planned of going public by offering an initial public offering. The IPO could be the biggest since Facebook. The schedule of the much-anticipated IPO, however, has yet to be officially announced.

According to sources, the company has been recently meeting with investment banks regarding the matter. Bankers expected the Hong Kong listing to occur by the end of this year or early next year. The IPO was expected to raise US$15 billion and was expected to ramp up Alibaba's value to as much as US$100 billion.

"Alibaba has moved beyond its original remit of connecting businesses. The e-commerce behemoth is now allowing companies to sell directly to the public through "T-mall", and members of the public to sell to each other, through Taobao," said Cathy Yang, a CCTV reporter. Alibaba and Taobao processed US$170 billion in combined sales last year. This figure was more than those of Amazon and eBay combined, according to Morgan Stanley.