Alibaba's IPO launch may happen soon

Alibaba’s long-awaited U.S. initial public offering is drawing near.

Since the e-commerce giant filed for an IPO back in May, analysts have speculated that the offering could be the largest in U.S. history, surpassing Facebook’s $16 billion.

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The IPO was expected to launch in August but was then pushed back to September. According to the Wall Street Journal, sources close to the matter are saying the date is set for the week of September 8 and will list under BABA.

Alibaba will be pitching key investors the week of September 8, sources tell the New York Times. That report says shares likely won’t be priced until September 15.

In June, Alibaba released sales figures for its two biggest shopping sites Taobao and Tmall at the request of potential investors and as a way to build excitement for the coming IPO. Later that month, the company selected the New York Stock Exchange to debut its public stock.

Alibaba is considered China’s version of Amazon, but in fact it has many more moving parts. The company spans e-commerce, cloud computing, and online payments, making it more closely resemble eBay or Google more than Amazon — especially considering the majority of its revenue comes from advertising and purchase commissions.

In the months leading up to the IPO, Alibaba has been on a buying spree, scooping up companies to fill out its Internet offerings including UCWeb. The company also launched U.S. online marketplace 11Main, marking its foray into the U.S. e-commerce market.

Last year Taobao and Tmall handled $248 billion in transactions, blowing way past Amazon.

Currently Yahoo and Japanese Internet company Softbank Corp. are the largest shareholders in Alibaba.