Alibaba could postpone its $15 billion IPO in Hong Kong due to political unrest

• Alibaba, the e-commerce giant from Jack Ma, could delay its Hong Kong IPO say reports.
• Over the past few months, millions have thronged the streets of Hong Kong for the pro democracy protests.
• Alibaba could launch the IPO in October now.

Jack Ma’s Alibaba might delay its $15 billion IPO in Hong Kong, say reports. The reason behind the move seems to be growing political unrest in the region.

Over the past few months, millions have thronged the streets of Hong Kong in pro-democracy protests. This has turned into one of the worst crises of the China-ruled country.

The Hang Seng Index has lost nearly 9% in the last one month and over 7% in the past six months.

According to the Reuters report, Alibaba could postpone the IPO to October now. It was earlier supposed to IPO in July.

Alibaba’s first IPO in 2014 in the US created history in the market as it raised $25 billion. So, Alibaba's IPO in the Asian financial hub – Hong Kong – was also much awaited.

Hong Kong, which is one of the world’s top IPO markets, had been struggling to get Chinese technology companies to list back home. It also changed its rules last year, to encourage tech leaders to offer shares.

In 2018, Hong Kong came second after Tokyo to have the highest technology, media and telecommunications listings.

Last year, Xiaomi launched its much awaited IPO, which was set to be one of the biggest after Alibaba, in Hong Kong. However, the IPO didn’t manage to garner the fanfare as it hoped.