THE NEWS WRAP: Chinese online retail giant prepares for massive US float

Chinese online retail giant Alibaba is set to file for an IPO in the US as soon as April, after the company ruled out a listing in either Hong Kong or London, with the company set to raise $US10 billion in the industry’s largest listing since Facebook.

Despite a loss of market share, the company’s Taobao platform is estimated to account for a massive 90% of all consumer-to-consumer transactions in China.

“This will make us a more global company and enhance the company’s transparency, as well as allow the company to continue to pursue our long-term vision and ideals,” the company states.

Newspapers, magazines and radio lose advertising share

Australian newspapers, radio stations and magazines all saw their share of the advertising market fall during February, according to the latest Standard Media Index figures.

Overall, $521.3 million of ads were booked across all advertising forms during February, down $7.9 million from a year earlier, although the total figure is expected to be revised upwards once online display and search ad revenues are confirmed.

While television advertising rose 4% year-on-year to $257 million, there was a 3.5% year-on-year fall in radio advertising, a 15.2% drop in magazine ads and newspaper advertising collapsed by 22.4%.

New car sales up in January

Australians purchased a seasonally adjusted total of 93,000 motor vehicles during February, with the figure down 3.5% year-on-year but up 0.1% from a month earlier, according to new figures from the Bureau of Statistics.

Sales of sports utility vehicles (SUVs) fell 0.3% month-on-month to 27,261, while sales of ‘other’ vehicles fell by 1% to 18,890.

Meanwhile, passenger vehicle sales, including sedans, hatchbacks and wagons grew by 0.8% to 46,648 cars.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up to 16247.2. The Aussie dollar is up to US90.93 cents.