Alibaba label fails to stick on courier IPO debut

06 Nov, 2016

Couriers deliver parcels for e-commerce players but that is where the connection ends. Shares of ZTO Express fell 15 percent on their first trading day in New York. Aggressive pricing was mostly to blame. The Chinese logistics firm was labelled as something similar to Alibaba but justifying an e-commerce style premium for a logistics firm was a tough sell to begin with. ZTO lacks the margins and dominance of Jack Ma's online shopping giant to be delivered as such. ZTO's $1.4 billion initial public offering - the biggest in the US this year - was hyped-up from the start. Thanks to China's online shopping boom, demand for couriers has skyrocketed.

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