Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's international online shopping unit is exploring a US initial public offering, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday citing people familiar with the matter.
The e-commerce giant is in the early stages of consideration and the IPO's size is yet to be determined, the report added.
The business group is in talks with banks that could potentially help prepare for the IPO next year, according to the report.
However, in an emailed statement to Reuters, Alibaba Digital Commerce Group said, "Currently, there is no IPO plan".
A Major Revamp
In March, Alibaba said it was planning to split into six units and explore fundraisings or listings for most of them, in a major revamp as China vows to ease a sweeping regulatory crackdown and support its private enterprises.
Analysts at the time had said the breakup could ease scrutiny over the tech giant whose sprawling business has been a target of regulators for years.
In February, the company reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue, as the e-commerce giant benefited from the country easing COVID-19 curbs.
Revenue rose 2% to 247.76 billion yuan (€33.9 billion) for its fiscal third quarter to 31 December, compared with a Refinitiv consensus estimate of 245.18 billion yuan (€33.5 billion) drawn from 23 analysts.
Recently, the tech giant was looking for companies to test its Tongyi Qianwen AI chatbot, according to the business publication STAR Market Daily, joining the rush to emulate the explosive success of ChatGPT.
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