The Costs of a $24 Billion Public Offering

Wonder what a large (indeed the largest) public offering costs?

Well, there are the investment banking fees.  According to the F-1 filed by Alibaba:

		Per ADS				Total
Price to public		US$	68.00			US$	21,767,214,800
Underwriting discounts and commissions		US$	0.816			US$	261,206,578
Proceeds, before expenses, to us		US$	67.184			US$	8,268,800,532
Proceeds, before expenses, to the selling shareholders		US$	67.184			US$	13,237,207,690

Of course, that wasn't the only amount made by the underwriters.  They received a greenshoe of  48,015,900 American Depository Shares.  Given the 37% increase in share prices on the opening day, it is possible that the underwriters earned more unloading this additional allotment than from their fees for the entire offering.

Underwriters were not the only ones who did well by Alibaba. Expenses or billings for lawyers for the Company topped $15 million.  Even the SEC scored a $3 milllion plus fee (more than the $2.6 million recently assessed against 33 violaters of the beneficial ownership reporting requirements).  The NYSE earned a $250,000 fee and even FINRA got into the act, charging a filing fee of $225,500.  The full table is below. 

All and all, it was a good day for Wall Street and a good day for deficit reduction.   

SEC registration fee		US$	3,224,160
New York Stock Exchange listing fee			250,000
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority filing fee			225,500
Printing and engraving expenses			1,000,000
Independent financial advisory fees and expenses			9,000,000
Legal fees and expenses			15,775,000
Accounting fees and expenses			5,000,000
Miscellaneous			15,192,168
Total		US$	49,666,828

"These expenses will be borne by us, except for underwriting discounts and commissions, which will be borne by us and the selling shareholders in proportion to the numbers of ADSs sold in the offering by us and the selling shareholders, respectively."