As giant U.S. IPO nears, Alibaba's China e-commerce crown slips

By Adam Jourdan SHANGHAI (Reuters) - (This story corrects paragraph one of March 17 story to reflect Ma's apartment had more than one room) Alibaba's dominance of online retail in China faces its biggest-ever challenge as the firm founded by Jack Ma in a one-room apartment 15 years ago lines up a U.S. initial public offering that could value the firm at around $140 billion. In a rare blip, Alibaba Group Holdings lost market share last year while its nearest rivals all grew, according to Euromonitor. The market research firm sees China's internet retail market tripling from 2012 to over $300 billion in 2018 as the country's smartphone-savvy shoppers buy everything from plane tickets to sneakers online. China's biggest social media company, Tencent Holdings Ltd, is leading the revolt, linking the country's most popular messaging app, WeChat, with the number two e-commerce player, JD.com.



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