Internet Power Balance Tilts Toward Asia

Silicon Valley dominates the Internet, but the initial public offering by Alibaba Group Holding shows how much action is shifting to Asia.

When the Chinese e-commerce firm begins trading Sept 19, four of the world's 10 largest Internet companies by stock-market value will be based in Asia, up from two in 2004, according to S&P Capital IQ. Combined, Alibaba, Tencent Holdings, Baidu and JD.com are worth about $426 billion, assuming the offering by Alibaba after the US market close on Sept 18 values the company at about $165 billion. The four biggest US-based Internet companies – Google, Facebook, Amazon, and eBay, have $797 billion in combined stock-market value.