Passage8 company earned $3.7 billion in the 12 months ended March 31,2014,up about $2 billion from the prior 12-month period. The sale values the company at about $168 billion,more than American icons such as Walt Disney Co and Coca-Cola Co.Should the stock close at $98 on its first day,it would be worth about $241 billion, nearly the value of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Jack Ma,a former English teacher,founded Alibaba in 1999 in his apartment.His personal fortune is more than $14 billion on paper, vaulting him into the ranks of such tech billionaires as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.The deal isalso expected to make millionairesou ofa substantial chunk ofthe companysmanagers,sofiware engineers and other staff. The rise in the stock exceeds the average gain by new IPOs on US exchanges of late.In the second quarter,the average first-day gain was 9.2 percent,according to Renaissance Capital IPO Intelligence Underwriters usually aim for a gain of 10 percent to 15 percent on the first day. "We did put in for the IPO and we are getting an allocation,though not the full allocation we put in for.We probably got about 10 percent of that,"said Michael Matousek,head trader at US Global Investors Inc in SanAntonio 314 Passage 8 3 / 4 company earned $3.7 billion in the 12 months ended March 31, 2014, up about $2 billion from the prior 12-month period. The sale values the company at about $168 billion, more than American icons such as Walt Disney Co and Coca-Cola Co . Should the stock close at $98 on its first day, it would be worth about $241 billion, nearly the value of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Jack Ma, a former English teacher, founded Alibaba in 1999 in his apartment. His personal fortune is more than $14 billion on paper, vaulting him into the ranks of such tech billionaires as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. The deal is also expected to make millionaires out of a substantial chunk of the company's managers, software engineers and other staff. The rise in the stock exceeds the average gain by new IPOs on US exchanges of late. In the second quarter, the average first-day gain was 9.2 percent, according to Renaissance Capital IPO Intelligence. Underwriters usually aim for a gain of 10 percent to 15 percent on the first day. "We did put in for the IPO and we are getting an allocation, though not the full allocation we put in for. We probably got about 10 percent of that," said Michael Matousek, head trader at US Global Investors Inc in San Antonio