THE NEWS WRAP: Alibaba set to raise $24 billion in massive IPO

Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba is set to raise $US21.8 billion ($A24.232 billion) in its initial public offering, people briefed on the matter told The New York Times.

The company has priced its shares at $US68 each. At that level the company will have a market value of $US168 billion – much more than eBay, Twitter and LinkedIn combined.

Alibaba is set to begin trading on the New York Stock exchange on Friday in the United States.

Microsoft slashes 2100 jobs

Microsoft has acknowledged it will cut 2100 jobs worldwide as part of the 18,000 job cuts the company announced it would be making back in July.

One of the casualties of the job cuts is the Microsoft Research Silicon Valley Lab which will close on Friday (US time).

The lab was primarily focused on distributed computing research, including “privacy, security, protocols, fault-tolerance, large-scale systems, concurrency, computer architecture, Internet search and services, and related theory”.

EatWith raises $US8 million

Israeli-founded and San Francisco-based startup EatWith, which is described as the Airbnb for home-cooked meals, has raised $US8 million in funding, led by Greylock partners.

The company has more than 500 hosts in 160 cities across 30 countries around the world, offering up meals to travellers who would like to try local cuisine.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 109.14 to 17,265.99. The Australian Dollar is currently trading at US90 cents.