Amid huge uncertainties, some certainty is needed

As Alibaba kicked off its IPO roadshow in the US, company founder Jack Ma is reported to have said that during his visit to the country 15 years ago, he couldn't succeed in raising $2 million. This time, Ma said he hoped he could take home "some more".

With the market valuation of the company reaching $220 billion at the upper end of market expectations, Alibaba's IPO may turn out to be the largest in US history.

It's such a large company with such a sprawling business (and has been spreading even faster recently), that investors and financial advisers cannot be unanimous on its worth. Nor, perhaps, can anyone be sure about the best way for the company to position its future business - other than what it has been doing. Not even Ma himself.