Alibaba is continuing to prepare for its long-awaited IPO

As Alibaba prepares for what could be the biggest tech company IPO to date, the Chinese e-commerce giant has been counseling employees on how to deal with the roughly $41 billion they could unlock through a New York listing. While some staffers have enquired if premium brand BMW (BMWG.DE) sells cars in Alibaba’s corporate orange, others may invest windfall stock gains in property in North America or channel funds back into start-up ventures inChina, hoping to build future Alibabas, bankers and financial planners say. The company, though, has been preparing employees for years on how to manage the avalanche of cash, warning them not to be carried away and splurge on material goods. While Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s (IPO-ALIB.N) co-founders Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai are already billionaires, many more paper millionaires could be minted once employees are free to sell shares some time after the IPO. Current and former Alibaba employees hold 26.7 percent of the company, having built up their holdings through stock options and other incentives awarded since 1999, according to securities filings, though these didn’t detail the number of employee shareholders.