Alibaba shares surge in their NY stock market debut

The New York Stock Exchange was festooned in banners of Alibaba's signature orange and white

Alibaba's shares closed significantly above their initial price on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Friday, a sign of the excitement surrounding the Chinese internet giant.

Shares in the company made their debut in the US at $92.70 (£57), after being priced at $68 late on Thursday.

They ended the $93.89 - 38% above the initial asking price.

More than 100 million shares were traded in the minutes after the stock was launched - more than Twitter.

Earlier in the day, founder and chairman Jack Ma rang the opening bell.

The NYSE was festooned with the orange and white logos of the company to herald its arrival on public markets.

The company raised nearly $21.8bn in its share sale, indicating strong investor appetite for China's e-commerce giant.

Alibaba is now valued at $231.4bn - making it significantly larger than Amazon and Facebook.

Investors are eager to get a piece of China's e-commerce market, which is expected to grow significantly

If Alibaba's bankers decide to take up an option in which they can purchase 48 million shares themselves, then Alibaba's launch will have raised nearly $25bn - breaking the previous $22.1bn record set by China's Agricultural Bank in 2010.

A way in

Alibaba operates a series of online marketplaces in China and elsewhere, handling more transactions than Amazon and eBay combined.

Alibaba's founder and chairman Jack Ma (middle) rang the opening bell in celebration on Friday

It is responsible for more than 80% of online e-commerce in China.

Alibaba's share sale is being viewed as a way to invest in e-commerce growth in China.

Already, the country is home to the largest population of internet users on the planet - and most estimates say that only half of China's 1.3 billion residents have signed online.

That is why investors have been angling for some time to get a piece of Alibaba - long the market leader in e-commerce in China.

Alibaba's employees were at the exchange, behind a banner listing some of Alibaba's websites

However, investors are not buying shares directly in Alibaba's companies operating in China, but rather in a holding company in Cayman Islands which has a profits contract with Alibaba.

That has made some wary, and it is one reason why Alibaba did not list on Hong Kong's stock exchange.

New millionaires

Like other giant technology share sales of late, Alibaba's is expected to mint several new millionaires

Either way, the sale is expected to make millionaires out of a large number of the company's managers, software engineers and other staff.

Currently Alibaba's single largest shareholder is Japan's Softbank which holds a 32% stake.

US search giant Yahoo also has a stake.

The firm made a profit of almost $2bn in the three months to the end of June, with sales up by 46% year-on-year to $2.54bn.

Traders shouted out prices of the stock on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange

Analysis: Michelle Fleury, New York Business Correspondent

Wall Street was painted orange this Friday, the colour of Alibaba. The distinctive exterior of the New York Stock Exchange was hidden behind a giant sign for the Chinese e-commerce giant. And the branding was even more visible inside. Traders at the spot on the trading floor where Alibaba made its debut were given branded raincoats. One told me 'it's raining cash'.

As the start of trading got closer, those closest to the action shouted out prices to nearby specialists - an old-fashioned method in a high tech market. Alibaba founder Jack Ma stopped to chat and shake hands with several traders as anticipation built up ahead of the first trade.

Such is his cult status back home, there was also a crowd outside the exchange. Chinese fans waited, hoping to catch a glimpse of the man whose success has turned this internet fledgling into a company with a market capitalisation close to that of supermarket giant Walmart.

Jack Ma has approached "cult status" in China, says the BBC's Michelle Fleury