Where Are The Forty Thieves?

The Chinese e-commerce giant debuted on the New York Stock Exchange Friday at $92.70 a share; an extraordinary 36 percent jump above the IPO price of $68 per share paid by institutional investors. 

After initially spiking to $99, the stock, trading under the ticker BABA, settled into the low-90s, ending the day at $93.89 a share.

The company raised $21.8 billion on Thursday in the largest initial public offering in U.S. history. The total bested Visa’s $19.7 billion IPO in 2008 and made Facebook’s $16 billion IPO two years ago look puny by comparison. 

Alibaba could exercise an option to make 15 percent more shares available to institutional investors, which would increase the offering to $25 billion; the biggest IPO ever globally. The company has 30 days to exercise that option.

The IPO underscored the Chinese company’s rise and bolstered the wealth of its founder Jack Ma, a former English teacher who’s already the richest man in China. Ma was at the stock exchange Friday, where he looked on proudly as some of his customers rang the opening bell. 

The IPO was also a windfall for Yahoo and Japan’s SoftBank, which have sizable stakes in the company.

“What we got today was not just money, but trust,” Ma said in a CNBC interview.

Alibaba is the largest e-commerce company in the world and is often described as bigger than Amazon and eBay combined, though it isn’t well-known among U.S. consumers.

The company’s stats are impressive: 255 million active buyers and more than $270 billion in sales transactions. The company operates several online retail businesses, including China’s largest online shopping site for consumers, and has gotten into cloud computing and mobile wallet services.

Alibaba’s initial strategy following the IPO is to bolster the company’s Chinese operations, entering new categories such as groceries, entertainment and local services. Alibaba also intends to leverage its sales networks and marketplaces to help Chinese companies sell globally and assist overseas companies wanting to do business with Chinese consumers.

But the company’s IPO road show presentation suggested that eventually it could challenge U.S. tech companies for a foothold in their backyards.  Read more: