Alibaba Bigger Than Facebook On Market Debut

Shares (Frankfurt: DI6.F - news) in Alibaba surged on the first day of trading as a public company, gaining 46% from the $68 (£42) price set the previous day.

Stock in the Chinese e-marketplace opened at $92.70, valuing Alibaba at 14% bigger than Facebook (NasdaqGS: FB - news) and as the second-biggest firm on the FTSE 100 behind Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: RDSA.L - news) .

It was the biggest flotation in US history at almost $22bn but underwriters exercised an option to buy up more shares to meet the demand frenzy meaning the sale would raise $25bn - more than the $22.1bn by China's AgBank in 2010.

Follow first day share price movements here .

Many investors received fewer shares than they had hoped for and were said to be lining up orders for millions of shares ahead of opening though a bulk were set to be disappointed.

NYSE, anxious to avoid a repeat of the glitches which marred Facebook's IPO on the rival Nasdaq exchange in 2012, said extensive testing of its systems had identified no problems ahead of the trading session.

A delay in declaring the opening price was blamed purely on the demand issue.

The NYSE's opening bell was rung at 2:30pm BST as Alibaba customers, brought in to launch the trading day, clapped and smiled.

The company's founder and executive chairman Jack Ma, who started the company in a one-bedroom apartment , was on hand to witness the event and looked on proudly as the opening price indications rose.

He has shares that stand to be worth up to $14bn though one of the biggest winners will be Yahoo (NasdaqGS: YHOO - news) !

The tech firm's in line to make almost $10bn as it prepares to lower its stake in Alibaba - an investment it made for $1bn in 2005.

Its total holding before trading got underway was valued at $26bn.