UPDATE: Alibaba surges 46% after raising 21.8 bln in IPO

Alibaba Group Holding (NYSE:BABA) soared in its market debut today trading as much as 46 percent above its initial public offering price of $68 and making the Chinese e-commerce company one of the most valuable companies in the U.S.

The stock opened at $92.70 and nearly hit $100 on the New York Stock Exchange.

At today's opening price the company is worth $228.5 billion more than companies such as Amazon Ebay and even Facebook.

CEO Jack Ma stood on the NYSE trading floor today as eight Alibaba customers including an American cherry farmer and a Chinese Olympian rang the opening bell according to the Associated Press.

According to a statement yesterday the company and shareholders including Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) sold 320.1 million shares equivalent to about 13 percent of the company's capital for $68 each raising $21.8 billion in its initial public offering.

The sale valued Alibaba at $167.6 billion in one of the world's biggest ever initial public offerings.

The Hangzhou China-based company had initially expected its shares to sell for $60 to $66 in the IPO. But earlier this week following strong investor demand it raised the high-end of its expected price range to $68.

Alibaba essentially China's version of e-Bay was co-founded in 1999 by Ma a former English teacher who has become one of China’s best-known businessmen. The company started as an online marketplace for businesses to sell products to one another but quickly expanded into consumer sales and online payments. 

Alibaba is now a global hub for selling everything from electronic parts to engines to stuffed animals. It also has a growing portfolio of U.S. investments including ShopRunner an online delivery service and ride-hailing app Lyft.

Alibaba’s profits also make it a standout among technology IPOs. Twitter Inc. raised more than $2 billion last year and Chinese rival JD.Com Inc. which has achieved a $40 billion valuation raised about $2 billion in May - both without any annual earnings (JD:US). Alibaba by comparison turns about half of its sales into income.

Alibaba's revenue surged 46 percent in the April to June quarter on strong gains in its mobile business with net income attributable to its shareholders nearly tripling to $1.99 billion or 84 cents a share.

Alibaba enters the market during a stellar year for technology stocks. The Dow Jones Internet Composite Index is up 15.6 percent over the past 12 months compared to a 9.9 percent rise for the overall Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Investors are hoping Alibaba can continue to ride this wave to even higher stock gains after its debut.

Ma who founded the company in a one-bedroom apartment will have a paper fortune worth some $14 billion vaulting him into the ranks of tech billionaires like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. The deal is also expected to make millionaires out of a substantial chunk of the company's managers software engineers and other staff.

In addition it allows cornerstone Alibaba investors like Japan's Softbank (9984.T) and Yahoo (YHOO.O) to profit from their foresight in getting in on the ground floor at the e-commerce giant. Yahoo is selling some $8 billion worth of shares in the offering leaving it with a 16.3 percent stake. Softbank is not selling for now and will be left with a 32 percent stake making it the largest single shareholder.

The IPO's underwriters include Credit Suisse Group AG Citigroup and Goldman Sachs Group  Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co.