Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. surpassed Facebook Inc. by market capitalization on its first day as a public company right from the minute it started trading and closed with a valuation of more than $231 billion. 
 
 Alibaba surged 38 percent above its initial offering price to close at $93.89 in New York yesterday. The Chinese e-commerce company, which began the day with a value of $228.5 billion, now trails only Google Inc., Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in size among U.S.-traded technology companies. Facebook passed $200 billion in market value earlier this month and is worth $201.6 billion as of yesterday’s close. 
 
 Alibaba’s public-market debut contrasts with Facebook’s May 2012 sale. Facebook, which was valued at $104 billion at its IPO, lost half that in the following months, and the stock took more than a year to close above its IPO price. While Alibaba has risks related to corporate governance and the Chinese government’s unpredictability, that hasn’t stopped investors, said Jeff Sica, chief investment officer at Sica Wealth Management. 
 
 Graphic: Alibaba Surges in Largest U.S. IPO Debut 
 
 “There is much more of an ignorance-is-bliss attitude, there’s much more of a feeding frenzy where investors are afraid to miss out on the next big thing,” said Sica, whose fund manages more than $1 billion. “There’s been hunger built up in the market for Alibaba and they’re ignoring the fact that there are a lot of negative variables.” 
 
 Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 19, 2014. Close Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 19, 2014. Close Open Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 19, 2014. 
 
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 Facebook, the world’s largest social-networking site, marked its debut on the Nasdaq exchange, where it was plagued with technical snafus on top of investor skepticism about the company’s strategy for making money via advertising on mobile devices. 
 
 China's E-Commerce Giant 
 
 Facebook’s ascent to $200 billion came as it built out its business model for advertising on handheld devices. Now the Menlo Park, California-based company gets more than half of its ad revenue from mobile phones, compared to almost nothing at the time of its IPO. 
 
 Alibaba’s $21.8 billion sale was the biggest-ever IPO for a technology company, buoyed by growth in China’s e-commerce market. With an IPO price of $68 a share, Alibaba was valued at 29 times expected earnings for the year through March -- below multiples fetched by Chinese and U.S. rivals including Tencent Holdings Ltd., Baidu Inc., and Amazon.com Inc. Analysts forecast that Alibaba’s earnings will grow 50 percent in fiscal 2015 from the previous 12 months. 
 
 Vanessa Chan, a spokeswoman for Facebook, and Bob Christie, a spokesman for Alibaba, declined to comment. 
 
 Amazon, EBay 
 
 Alibaba’s valuation also eclipses that of its U.S.-based e-commerce rivals. Amazon was valued at about $153 billion as of yesterday, while EBay was worth $65 billion. 
 
 Alibaba’s market debut will offer investors a public-market alternative to Amazon, while giving the Chinese company the cash it needs to expand to countries including the U.S., where it could potentially compete with Amazon and EBay. Amazon is the most prominent U.S.-based Web retailer, disrupting brick-and-mortar rivals including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and parlaying its success into cloud computing, smartphones and grocery delivery. 
 
 To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Frier in San Francisco at sfrier1@bloomberg.net 
 
 To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pui-Wing Tam at ptam13@bloomberg.net Niamh Ring 

 CLOSE USA TODAY's Jon Swartz explains all you need to know about Alibaba. (USA TODAY, USA NOW) 
 
 Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, smiles during the company's IPO at the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Sept. 19, 2014 in New York. (Photo: Mark Lennihan, AP) 
 
 Alibaba, BABA the Chinese e-commerce giant whose magical name and real-world business prospects inspired frenzied interest for months ahead of its record-setting initial public offering, surged 38% in its Friday debut on the New York Stock Exchange. 
 
 Order imbalances over the intensely hyped, widely sought Alibaba IPO delayed initial trading for nearly 2 1/2 hours before American depositary shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., began trading. 
 
 Priced at $68 late Thursday, Alibaba opened at $92.70 shortly before noon, climbing to $99.70 before closing at $93.89. 
 
 More than 100 million shares traded within 20 minutes and over 271.6 million shares exchanged hands by the day's end. Early NYSE indicators had shares opening at $80 to $83. But demand was so strong, the offering price was hiked 10 times. 
 
 Scott Cutler, NYSE's global listings chief, said trading was delayed by massive order imbalances. 
 
 "We've got hundreds of thousands of orders,'' Cutler told CNBC an hour into the delay. "We're chasing to find sellers. Even at these levels, there doesn't appear to be a lot of sellers." 
 
 Representatives from Alibaba applaud IPO launch at the New York Stock Exchange. (Photo: AP) 
 
 "There's a lot of hype over this stock. An $80 price is not unreasonable - demand could stampede the price,' noted Drew Dorweiler, a Montreal-based business valuation expert with Dartmouth Partners and a trustee of The Appraisal Foundation. "The fundamentals are there for incredible volume and excitement." 
 
 Alibaba's IPO raised $21.8 billion, surpassing the $17.8 billion raised by credit card marketer Visa's 2008 IPO and Facebook's $16 billion IPO in 2012. Alibaba's IPO falls just short of the record $22 billion raised in Hong Kong and Shanghai by Agricultural Bank of China's 2010 stock offering. But given Friday's demand, Alibaba's underwriters could add additional 40 million shares, bringing the IPO to $25 billion. 
 
 At current price levels, Alibaba's $231 billion market capitalization is greater than blue-chip giants IBM, Procter & Gamble and General Electric. 
 
 Alibaba's business model -- unlike other young Internet-focused companies with more prospects and buzz than actual earnings and revenue growth -- created swelling demand for its shares. 
 
 China e-commerce giant Alibaba shakes up corporate world order after huge IPO (AP photo) http://t.co/i6zSFrvCufpic.twitter.com/54EtZzRMGa — USA TODAY Money (@USATODAYmoney) September 19, 2014 
 
 A holding company that combines the sales, merchandising and financial services reach of Amazon, eBay and PayPal, Alibaba had revenue of $8.5 billion in its last fiscal year, up from $5.5 billion in 2013. Revenue for the second quarter ended June 30 jumped 46% to $2.53 billion and net income jumped 137% to $2 billion. 
 
 Governance experts, including Harvard University's Lucian Bebchuk, have warned of the "serious risks" tied to Alibaba, mostly over the grip insiders have. But most investors have shrugged off governance concerns over Alibaba's lack of independent directors and 30 managing partners, who have the right to nominate a majority of directors. 
 
 A successful pre-IPO roadshow seemingly allayed concerns, and demand for shares prompted the company on Monday to raise the IPO's price range to $66 to $68 a share, up from an initial $60 to $66. Most shares were allocated to large institutional shareholders, not individual shareholders. Alibaba options will begin trading Sept. 29. 
 
 MORE: Jack Ma's scrappy startup takes on the United States 
 
 Company insiders and early investors will be able to cash out today, unfettered by typical pre-IPO lockups. 
 
 Billionaire founder and executive chair Jack Ma, the diminutive former English teacher who started the company from his one bedroom apartment in 1999, plans to sell about 6% of his stake, or about 12.8 million shares. He'll remain Alibaba's biggest individual shareholders, with a 7.7% stake. 
 
 Speaking to CNBC ahead of trading, Ma said the IPO would not change the culture of the company. 
 
 "I don't want to disappoint shareholders. I want to make sure they're making money,'' said Ma, who noted that his favorite film is Forrest Gump. "I worry about making my customers happy." 
 
 Japanese wireless carrier Softbank,an early Alibaba investor,which provided the then-startup with $20 million in 2000, has a 37% stake in Alibaba that could be worth more than $60 billion. But Chairman Masayoshi Son, an Alibaba director, reiterated that Softbank will hold its shares. 
 
 "Alibaba still has lots of growth opportunities inside China. But overseas is yet another horizon of opportunities. This IPO will give lots of opportunities for expansion," Son said. 
 
 Yahoo! could eventually be among Friday's biggest Alibaba winners, but shares slumped nearly 7% in early trading before ending the day down 2.7% to $40.93. The company has previously said it plans to unload about 5% of its 22.4% Alibaba stake. 
 
 Cantor Fitzgerald's Youssef Squali, who raised his target price to $43 from $39, says Yahoo! should gross about $9.5 billion from the Alibaba stock sale. 
 
 Squali also initiated coverage of Alibaba with a buy rating and set a $90 price target. 
 
 London-based stock research firm Atlantic Equities initiated coverage of Alibaba with an "overweight" rating and a price target of $100. "With a roughly 80% (marketshare) of Chinese e-commerce, the company has established a strong position in this rapidly growing market, which we expect it to maintain despite ongoing intense competition," said Atlantic's James Cordwell. 
 
 Others aren't so sure Alibaba is a buy at current levels. 
 
 "There is no way of knowing," says money manager Gary Kaltbaum of Kaltbaum Capital Management. "It is random on whether it is buyable up here." 
 
 But Kaltbaum stresses that the strong IPO is a sign that investor enthusiasm is rising along with the IPO's pre-market price hype. "We have a greed based market this second, not fear based, so I wouldn't take higher prices off the table," he says, adding that buying shares at these high levels are "risky." 
 
 "There is a ton of stock that could be sold at any time by insiders, and very often, frothy opens get sold off," Kaltbaum says. 
 
 At current levels, Alibaba's valuation is less attractive than it was at the offering price, says Alan Skrainka, chief investment officer at Cornerstone Wealth Management. 
 
 "Alibaba seems to have a sustainable business model with a very bright future," says Skrainka. "The real question is what is the proper valuation for the company. At $68, the stock traded at 29 times forward (12-month) earnings projections. At $90, the stock trades at 38 times forward earnings. That's a pretty full valuation for Alibaba. Anyone buying today will likely need to hold for the long term to make money in the stock." 
 
 MORE: From 'crazy' to China's richest man, Alibaba's Jack Ma 
 
 Dorweiler warns that Alibaba shares should be volatile going forward. 
 
 "It will be interesting to see if there's a bit of a correction in the stock price. A lot of people are steering clear for several days or weeks, just to see what happens," Dorweiler says. "The company is a winner with global growth potential. It could be a $100 stock sooner than later. But there could be volatility over the next few trading sessions." 
 
 MORE: 6 answers to questions about what Alibaba is and does 
 
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– Alibaba's long-awaited debut on the New York Stock Exchange hasn't disappointed. The Chinese e-commerce behemoth opened at $92.70 per share, about 35% above its IPO price of $68, reports USA Today. The frenzied demand pushed the company's market value to $228.5 billion, ahead of even Facebook's value of $200 billion, reports Bloomberg. The big day is in stark contrast to Facebook's IPO in 2012, which was plagued with tech glitches on the Nasdaq exchange. (It took the company nearly a year to get back to its IPO price of $38.) "We've got hundreds of thousands of orders,'' says an NYSE official, explaining why Alibaba's IPO got delayed this morning—everyone wanted to buy, not sell. "Even at these levels, there doesn't appear to be a lot of sellers."