Alibaba debuts on NYSE with largest ever IPO 12 Photos . Updated: 22 Sep 2014, 02:54 PM IST Livemint Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.com, made its historic Wall Street trading debut on Friday. In early trades after the record public share offering, a buying frenzy sent Alibaba shares sharply higher. A look at the company's journey. 1/12Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba, with Jonathan Lu, the group’s CEO, and Joseph “Joe” Tsai, vice chairman and co-founder of Alibaba, in front of the NYSE on Friday. Alibaba Group was established by its 18 founders, led by Jack Ma in 1999. Bloomberg 2/12JackMa rings a bell to start the trading of his company’s stock on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on 19 September. Overwhelming demand saw the IPO initially raise $21.8 billion and then send Alibaba’s stock surging 38% post listing. AFP 3/12The company was founded in current CEO Jack Ma’s apartment by 18 people, led by Ma, a former english teacher, in Hangzhou. It was a business-to-business portal to connect Chinese manufacturers with overseas buyers. www.alibabagroup.com 4/12The early Alibaba team. Currently, the firm is run by a unique, non-western style, 30-member steering committee. www.alibabagroup.com 5/12Alibaba, a character from the folk tale Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves. Alibaba struck Ma as an interesting name. He explains: Alibaba is a kind, smart business person, who helps the villagers. Hence, Alibaba opens sesame for small- to medium-sized companies. 6/12Alibaba Group headquarters in Hangzhou, China. WikimediaCommons 7/12An inside view of the company’s office in Hangzhou. www.alibabagroup.com 8/12Alibaba’s businesses include online web portals, online retail and payment services, a shopping search engine and cloud computing services. It’s consumer-to-consumer portal Taobao features nearly a billion products and is one of the 20 most-visited websites globally. 9/12Another inside view of the office. www.alibabagroup.com 10/12The ultra-modern 150,000 sq. m campus-office in Hangzhou is a major new attraction in the city. 11/12The corporate campus in Hangzhou. 12/12The giant nude statue in the Alibaba head office in Hangzhou. Artwork is prevalent throughout the company’s office campus. AFP