Charge of the Internet bulls

Alibaba's success in New York IPO brings new hope to other companies

A few hours before Alibaba Group Holding Ltd made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange, Jack Ma, the company's founder and chairman, said Sept 19 would be a "life-changing day" for its 20,000 employees.

That day the Hangzhou-based e-commerce conglomerate raised more than $25 billion in the largest IPO in history, instantly making thousands of the company's employees fabulously rich. The market capitalization on the first day of its trading exceeded $200 billion - more than that of Amazon.com Inc and eBay Inc combined - and stock incentives Alibaba offers its employees mean that there is $44.8 billion to divvy up between 11,000 of them. Each of the more than 300 people in senior positions is now worth more than 100 million yuan ($16.3 million).