Dive Brief:

• The Alibaba Group’s highly anticipated initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday raised almost $21.8 billion after pricing its shares at the upper level of $68 each, a lucky number for the Chinese. 

• Friday, though founder Jack Ma was there, it was Alibaba customers who rang the NYSE bell. The stock began trading on the NYSE under ticker symbol “BABA.”

• Aside from the company itself, among the IPO’s big money winners is founder Jack Ma and longtime shareholder Yahoo.

Dive Insight:

So it’s happened, and Alibaba scored big in its initial public offering. In Alibaba’s Securities and Exchange Commission filing ahead of its IPO Thursday, founder Jack Ma wrote, “Our proposition is simple: we want to help small businesses grow by solving their problems through Internet technology."

The IPO brings the e-commerce giant an infusion of cash that provides new opportunities for expansion, but much is unclear. Also uncertain? The ultimate effect of Alibaba’s growth on the small businesses Ma mentions and on U.S. retail on the whole.