Inside Alibaba's Lavish IPO After-Party -- Video! Audio! Photos! Shrimp!

How do you celebrate the largest tech IPO in history? In Alibaba Group’s case, with a high-brow bash at one of Manhattan’s classiest event spaces, Cipriani 42nd Street.

On Friday evening, a couple of hundred attendees came to fete the Chinese e-commerce giant, which raised $21.8 billion in its blockbuster IPO. Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma was clearly the star of the show, descending from the stage after his welcome speech only to be surrounded by a gaggle of suits that gave the scene more of a feel of a Wall Street soiree than a tech gathering. Guests included Alibaba vice chairman Joe Tsai, JPMorgan Chase vice chairman Jimmy Lee, Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget and venture capitalist Jim Breyer.

Re/code arrived about an hour into the party and captured the event with photos, video and audio. Here’s what we saw.

Alibaba’s corporate color was on display as guests checked in:

A giant placard highlighting the company’s beliefs greeted guests as they entered the party:

A huge bar in the center of the room was a popular gathering spot. Red wine and margaritas flowed freely:

Guests also stopped to gaze at this Alibaba statue, meant to resemble the mascot of Alibaba’s Taobao online marketplace. The company gave a similar one to the New York Stock Exchange on Friday morning, where it will remain on permanent display:

Shortly after 6 pm, JPMorgan’s Lee gave the welcome speech to Ma, now the richest man in China. “When I think of Jack, I think open, honest, truth-telling,” he said. JPMorgan was one of five underwriters on the IPO, and one rumor of the night was that the investment bank had paid for the party. Lee denied it, telling me in a raised voice, “Us pay for this? No way!”:

Alibaba vice chairman Joe Tsai listened intently, between sips of what appeared to be red wine:

After a short introduction, Ma took the stage in a black suit and navy, button-down shirt. He was all smiles:

In this short video clip, Ma explains how luck played a big role in Alibaba’s success:

You can listen to Ma’s full seven-minute speech, after a short introduction by Lee, in the audio file below. The 50-year-old former schoolteacher focused a lot on his mission to help small businesses, urging attendees to, “Do anything we can to help the small business. Small is powerful. Small is beautiful.”

Ma was quickly surrounded by guests after stepping down from the stage. Many asked for photos. One even asked Ma to sign a sports jersey. He obliged:

Then, it was time to eat. The beef tenderloin appetizers were superb. I had at least five:

The shrimp were really good, too:

According to a worker, the oysters were a hit. The clams? Not so much:

By 8 pm, most of the crowd, including Ma, cleared out. But JPMorgan’s Lee was still holding court near the bar:

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple reasons that we can't rely only on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on.

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. We can’t do that if we have a paywall.

That’s why we also turn to you, our readers, to help us keep Vox free. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via