From left: Stefano Pessina, James Skinner and Greg Wasson at the Nasdaq opening event for Walgreens Boots Alliance.

The top executives of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and Walgreen Co. rang the Nasdaq opening bell this morning to mark the new company's listing on the exchange.

Stefano Pessina, acting chief executive officer of Walgreens Boots Alliance, and Greg Wasson, the retiring president and CEO of Walgreens, opened trading on Friday at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Manhattan's Times Square.

NEW YORK — The top executives of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and Walgreen Co. rang the Nasdaq opening bell this morning to mark the new company’s listing on the exchange.

From left: Stefano Pessina, James Skinner and Greg Wasson at the Nasdaq opening event for Walgreens Boots Alliance.

Stefano Pessina, acting chief executive officer of Walgreens Boots Alliance, and Greg Wasson, the retiring president and CEO of Walgreens, opened trading on Friday at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Manhattan’s Times Square.

Walgreen Co. and Alliance Boots GmbH completed the second step of their two-part merger agreement on Dec. 31 following Walgreens shareholders’ approval of the deal a couple of days before.

The closure of the deal announced in 2012 reorganizes Walgreens into a subsidiary of a new holding company, Walgreens Boots Alliance, which has its headquarters in Deerfield, Ill.

As of the end of 2014, shares of Walgreens common stock have been converted into shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance common stock. Walgreens Boots Alliance common stock now trades on Nasdaq under the symbol WBA.

The completion of the merger initiates the departure of Wasson, who last month announced that he planned to retire from Walgreens once the deal closed. Stefano Pessina, executive chairman of Alliance Boots, takes the helm as acting CEO of the Walgreens Boots Alliance with Wasson’s retirement.