Standing in front of you now is the fastest IPO of the new car-making force, the fourth Chinese new energy vehicle company in the United States, and Li Shufu's ninth listed company - ZEEKR Intelligent Technology.
On May 10, local time, ZEEKR Intelligent Technology Holdings Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "ZEEKR") was officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the United States with the stock code "ZK". The ZEEKR brand was released on April 15, 2021, and it has only taken 37 months to successfully IPO, setting a new record for the fastest listing of a new car-making force.
According to the stock price trend of Zeekr released by Xueqiu.com, the opening price on the first day of listing was US$26 per share, and the stock price rose all the way after the opening, with the highest intraday increase of 39.81%, once rising to US$29 per share, and finally closing at US$28.26 per share, up 34.57% from the issue price, with a current market value of US$6.898 billion (equivalent to about 49.8 billion yuan).
The other three new U.S. stock forces, Weilai, Xiaopeng, and Ideal have a market value of $10.636 billion, $7.303 billion, and $28.318 billion respectively.
According to ZEEKR's official news, the funds raised from the IPO are mainly used in three aspects, about 45% of which are used to develop more advanced electric vehicle technology and expand the product portfolio; About 45% is used for sales and marketing, as well as the expansion of ZEEKR's service and charging network; About 10% is used for general business purposes.
At present, the products of the ZEEKR brand include ZEEKR 001, ZEEKR 001FR, ZEEKR 009, ZEEKR X, ZEEKR 007 and other models, and as of April 30, 2024, ZEEKR has delivered a total of 240,000 new energy vehicles.
Judging from the financial report data, ZEEKR is still in a state of loss. From 2021 to 2023, ZEEKR's annual revenue will be 6.528 billion yuan, 31.899 billion yuan, and 51.673 billion yuan respectively, and the losses will be 4.514 billion yuan, 7.655 billion yuan, and 8.264 billion yuan respectively, with a cumulative loss of more than 20 billion yuan in three years.
In addition to Li Auto, the first batch of new car-making forces such as NIO and Xiaopeng are also in a state of loss, and the loss is still expanding. Brand building, new model development, offline delivery center laying, and charging network popularization all require continuous investment in all aspects in the early stage.
As of the end of 2023, Weilai and Xpeng's cash and cash equivalents are 57.3 billion yuan and 45.7 billion yuan respectively, while ZEEKR is only 3.26 billion yuan, combined with more than 8 billion yuan of R&D investment in 2023, even if it is backed by Geely, the financial pressure is also huge.
The funds raised by this IPO can greatly alleviate the financial pressure, but after the successful listing, the profit pressure of ZEEKR also followed, after all, it is responsible for its own investors.
For Geely, the rapid growth of ZEEKR can also force Geely to accelerate the transformation of new energy, and within Geely, the competition between ZEEKR and other Geely brands has a bit of a catfish effect.
Taking ZEEKR 001 as an example, the external competitors are Model 3, BYD Han EV and other medium-sized pure electric cars, but the internal competitors are the same brother Galaxy E8. Although it is built on the same PMA2+ platform, the internal and external design and chassis tuning are different, and the two have both competition and learning. The same examples are Zeekr and Lynk & Co.
Edited by Wen Che