Produced by Car Headlines Author|Rice SU8
On May 10, Geely's Zeekr Automobile was successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange with the stock code "ZK". The issue price was US$21, and the stock price rose sharply on the first day of listing, and finally closed at US$28.26, with the latest market value of US$6.898 billion, or about 48.75 billion yuan.
This listing has set a new record for the fastest listing in the history of China's new energy vehicles, and it took only 37 months from the birth of the Zeekr brand to the successful IPO.
Many media also use "the fastest IPO" to describe the listing of ZEEKR.
According to the prospectus, from 2021 to 2023, ZEEKR will achieve revenue of 6.528 billion yuan, 31.899 billion yuan, and 51.673 billion yuan respectively, with gross profit margins of 15.9%, 7.7%, and 13.3% respectively. According to the business composition, ZEEKR's revenue sources are mainly divided into automobile business, three-electric business, R&D and other services. From 2021 to 2023, the revenue of ZEEKR's automobile business will be 1.5443 billion yuan, 19.6712 billion yuan, and 33.9118 billion yuan respectively, and the corresponding gross profit margins will be 1.8%, 4.7%, and 15.0% respectively.
However, there is a view that it is of little significance to publicize the "fastest IPO", and the focus should be on the company's performance after listing, "running far more important than running fast". Some companies that were once IPO just as quickly did not end well.
So, today, let's briefly take stock of the current situation of some "lightspeed IPO" companies.
However, "fast and slow" is a relative concept, and the results obtained are different depending on the reference set. For example, if the time from the moment the company submits its IPO application to the successful listing is calculated, then some data show that the average time for Chinese concept stocks to go public in the United States is about 15 months.
The author believes that it is more meaningful to calculate the time from the establishment of a brand to its successful listing, so this article takes the successful IPO of a brand in the United States within five years of its establishment as the standard of "fast".
Luckin Coffee:
It was delisted due to financial fraud and fell to the bottom
Now it is developing well
If the phrase is changed to "the fastest company for Chinese companies to go public in the United States", then the crown should be Luckin Coffee.
In May 2019, Luckin Coffee officially landed on the NASDAQ exchange, issuing 33 million ADSs priced at US$17 each, and after the underwriters exercised the over-allotment option, plus a simultaneous private placement of US$50 million, a total of US$695 million was raised, with a market value of US$4.25 billion, making it the largest Asian company in 2019 to raise IPO financing on the NASDAQ.
From the trial operation of Luckin Coffee in January 2018 to the official launch in May 2019, it took only 17 months. According to the data disclosed in the prospectus, as of March 31, 2019, Luckin Coffee had 2,370 stores in 28 cities, including 2,163 quick pickup stores.
However, in the second year of its successful listing, Luckin Coffee's financial fraud was exposed.
On April 2, 2020, Luckin Coffee issued an announcement admitting that it had falsely traded 2.2 billion yuan, and its stock price plummeted by 80%. On May 12, Qian Zhiya, CEO of Luckin Coffee, and Liu Jian, COO, were suspended; On May 19, Luckin Coffee received a notice from the Nasdaq exchange requesting to delist. On June 27, Luckin Coffee announced that it would suspend trading on June 29 and file for delisting.
This incident also led to the exit of Lu Zhengyao, the founder of Luckin Coffee.
However, in recent years, Luckin Coffee has come out of the financial fraud incident and has developed for the better.
According to the data, Luckin surpassed Starbucks in revenue in the second quarter of 2023, and at the same time surpassed Starbucks in annual sales and store number in 2023, topping the Chinese coffee market.
For the full year of 2023, Luckin's total net income will reach 24.903 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 87.3%, and its operating profit will double to 3.026 billion yuan. The annual sales of about 3.45 billion US dollars surpassed Starbucks China's 3.16 billion US dollars for the first time.
According to Luckin Coffee's financial report as of March 31, 2024, Luckin Coffee's revenue in the first quarter of 2024 was 6.2781 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 41.5%; The net loss was 83.2 million yuan, and the net profit in the first quarter of 2023 was 564.8 million yuan.
Qutoutiao:
2 years and 3 months from establishment to listing
Now it has been delisted
On September 14, 2018, Qutoutiao successfully landed on NASDAQ, only 2 years and 3 months after Qutoutiao was founded. On the first trading day, Qutoutiao's share price soared 128%, and trading was suspended five times during the session, setting the largest first-day increase for stocks with an IPO size of more than $5 million in the United States that year, with a closing market value of $4.6 billion, equivalent to more than 30 billion yuan.
But the good times didn't last long, and in March 2023, Qutoutiao announced that it had received a decision from Nasdaq to delist the stock. When Qutoutiao was delisted, the company's market value was only $5.31 million, which was a serious shrinkage compared with the year when it was just listed.
Qutoutiao was once known as the "headlines outside the Fifth Ring Road", focusing on the sinking market. However, due to the lack of moats, lack of strength in the competition, and the advertising chaos on the exposed platform in 2020, the vitality was greatly damaged.
Since 2019, the company's revenue has been declining year by year, and finally left the market.
Pinduoduo:
2 years and 11 months from establishment to listing
The market value once surpassed Alibaba
On July 26, 2018, Pinduoduo was listed on the NASDAQ in the United States under the stock code PDD, only 2 years and 11 months after the establishment of Pinduoduo.
Pinduoduo opened at $26.5 per ADS on the first day, up nearly 40% from the issue price of $19 per ADS. According to the prospectus, Pinduoduo will issue 85.6 million American Depositary Shares (ADSs), representing 342.4 million Class A ordinary shares, and the current market capitalization of Pinduoduo exceeds $29 billion.
Hequtoutiao's successful IPO has set a new record for the fastest listing of Chinese companies in the United States, but in the past five years, the fate of Pinduoduo and Qutoutiao has been diametrically opposed.
Today, Pinduoduo has grown into a Chinese e-commerce giant, with a total market capitalization of $189.2 billion, and at the end of 2023, Pinduoduo's market value once surpassed Alibaba's.
NIO:
Four years from its establishment to listing
Sub-brands will be released soon
On September 12, 2018, NIO went public in the United States at a price of $6.26 per share, issued 160 million shares, and raised $1 billion. Based on NIO's current total share capital, NIO's listed market capitalization is US$6.4 billion. At that time, it had been four years since NIO was founded.
Over the past five years, NIO has developed rapidly, and its current market value has risen to 10.581 billion yuan. At the time of its IPO in the United States, NIO had delivered just over 2,000 vehicles. In April this year, NIO delivered 15,620 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 134.6%; A total of 45,673 units were delivered in the first four months of this year, with a sales target of 240,000 units in 2024.
On May 15, NIO is also about to release a new sub-brand Ledao.
Li Auto:
Five years from inception to listing
The first "landing" of the new forces
On July 30, 2020, Li Auto was officially listed on the NASDAQ exchange with the ticker symbol "Li". Li Auto issued 95 million shares at a price of $11.5 per share, higher than the pricing range of $8-$10 in the previously updated prospectus, raising $1,092.5 million.
According to Li Auto's fundamental information, its circulating market capitalization is US$1.092 billion, with a circulating share capital of 95 million shares, a total market capitalization of US$9.724 billion, and a total share capital of 846 million shares.
Since its listing, many of Li Auto's L series products have been well received, and sales have been rising, making Li Auto the first new force to "go ashore".
In April 2024, Li Auto delivered 25,800 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 0.4%; As of April 30, 2024, Li Auto has delivered more than 700,000 vehicles.
Eggshell Apartments:
Five years from inception to listing
10 months after the listing, it exploded
On January 17, 2020, Eggshell Apartment successfully landed on the New York Stock Exchange with the stock code DNK, becoming the first Chinese concept stock on the New York Stock Exchange in 2020, with a market value of US$2.74 billion on the day of listing. At this time, it has been five years since the establishment of Eggshell Apartments.
However, since February 2020, Eggshell Apartment has been exposed to the problem of broken capital chain, and it has been revealed that it has forced landlords to waive rent, but not to give tenants rent waivers, causing controversy.
After November 2020, a large number of landlords and tenants spoke out against eggshells due to issues such as arrears of landlord rent, tenant refunds, and even some employees' salaries.
This incident also marks a complete thunderstorm in the problems related to the "rent loan" of long-term rental apartments. In December 2020, all the listing information of the Eggshell Apartment App was taken off the shelves. In March 2021, the New York Stock Exchange suspended trading of Eggshell Apartment ADS; On April 6, the New York Stock Exchange announced that it would delist Eggshell Apartments from the NYSE and its American Depositary Shares would be suspended from trading immediately.
In November 2020, the market value of Eggshell Apartments was less than $300 million.
Fast does not mean that it will succeed Going far is king
Most of the above Chinese concept stock companies are listed faster than ZEEKR; Among these companies, Luckin Caffeine was delisted due to financial fraud, but it has made a comeback; Qutoutiao and Eggshell Apartment were unable to compete and withdrew completely.
This means that "fast IPO" does not necessarily mean that the company's strength must be strong, and how to develop better and go further is the king.
For ZEEKR, it is a good thing to be successfully listed in a short period of time, but the pressure is not small. On the one hand, the domestic new energy vehicle market is highly competitive, and a little carelessness may face a business crisis at any time; On the other hand, like most new power companies, ZEEKR is still not profitable.
According to the prospectus, from 2021 to 2023, the net loss of ZEEKR 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.
To solve the problem of losses, listing is the means, and fundamentally solving the problem still requires stronger hematopoietic ability.