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Chinese Internet companies in the secondary market have been a bit "frustrated" in the past few months - Tencent Ali's market value has not shrunk less, and Kuaishou has fallen even worse, not to mention a cloud of miserable Internet education and training.
The fortunes of Zhou Hongyi, the "Red Clothed Sect Leader", seemed to be better. Previously three six zero (601360. SH) invested 2.9 billion yuan in the new energy vehicle brand Nezha Automobile, becoming the second largest shareholder of the latter, attracting the attention of many investors; 360 also announced on the evening of October 25 that it had completed the relevant procedures and signed the relevant agreements, announcing that the investment was further "landed". Recently, Zhou Hongyi will usher in his fourth IPO - Six Rooms and Huafang Group, the parent company of Huajiao Live, will soon be listed in Hong Kong.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="42" > Zhou Hongyi's fourth IPO</h1>
On October 26, a number of media reported that Huafang Group, the parent company of Huazhuo Live and Six Rooms, has submitted a prospectus on the 25th to go public in Hong Kong, which will also become 360, 360 Digital (NASDAQ: QFIN), Master Lu (03601. HK) after Zhou Hongyi's fourth IPO.
The "Thousand Broadcast War" has long faded and the flag has stopped, at this time, Zhou Hongyi's fourth IPO is actually from the field of live broadcasting, no wonder some market voices ask: Is it too late?
Huafang Group has been making money in recent years, with adjusted net profits of 211 million yuan, 367 million yuan and 260 million yuan in the first eight months of 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively. However, the Beijing Business Daily article reported that from the perspective of revenue scale, monthly active data or gross profit margin, Huafang Group is "lackluster", and the company has also been interviewed many times because of the violation of core product content.
Zhou Hongyi and the two apps of Huafang Group originated in the era of "Thousand Broadcast Wars". Originally a video website focusing on product safety evaluation, Hua pepper network was acquired by Qihoo 360 in August 2014, transformed into the field of mobile live broadcasting, and in 2016, it obtained the A round of financing from Shoujian Investment and Qihoo 360 as an investor. In the period when the live broadcast trend was prevalent, Hua Pepper was in the second echelon (Ai Media Consulting data at that time showed that its market share was about 1%), lower than YY Live, Douyu, Huya and other head platforms.
In 2018, Hua pepper live broadcast and the six rooms of the video platform of Songcheng Performing Arts (300144.SZ), an A-share listed company, also formed the equity pattern of Huafang Group that we see today: Zhou Hongyi held 38.21% of the shares through several companies as the largest shareholder, and Songcheng Performing Arts indirectly held 37.06% as the second largest shareholder.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="60" > Zhou Hongyi always "slow half beat"? </h1>
Zhou Hongyi's previous three IPOs were 360, 360 Digital and Master Lu, which "gathered" the A-share, NASDAQ and Hong Kong stock markets.
Many years ago, 360 was delisted from the privatization of the US stock market and then returned to A listing. From the perspective of increasingly important data security this year, the Securities Market Red Weekly article once commented that its return to A further complies with the regulatory compliance requirements for corporate capital operations. However, the current market value of 360 after returning to A has fallen to less than 100 billion yuan, and the stock price of about 13 yuan / share is far from the peak of 66 yuan / share.
360 Digital, formerly known as 360 Finance, was established in July 2016, and landed on the US nasdaq in December 2018, with 360 IOUs, 360 small and micro loans, 360 installments, etc. Although in terms of listing time, it can even be regarded as the "first stock in the mutual gold industry", but at that time, 360 Finance was still reported by the media as "catching up with a late set", which is because in 2018, when the Internet giant financial platform collected a large number of licenses, Qihoo 360 was still busy returning to A's capital operation. Under the background of insufficient licenses, the scale of investment in the later period is uneven.
On October 10, 2019, Master Lu, who had twice intended to go public in Hong Kong but ultimately failed, was finally officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the third listed company in Zhou Hongyi's hands. In 2008, the company's founder Lu Jin launched a hardware repair software, which was later renamed "Master Lu"; in 2014, Master Lu was sold to 360. At present, the market value of Master Lu is less than HK$500 million.
Although at that time, some analysts believed that the three cards in Zhou Hongyi's hand were "interlocking", 360 security guard and browser check terminal security, 360 Finance (now 360 digital subjects) was the window for traffic realization, and Master Lu undertook hardware equipment testing, but the stock prices of the three have not performed well for many years.
This year, 360 completed the layout in the field of new energy vehicles by investing in Nezha Automobile. According to the Shenzhen Business Daily, this incident has recently been approved by the relevant departments, and 360 has joined the car-making army. The entrance of 360 to enter the car will be the intelligent car network security that it is good at. Later, Zhou Hongyi also said that 360, which has experienced the failure of mobile phones, will not build its own car, but will take the form of cooperation with Nezha.
The timing of 360 entering the game to build a car is not too early. At present, Tesla's output is climbing rapidly, the "new force of car-making" Weilai ideal Xiaopeng has become a faction, and domestic brands such as BYD Geely have risen rapidly through new energy, leaving the market space for 360 and Nezha not optimistic.
The IPO of Huafang Group has a situation of "catching up with a late set". Zhou Hongyi wants to lead his 360 army back to the peak of market value glory, but still needs to step up to catch up.
#周鸿祎 #
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