Chapter 163 The choice of listing
After arriving in Shenzhen City, Barron first met the pony boss of Penguin Company.
After all, after learning that the young Duke was coming to China again, Boss Pony came specially to greet him at the airport this time.
At this time, DS Capital had replaced the South African MIH Group and became Penguin's most important partner.
Barron has long expressed his full support for the development of Penguin Company. This time when he came to China, Amber, the CEO of DS Industrial Investment Company, who came with him, had an important task to complete this matter.
Because Penguin wants to start expanding into new businesses, one of them has the idea of entering the gaming industry - as a first step, they want to launch a gaming platform, and the target is Lianzhong Games, the dominant player in China's online battle platform at this time.
In this case, Boss Pony said that Penguin Company still needs some funds, but at this time DSIIC's shareholding in Penguin Company has reached as high as 43%, and they do not want to obtain funds through share financing.
Regarding this matter, Barron's happily stated that he could provide Penguin with a loan of 10 million pounds at low interest rates to help it develop the company.
His move also moved Boss Pony very much. After this meeting, the relationship between the two parties was very harmonious.
Another thing is that Penguin has begun preparing for an IPO.
However, there are still some differences within Penguin about this IPO. The most important thing is where to list it.
There is no need to think about domestic A-shares, because A-shares at this time are not "friendly" to Internet companies, because there are strict requirements for the profitability of listed companies, and Internet companies are often in the early stage of burning money, and it is difficult to Meet the listing standards for A shares.
Then the only other options are Hong Kong stocks and the Nasdaq market of US stocks.
At this time, domestic Internet companies that had been listed on the market, including the three giant portals Zhalang, NetEase and Sohu, were all listed on Nasdaq. At this time, the Nasdaq market was considered the "global Internet market". "Cradle" is supposed to be Penguin's first choice for listing.
But Boss Pony still has some doubts about this...
"You are more inclined to be listed on the Hong Kong stock market, right? Pony."
"how do you know?"
“Because I also think it’s the most appropriate place to list it.”
In fact, most Internet companies were listed on Nasdaq at this time. Another important reason is that their main investors at this time, including companies such as Zhalang, NetEase and Sohu, were all American-funded, so on Nasdaq The listing of Daqi makes it more convenient for them to sell their stocks after the company is listed and directly obtain US dollars to complete the exit of their investment.
If it is other stock markets, such as Hong Kong stocks, then converting Hong Kong dollars into US dollars will ultimately require an additional procedure.
Therefore, Boss Pony was a little surprised by Barron's statement:
"Can you tell me the reason?"
“The most important thing about listing first is to have a good story. For Chinese Internet companies listed on the U.S. stock market, investors will benchmark them against similar local American companies to value them. Penguin’s current main business The business is instant messaging software. There is no corresponding benchmark company in Silicon Valley for this business model. Even ICQ, Yahoo Messenger and MSN are all dependent on large companies and have no corresponding profit model..."
Barron smiled and said:
"In fact, American investors, or Americans, are very arrogant. They believe that all Internet innovations should first appear in Silicon Valley, and the Internet models in other parts of the world are an imitation of their innovations. Only Only a business model that is successful in the United States can be successful elsewhere. If Penguin now chooses to be listed on Nasdaq and tells American investors a story they have never heard of, I am afraid no one will be willing to pay for it. Pay the bill for China’s story..."
Boss Pony took Barron's words seriously - of course, this was what Barron said in the book "Tencent Biography" that he read in his previous life. He sighed and said:
"There is another reason, that is, all our business is in China, and the company is also in Shenzhen. Comparatively speaking, HK is the closest to us. Analysts and investors in HK definitely know our company better than Americans... "
This is also another layer of consideration. In theory, for a company that is based on serving mass users, the closer its listing location is to its home market, the more realistic the company's market value will be reflected.
Although when listed in Hong Kong, the valuation of an emerging Internet company like Penguin is definitely not as high as that on Nasdaq, but similarly, because stock investors know Penguin’s situation better, its stock price fluctuates greatly. It will also be less than what is listed in the United States.
Just like the previous investigation and even suspension of trading of NetEase in the US stock market, if it were listed on the Hong Kong stock market, then I am afraid that the stock price will not fall below 1 US dollar...
For Penguin Company, Boss Pony hopes to pursue sustained growth and does not place too much emphasis on short-term market value. Therefore, for these reasons, it is natural that he prefers to be listed on the Hong Kong stock market.
At this time, Barron realized that maybe Boss Pony had mentioned this matter to him today, and it was not without reason to explain to him.
After all, as Penguin's largest shareholder, DS Capital's opinions are also very important to Penguin regarding matters such as IPO listing.
Boss Pony is probably also worried about DS Capital’s investment in Penguin, and he hopes to make short-term profits so that Penguin’s listing can achieve a higher valuation, so he is unwilling to go public in Hong Kong, which will eventually lead to disagreements between the two parties.
In response, Barron just smiled secretly and did not ask specifically.
What he just said was enough to express his attitude.
His investment in Penguin is a long-term investment, and he has no plans to reduce his holdings for at least fifteen years.
Not only that, after Penguin goes public in Hong Kong, he plans to continue to absorb some Penguin shares in Hong Kong stocks.
After all, he remembered that when Penguin was first listed on the Hong Kong stock market, the company's valuation was US$600 million. Including the public offering of shares to raise US$200 million, the final total market value was around US$800 million, which was close to one trillion US dollars later. The market value has increased by 100 times. It is completely worth continuing to invest!
After meeting with Boss Pony, the specific matter of DS Capital's loan from Penguin Company was left to Amber Sheehan to handle.
The next day, Barron went to the industrial park in Longgang, Shenzhen City, where the new factory of Puma Electronics (China) Company is located.
After getting used to the speed of construction in England, Barron finally felt comfortable after arriving in China.
It is no wonder that Huaxia is developing so rapidly in the future. Now, the factories here have begun to put into production, and the three factories originally acquired by Puma (Huaxia) Electronics have also been moved to the new factory. The scale of this factory can be said to be in the The industrial parks here in Longgang are also considered large.
The person in charge of the factory is from Puma Electronics in England. After meeting Barron, he was full of praise for the progress here.
You know, the factory here has made the greatest contribution to the current number of users of the Freeview platform that has surged to 2 million.
And the significantly reduced cost of set-top boxes has also alleviated great pressure on Digital UK's financial situation.
Even Puma Electronics is preparing to transfer part of its latest high-end set-top box production capacity to this factory.
