By Wang Shen
Pinduoduo, a Chinese e-commerce platform, listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market on June 26, and rang the opening bells in both Shanghai and New York, as reported by the Shanghai Securities News.
Pinduoduo's prospectus showed that the company had issued 85.6 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) and raised funds of $1.87 billion. Trading under the symbol "PDD," Pinduoduo priced its initial public offering (IPO) at $19 per share, which indicates that Pinduoduo 's market value would exceed $24 billion.
The opening price of PDD stood at $26.5 per share on the first trading day, and the closing price rose to $26.7 per share, which increased by 40.53 percent from its IPO price. Pinduoduo's market value is approaching $30 billion.
During the listing ceremony, Colin Huang, the founder and CEO of Pinduoduo, said that although the firm was founded in Shanghai, he hopes its new business model would benefit consumers worldwide. This was why he chose to ring the opening bell in both Shanghai and New York with six consumers.
Pinduoduo plans to use 40 percent of the funds raised to enhance and expand its current businesses, another 40 percent for technological research and development, and the remaining part for daily operations and potential investment projects.
The company's flotation was oversubscribed by 20-fold from many global mainstream investors and funds companies.
Tencent Holdings Ltd., the Chinese tech giant, now holds 17 percent of the shares of Pinduoduo, with 3.3 percent voting rights, and is its second largest investor. Huang stated that along with Pinduoduo expanding its businesses, WeChat Pay would play a more critical role in the firm and the two companies would collaborate in various fields.
In 2017, Pinduoduo achieved a revenue of RMB 1.744 billion, up by 245.35 percent year-on-year. In the first quarter of 2018, it earned a revenue of RMB 1.385 billion, a 37-fold rise from a year earlier.
