iQiyi successfully made its debut on the NASDAQ exchange (ticker code: IQ) on Mar 29! Pleasingly, this is the third IPO in ShunWei Capital’s portfolio this year. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
Today, iQiyi was officially listed on the NASDAQ exchange with the ticker code “IQ”. The company’s IPO price was USD18 a share, which means that iQiyi raised a total of USD2.25 billion from its market listing.
Lei Jun — founding partner and chairman of ShunWei Capital, an investor in iQiyi — swiftly extended his congratulations on Weibo using the Xiaomi MIX 2S:
Said Koh Tuck Lye, founding partner and CEO of ShunWei Capital:
“Congratulations to iQiyi on its successful NASDAQ listing in Mar 29. ShunWei Capital, which invested in iQiyi in 2014, has all along believed in the tremendous potential of the “pan-entertainment” industry. iQiyi, which is accessed by over 100 million users each day, has been able to ride the wave brought on by the swift development of China’s online entertainment space, and has been able to root itself in this thriving industry through an array of business models including member services, online advertising services, and original content.
We believe that with the leadership of iQiyi’s outstanding management team, iQiyi will continue on its path of rapid development as it seeks to provide users with even better content and an even more outstanding experience.”
In image: Gong Yu, founder and CEO of iQiyi (R)
Koh Tuck Lye, founding partner and CEO of ShunWei Capital (L)
In image: Koh Tuck Lye, founding partner and CEO of ShunWei Capital
Liu Xinting, investment analyst at ShunWei Capital
According to iQiyi’s IPO prospectus, in the three months leading to Dec 31, 2017, iQiyi had a monthly active user base of around 421.3 million and daily active mobile user base of around 126 million. Its monthly active PC user base and daily active PC user base number have reached 424.1 million and 53.7 million respectively. As of Feb 28, 2018, the platform had 60.1 million users in its paying subscriber pool. iQiyi has become a trendsetter and the most influential entertainment platform in China’s “pan-entertainment” industry.
At the event, media personality Lei Jianping interviewed Gong Yu, founder and CEO of iQiyi:
Q:
“In your opinion, what is it that happened in the eight years iQiyi has been working hard that has had a decisive effect that is the company’s listing today?”
Gong Yu:
“There are so many things worth remembering. I recall that it was Sep 27, 2009 when Ren Xuyang of Baidu (now a founding member of our Board) first approached me to talk to me about this new U.S., model called the ‘Hulu model’.
Hulu was not in the UGC market, but only in the long-video business. It offered only professionally-made content to users for free, and only sold ads.
These five minutes led to the iQiyi that we have today, eight years down the road. In fact, these five minutes have even had an impact on offline entertainment in China. I believe that in the future there will even be an effect in terms of the structure of Chinese entertainment. This is an important moment.”
Q:
“Many media outlets have labeled iQiyi as the ‘Netflix of China’. Today, Netflix has a market value of over a hundred billion. What are your hopes for iQiyi’s stock price post-listing?”
Gong Yu:
“I hope – for the short term, the medium term, and the long term – that we will have steady growth. It’s good that you mentioned Netflix, which has left a striking impression on investors in the online entertainment space in the last few years. These investors believe the Netflix model to be an outstanding model and Netflix to be a great company.
Netflix serves as an outstanding benchmark, and the majority of people have indeed compared iQiyi to Netflix. This is correct from the perspective of the basic business logic of investment. However, they are also aware that for the Chinese market the iQiyi model is a more mature and advanced one.
As such, they also expect iQiyi to have an even bigger market share in the next few years and perform even better.
From the technical perspective, there are also a number of investors who have engaged with me. Currently, both the Chinese environment and Western investors are unfamiliar with China’s business models, especially the iQiyi model. There is, to a certain extent, an undervaluing of iQiyi.
This is not critical to me, however. What is most important is that we cast our eyes farther so that we – and iQiyi’s value – may be better recognized in the future.”
