Chinese smartphone manufacturer and occasional Apple tribute act Xiaomi has made its debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange — officially making it the world’s third largest phonemaker.
Xiaomi is one of the world’s most hotly anticipated stock market listings, having risen to prominence in developing markets, such as China. CEO Lei Jun, who was present at the company’s IPO launch today, has admitted that his founding the company was heavily inspired by the story of Steve Jobs.
A lackluster debut
Compared to Apple’s initial public offering way back in 1980, however, Xiaomi’s IPO has not been a resounding success. Shares debuted at 17 Hong Kong dollars ($2.17), but rapidly fell around 6 percent by start of trading in Hong Kong. Stock recovered slightly by midday, but was still down from the initial debut.
“Trading below the issue price suggested that investors still felt the valuation of the stocks was relatively high compared with (fellow Chinese giant) Tencent and Apple,” Linus Yip, chief strategist at First Shanghai Securities, told Reuters.
Xiaomi aimed to be worth $100 billion this year, although currently it is worth in the vicinity of $53 billion. It raised $4.72 billion from its IPO, making this the world’s biggest new technology in four years.
One thing possibly hurting Xiaomi is the possibility of a trade war between the U.S. and China. This has resulted in the Hong Kong stock market, Hang Seng, falling to a nine-month low.
It looks like those predictions about overtaking Apple as the world’s largest second smartphone maker may have to wait a bit longer!
Source: Sky News
