Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 373 Eighty-five billion!

[August 8, the 26th day of the seventh lunar month, Geng Yin Day, the God of Wealth is due west, it is a good time to seek wealth.]

Meng Bai put down his phone and looked at the watch on his wrist.

It is nine o'clock in the evening. According to the time zone, it should be nine o'clock in the morning in New York on the other side of the earth.

He is now in the Central Building in Lujiazui, Shanghai. This "tallest building in China" is brighter today than usual. The entire hall is packed with people, and most of them are wearing the same red T-shirts. The Pinduoduo brand and logo are printed on the chest and back.

Today is the day when Pinduoduo goes public. The U.S. stock market will open at 9:30. This first new e-commerce stock, which has just been established for three years, will be officially listed under the code name "PDD".

"Boss Meng!"

Huang Zheng walked over and looked at Meng Bai: "Sorry, sorry, I'm really busy today. I just came back from the government. I apologize for the poor hospitality."

"I understand. Don't worry about us." Meng Bai said with a smile, "You are the protagonist today. I just came here to join in the fun. You can just be busy with your own things."

"We have finished all the work that needs to be done." Huang Zheng breathed a sigh of relief. "Next, we will wait for the live broadcast connection with Nasdaq and the listing bell."

"Come to think of it, I always thought that you would have to go to New York when the bell rang today, but I didn't expect you to stay in Shanghai."

Huang Zheng pointed to his ears and said, "I can't help it. It's otitis media, an old problem. I feel uncomfortable when I'm on a plane. It's okay for short flights, but it's not necessary to fly to the United States for more than ten hours."

After that, he smiled and said, "Besides, ringing the bell is nothing more than a ceremony. It doesn't matter who goes, or where they ring the bell."

"Haha, Mr. Huang, you are too modest. As far as I know, this is the first time that Nasdaq has arranged a remote bell-ringing ceremony for an overseas company."

As the world's top financial trading center, Nasdaq has only held remote bell ringing ceremonies at major global events in the past.

For example, in 2012, the New York Stock Exchange held a remote opening bell ceremony at its London headquarters to celebrate the opening of the London Olympics, but that was also for the entire market.

This is the first time in Pinduoduo's history that it has set up a remote bell-ringing ceremony for a separate company.

"Oh, Mr. Meng, you're too polite. Pinduoduo doesn't have such a big face. What they value is the huge domestic financial market and the entire Chinese concept-listed companies. We are just a representative selected." Huang Zheng said calmly.

"It's good to be a representative. At least it's helpful for the market's confidence." Meng Bai said: "Who knows, maybe because of this, the opening price can increase by two more points."

"Haha, then we'll have to rely on Mr. Meng's good words." Huang Zheng said with a big laugh.

After a brief chat, Huang Zheng said goodbye and went to greet the next invited guest.

Time passed quickly, and soon, the huge LED screen on site lit up, and the Nasdaq scene appeared on the screen.

The person representing Pinduoduo standing at the New York Stock Exchange was a "consumer representative" selected by lottery, a young girl named Zhang.

This girl once relied on her extensive social network and luck to get the latest version of the iPhone for just one cent by "bargaining", and also won herself a ticket to ring the bell at Nasdaq on behalf of Pinduoduo.

Listening to Huang Zheng introducing his representative identity and experience on the stage, Meng Bai couldn't help but think of Yang Chaoyue.

Since she made her debut successfully by "luck", this girl has been given the title of "lucky fish". As a witness to various magical scenes, Meng Bai firmly believes that if she had participated in this "Kan Yi Dao" event, she would most likely be the one to ring the bell on behalf of Pinduoduo.

Time passed by minute by minute, and in the blink of an eye, it was almost time for the U.S. stock market to open.

On the stage in the center of the hall, Huang Zheng, a group of Pinduoduo executives and consumer representatives stood in the center, looking at the timer together with the Nasdaq market on the other side of the screen.

Finally, the time on the electronic board reached the last ten seconds, and hundreds of people began counting down at the same time.

"three--"

"two--"

"one!"

As the last frame of time jumped over, the buttons representing listing were pressed simultaneously at both ends of the earth, 11,000 kilometers apart, announcing that Pinduoduo officially landed on the Nasdaq and was listed.

There was a great deal of jubilation at the Shanghai Center Building, and the invited guests began to celebrate and cheer.

Like many other investors, Meng Bai waited for the bell ringing ceremony to end, drank a glass of wine with Huang Zheng, chatted briefly, and then left the banquet first.

Although the secondary market of US stocks has already started trading, as original shareholders, their shares have a lock-up period of six months to one year. Moreover, they are engaged in venture capital investment, not securities trading, so they are not in a hurry to sell immediately.

As for the first day's opening increase, it will naturally be taken care of by our professional employees. We can just wait and read the report tomorrow morning.

Everyone went back to their hotel to rest. At the same time, tens of thousands of huge amounts of funds, carried by fiber optic signals, converged from various financial markets around the world to the New York Stock Exchange, starting a new trading day.

The listing of a new company is a brand new opportunity, and everyone wants to make a fortune from the new trend.

Pinduoduo's reputation is not very good among ordinary users and consumers, but it is a popular star stock in the capital circle. For such a high-quality target, everyone thinks that they can make money if they buy it.

There is a famous saying in the capital circle, "SB consensus is also consensus." As long as everyone has the same idea, even if it was originally a lie, it will become true.

With the support of this view, Pinduoduo took off directly from its opening and has remained at a high level since then.

……

"Boss, this is the stock price data of Pinduoduo on its first day of listing."

Early in the morning, Gu Fei and several Qiming Venture Partners staff members knocked on Meng Bai's door and handed him the data report that they had prepared overnight.

"..."

Meng Bai glanced at the time in a half-asleep state. It was only seven o'clock in the morning. Was it necessary to go so early?

Anyway, the market has already been launched, and whether the result is good or bad, it cannot be changed. What difference does it make if it is earlier or later?

Glancing at Gu Fei and the others who had dark circles under their eyes but were extremely excited, Meng Bai sighed and asked, "You've been up all night, aren't you tired?"

"Don't worry, Mr. Meng, we rested during the day yesterday." Gu Fei said energetically, "Besides, venture capitalists are used to staying up late. Don't worry, we can stay up for another two days."

“You guys are really… awesome!”

Seeing how enthusiastic the employees were, he, as the boss, felt embarrassed to dampen their enthusiasm. He reluctantly praised them and then said to them, "There's coffee and tea over there. You can choose what you want to drink. I'll take a look at the report first."

After saying that, he calmed down and opened the information in his hand.

Pinduoduo set the listing price at $19, and issued a total of 8560 million shares in the IPO. After the call auction on Nasdaq's matching trading system, the opening price jumped directly to $26.5, an increase of more than 40%.

Based on this price, the total market value of Pinduoduo, which has just gone public, is nearly 30 billion US dollars.

According to the current market value ranking of domestic Internet companies, Pinduoduo, with a market value of US$4.2 billion, ranks eighth, only behind BAT, JD.com, Xiaomi, NetEase and Meituan. After multiple rounds of financing, Qiming Venture Partners only holds % of the listed shares, ranking outside the top ten investment institutions.

But even so, based on the market value on the first day, this stake is equivalent to US$12.6 billion.

Calculated based on today's exchange rate, it is almost 85 billion RMB.

85 billion!
Looking at the numbers on the report, Meng Bai's originally confused brain suddenly became clear.

Although Tencent had previously offered Arc Light Pictures a staggering acquisition price of 150 billion, firstly, that was a valuation, and secondly, the acquisition cooperation was not finally reached, so there was not much of a feeling about it.

But this time it’s different. Pinduoduo’s shares are real assets right in front of us.

More importantly, this huge amount of money was only 30 million at the beginning. Even if you add in the subsequent rounds of financing, it is still less than 200 million.

In three years, the return rate is more than fifty times. Even if Arc Light releases a "Wolf Warrior 2" every year, it will take forty years to make the same profit.

Moreover, Qiming Venture Partners is still a small shareholder, so there is no need to make a public announcement. As long as the lock-up period ends and a cash is withdrawn, it can be exchanged for real money immediately.

Of course, Meng Bai just thought so.

Pinduoduo is developing rapidly, and its value will only increase in the future. As long as you hold these shares, it will be like a chicken farm that lays golden eggs.

Unless there is a problem with Arc Light's funding, or Huang Zheng says he plans to quit, Meng Bai will definitely not sell all his shares easily. At most, he will cash out part of it for some "pocket money".

"call--"

Meng Bai let out a long breath. Regardless of whether he could cash out in the future, he only knew that he and Hu Guang would never be short of money again.

After reading the report, he went online to check the news.

There is no doubt that today's hot searches and several popular platform communities are almost all talking about Pinduoduo's listing.

For ordinary people outside, the most eye-catching person is naturally Huang Zheng, the founder of Pinduoduo.

However, what everyone cares about is not his entrepreneurial experience or the future development of his company, but his asset ranking.

Pinduoduo is a listed company and all its capital data are open to the public.

As the largest shareholder of Pinduoduo, Huang Zheng personally holds 44% of the shares, which is worth $132 billion or RMB 900 billion according to the market value.

Compared with last year's Hurun ranking, this data is similar to that of NetEase's Dinglei and Wahaha's Zongqinghou, ranking 16th in China.

Born in the 80s, not even 40 years old, he was on the list for the first time and was on par with many big names who have been famous for many years. This kind of legendary event is naturally talked about by the majority of the spectators.

In comparison, not many people pay attention to the investment institutions standing behind Huang Zheng.

Of course, this is for outsiders.

Within the capital market, the names behind Pinduoduo are well-known.

Tencent, Sequoia Capital, Gaorong Capital, Lightspeed China...

Each of these companies is basically one of the top investment institutions in China. Pinduoduo’s three-year listing is inseparable from the support of these capital giants.

In comparison, Qiming Venture Partners, which is relatively low-profile, can only be considered a small player in this capital feast.

Even because it is not ranked among the top ten shareholders, few people know about this little-known venture capital company.

However, this does not include Pinduoduo's shareholders and investors. Only these insiders know that in the "world" hidden beneath the water, there is a "lucky guy" who joined from the angel round and reaped almost all the dividends.

In fact, Meng Bai himself did not deliberately hide it, but he just did not promote it. After all, his main business is film and television, not venture capital, and he has no plans to change careers in the future.

Do not publicize it to the outside world so as not to affect internal celebrations.

Everyone in Qiming Venture Partners, from top to bottom, can receive a generous year-end bonus, especially senior executives like Gu Fei, who can get the highest bonus of nearly 10 million yuan.

This is the charm of financial capital. The profits earned overnight can be equal to the income of an ordinary person in most of his lifetime.

However, Gu Fei and his colleagues did not relax. In addition to continuing to maintain various post-IPO tasks, there was another more important thing, which was Qiming Venture Partners' future development plan.

"What do you think?"

Meng Bai himself had never really thought about this question.

According to his original idea, the establishment of Qiming Venture Partners was mainly to provide support to ArcLight from another direction.

It’s just that Arc Light is developing well now and has no shortage of funds, so it really can’t be used for the time being.

"Mr. Meng, I have an idea."

Upon hearing his boss's question, Gu Fei, the actual person in charge of Qiming Venture Partners, spoke first.

"You said."

"Although Qiming Venture Partners now has the Pinduoduo project, it is actually still a newcomer in the venture capital circle. We lack the research capabilities and information data of those large institutions, and it will probably be difficult for us to develop in the VC business." Gu Fei said, choosing his words carefully.

Her words at this moment were actually a bit like pouring cold water on others, after all, the company had just completed a shocking investment.

What she was most worried about was that Meng Bai, the boss, would become blindly confident because of Pinduoduo's performance and plunge into the high-risk industry of venture capital. However, as the head of Qiming Venture Partners, she had to say these words.

Fortunately, Meng Bai did not feel angry about her words. On the contrary, he quite agreed with her.

"Indeed, compared to those big organizations, we are indeed far behind." Meng Bai nodded and looked at Gu Fei: "Go on."

After receiving the boss's affirmation, Gu Fei's confidence increased immediately, and she continued, "There is a saying in the investment industry that people can only make money within the scope of their cognition. I thought about it and realized that we don't need to invest in the entire industry, we can just focus on a certain field. Having said that, we are not without any advantages at all."

Meng Bai thought for a moment and said, "Are you talking about the film and television industry?"

"That's right, Boss. Arclight has a solid foundation in the film and television industry and is fully aware of all the information and rules in the industry. So why don't we just start from this area and focus on film and television. Or, to be more broad, face the entire entertainment industry."

"Qiming has capital and ArcLight has strength. I think the combination of the two is the most suitable direction for future development."

　Thanks to the big guy "個人挺好7" for the reward! (By the way, did the big guy make a lot of money today?)

　　
　
(End of this chapter)