I can become stronger by paying salaries. I have one billion employees!

Chapter 697 Another Storm Rises, Up to 3400 Billion US Dollars? Old Ma: I Want to Meet You!
The following morning, WiFi Master Key announced that its user base had exceeded 5 million.

For a company that has only been established for two years, such achievements are enough to make it a phenomenal application in China.

The speed of its growth is truly astonishing.

Following this, ByteDance announced the latest user data for its Lingxi browser: registered users exceeded 5 million, and active users reached 1.9 million.

Leveraging the ecosystem of Orange phones, Lingxi Browser has successfully become the pre-installed browser for brands such as Orange, 360, Xiaomi, Meizu, and OPPO.

With the support of pre-installation by major mobile phone manufacturers, its user growth rate has naturally skyrocketed.

Soon, some netizens compared UC Browser, which had just been acquired by Ali, with Lingxi Browser, and discovered that while their cumulative user numbers were almost the same, UC Browser had 9000 million fewer daily active users than Lingxi Browser.

It's easy to see that Lingxi Browser has much higher user stickiness and retention rate than UC Browser.

"To be honest, Lingxi Browser's UI design is much more comfortable, the gesture operation is also very reasonable, and most importantly, it has far fewer ads than UC Browser."

"I haven't used UC Browser for a long time! Nine out of ten websites in my bookmarks have been blocked. How can I 'reward myself' in a pleasant way?"

"Hey buddy upstairs, can I borrow your phone to talk?"

"Serves them right! This is Ali's old problem. No matter what product it is, once it acquires it, it immediately becomes a traffic-driving tool for Tmall and Taobao. Just a click and the screen is full of ads. It's exactly the same kind of company as Baidu!"

The comments section was filled with victims of UC Browser, but as they chatted, the conversation suddenly took a turn, and they started discussing several newly debuted teachers.

Half an hour later, Orange Technology officially announced that it had submitted a preliminary application form for listing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, commonly known as the A1 application form, along with a draft prospectus, audit report, legal opinion, and other related documents.

According to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's regulations, the first round of feedback will be provided to Orange Technology within 15 working days.

Once the feedback is approved, the company can participate in the Stock Exchange hearing to respond to questions raised by the Listing Committee regarding its business model, financial data, compliance, etc.; if the hearing is successful, the company will be eligible for listing.

The next steps are roadshow presentations, offering pricing, share allocation, and fundraising, ultimately leading to the listing on the stock exchange.

The entire process takes anywhere from three months to six months to complete.

The news went viral instantly!

It's worth noting that Orange Technology shipped 11700 million units in 2013, and its shipments in the first half of 2014 were reportedly 10000 million units, making it highly likely to surpass Apple and become the world's second largest smartphone vendor.

At this time, Apple's market value is $6300 billion, Shanxing Electronics is $1900 billion, and Sony Mobile is $370 billion. What should Orange Technology's market value be?
Regarding the issue of Orange Technology's IPO valuation, bloggers from the digital, technology, and financial circles have all jumped in to gain attention.

They analyzed the situation from their respective professional perspectives, not only listing a large amount of data, but also using valuation indicators such as price-to-sales ratio and price-to-earnings ratio, combined with peer comparison, to conduct a detailed breakdown of Orange Technology's IPO valuation.

财经圈知名博主“财报解码师”率先在今日头条上抛出万字长文，标题直接点明了自己的核心观点——《从2010年到2014年、从1台到1亿台：橙子科技的估值不该低于3400亿美币》

In the article, he highlighted key data in bold red font: In 2013, the total global smartphone shipments were approximately 10 billion units, and Orange Technology maintained its third position with a market share of 11.7%.

In the first half of 2014, global shipments increased by 75.8% year-on-year, with Orange Technology shipping 1 million units, accounting for 16.7% of the market share.

Based on price-to-sales ratio, Apple's current price-to-sales ratio is 3.6, while that of Shanxing Electronics is 1.2. Considering Orange Technology's annual growth rate, a price-to-sales ratio of 2 is entirely reasonable.

He then further analyzed the financial data, stating that Orange Technology's revenue was approximately 3600 billion yuan in 2013, 3000 billion yuan in the first half of 2014, and was expected to reach 6000 billion yuan for the whole year.

Converted to US dollars at the exchange rate, the valuation of US$3400 billion may seem aggressive, but it is actually very much in line with its growth potential.

Many netizens disagree with this view!
In their view, although Orange Technology's mobile phone business is booming, it has always been weak in product lines such as tablets, laptops and desktop computers, and can only be barely regarded as a second-tier brand.

In terms of influence in the computer field alone, it cannot compare with Apple at all.

A valuation of $3400 billion is simply outrageous!
After all, Shanxing Electronics' overall market value is only 1900 billion US dollars!
Meanwhile, Shanxing shipped 28600 million smartphones and generated $2280 billion in revenue last year, both figures being double those of Orange Technology.

Even though Orange Technology has great potential and high market expectations, its reasonable valuation is at most around 1000 billion US dollars.

Tech blogger "Digital Frontier Observation" offered a different perspective from the viewpoint of product ecosystem.

In terms of price-to-earnings ratio, Apple is currently at 16.5 times, while Saturn is at 8 times.

In terms of profitability, Orange Technology is not as good as Apple, but it is a level higher than Shanxing. A P/E ratio of 10 is appropriate. Based on the net profit of US$130 billion in 2013, the valuation should be between US$1300 billion and US$1500 billion.

However, not long after, a blogger named "Geek Reviewer" completely refuted the views of "Financial Report Decoder" and "Digital Frontier Observer".

He posted a video on Douyin, clearly refuting the claim: "You've all overlooked a crucial issue: patent barriers!"

The video then displays a patent data comparison chart: Apple has 2003 global patents, Shanxing Electronics has 4800, while Orange Technology has only 1700 published patents.

It may not seem like much, but its quality surpasses its quantity, encompassing core components such as semiconductors, displays, communication technologies, memory, and camera modules, as well as the overall design and software of the phone. Furthermore, Apple paid a total of $43.6 billion in patent fees to Qualcomm, Nokia, Ericsson, and InterDigital in 2013.

Orange Technology has less than 4 million US dollars!
This demonstrates that Orange Technology possesses a large number of core patents in the fields of communications, semiconductors, displays, and batteries.

Furthermore, as the number of users of Aurora Future OS increases, Orange Technology's capabilities in the application distribution field will also become stronger.

Therefore, anyone who dares to say that Orange Technology's valuation is less than 2000 billion US dollars is absolutely thinking without thinking.

This valuation debate quickly spread to the capital markets.

Several Hong Kong securities firms released research reports overnight, with Goldman Sachs giving it a "neutral to bullish" rating and estimating a valuation range of US$1400-1800 billion.

Morgan Stanley is even more optimistic, setting a target valuation of $2000-2600 billion, arguing that "Orange Technology's penetration rate in emerging markets has reached 25%, far exceeding Apple's 17% and Mountain Star's 18%, and its future growth potential is promising."

Ordinary investors reacted more directly.

On the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's investor interaction platform, thousands of questions emerged in just two hours. Some were concerned about whether ordinary retail investors could participate in IPOs, while others worried whether "overvaluation would lead to a drop in share price immediately after listing."

At the headquarters of Orange Technology, Zhou Shouzhi is also closely monitoring market dynamics.

For him, the higher the company's market value, the higher the value of the options he holds.

After all, who doesn't love money?

All 8,000+ employees at Orange Technology are eagerly anticipating the company's IPO.

But right now, the most important thing is to split the stock first.

Since Orange Technology's total share capital is only 10 billion, if it is valued at 150 billion US dollars, the price of one share would have to be set at 1500 US dollars, which is equivalent to more than 900 million yuan.

The price is too high!
A stock price that is too high is not necessarily a good thing.

A stock split is imperative!

Why do you want to do this?
Firstly, it lowers the investment threshold and expands the investor base;
Secondly, it improves stock liquidity;
Thirdly, it enhances market influence and the possibility of inclusion in the Hang Seng Index.

To this end, Zhou Shouzi met with Gao Weilin and, after discussion, decided to split the company into 10 shares, increasing the total share capital to 10 billion, thereby facilitating user investment and attracting more domestic and foreign capital.

On the afternoon of the same day the stock split plan was finalized, Orange Technology issued an announcement, officially announcing that it would split its share capital at a ratio of "1 for 10", increasing the total share capital from 100 billion shares to 10 billion shares.

The document specifically emphasizes that this stock split is solely for optimizing the equity structure and will not change the company's total market capitalization or shareholder equity. The stock split process is expected to be completed after the first round of feedback from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is approved and before the hearing.

Investors in Hong Kong, mainland China, and overseas were immediately excited upon learning the news.

Mimo, Douyin, and Toutiao are filled with various comments from netizens.

Has the threshold for subscribing to new shares been lowered after the stock split?

Will a circulating share capital of 100 billion shares affect the stability of the stock price?

"I never dared to dream of buying shares when they were over $100 each, but after the stock split, they're only a dozen dollars each, making them incredibly easy to buy!"

On financial forums, some people even spontaneously formed an "Orange Technology Investment Exchange Group," which attracted thousands of members in less than half a day, with heated discussions in the group about details such as the allocation of financing amounts and subscription strategies.

But the reality is that Orange Technology has only just submitted its IPO application!
There's no way around it; the main reason is that when Pinduoduo went public, only a very small number of people dared to take the risk of investing, but in the end, they made a fortune.

Now that Orange Technology has gone public, it's no surprise that it's being sought after by financial institutions and investors.

Chen Yansen, who was far away in Shanghai, had planned to rest for a day, but his phone kept ringing from morning till night.

Most of the callers were from securities firms. They were very polite and straightforward, all wanting to "shine" for Orange Technology's listing and strive for cooperation opportunities.

Among them are Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, with whom they have previously collaborated, as well as local Hong Kong firms such as Bright Smart Securities, Phillip Securities, and Winton Securities.

While Chen Yansen was busy preparing for Orange Technology's IPO, Ma Liyun had already returned to Hangzhou.

He first held a celebration for the successful listing of Ali, and then immediately summoned Zhang Tao and Tang Yongbo.

To put it bluntly, even with ample funds, he was still reluctant to give up the "big cake" of O2O, wanting to seize the opportunity to get a share and confront Chen Yansen head-on!
　Godfathers, you've burned out~ This chapter is an extra chapter for the Alliance Leader [Jianglangshanxia Dachenzi].

　　Gentlemen, how about some monthly votes to cheer me up? Mwah!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)