After entering 2003, China's excellent performance after the bursting of the Internet bubble triggered a new round of small upsurge of concept stocks.

And Weixin is one of the trendsetters who triggered this round of small climax of concept stocks.

The international capital market is now infinitely optimistic about the future of WeChat.

Weixin has been hailed as the Internet company with the highest valuation, the largest number of users and the strongest profitability in China.

As soon as Weixin released the news and was ready to go public, a number of banks that were qualified to be Weixin underwriters took the initiative to come to the door.

After Su Wen's strict screening, in the end, only Morgan and Goldman Sachs were left as candidates, the former has a sharp style and advocates listing on the NASDAQ, and the latter is friendly and recommends listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

In fact, even if it was going to be listed, Su Wen still did not choose a place to go public.

In 03, the domestic A-share market was not mature, and Weixin did not have the conditions and space to be listed on the A-share market.

Abandoned the idea of domestic listing, the choice in front of Weixin is only the United States and Xiangjiang.

Su Wen first talked with Morgan's people, and they suggested that Weixin go public in the United States, and the guaranteed market value could reach about $4 billion.

The NASDAQ has always been considered the cradle of the Internet, and previous Internet companies have all chosen to go public here.

If you choose NASDAQ, you can definitely maximize your benefits!

After the meeting with Morgan's people, Su Wen rushed to Xiangjiang with complicated thoughts to meet with people from Goldman Sachs and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Lin Xia, who negotiated with Goldman Sachs and Weixin several times ago, was in charge of investment matters, so Su Wen did not see her this time.

I met Goldman Sachs at the Conrad Hotel Cafe in Hong Kong.

It was a rainy afternoon, and on behalf of Goldman Sachs, a middle-aged man named Liu Chi, who was in his mid-thirties, was small and thin, with a warm smile on his face.

Liu Chi is now an executive director of Goldman Sachs' Asian investment banking division.

Su Wen didn't expect to meet Liu Chi at this point in time, the rise of Tengxun in his previous life, this person took a lot of credit.

Su Wen's first impression of Liu Chi was very good, first of all, Liu Chi was the best Mandarin speaker among the Xiangjiang people Su Wen had ever seen, and in addition, there was a QQ number on the business card he handed to Su Wen, which made Su Wen feel very cordial.

A few people sat down in the café, exchanged a few words of greeting, and took the waiter to coffee before officially entering the talks.

Liu Chi said. "These days, I have studied the financial statements of the next WeChat message in detail, and I put forward my opinion, you can listen to it first. ”

Su Wen gestured and motioned for you to speak.

Liu Chi opened the conversation. "WeChat's current income mainly relies on online games and network value-added services, both of which are very subversive, but they are not stable, and it is easy for investors to have a lack of plasticity and imagination for the future. ”

"So when it comes to public offerings, I think it's important to emphasize network effects and tap into the potential of instant messengers. In addition, the diversification of Weixin's revenue is unique in both the United States and China, and it is also something we can take advantage of. ”

In his heart, Su Wen is inclined to hand over the listing of WeChat to Goldman Sachs.

However, Su Wen has not yet made up his mind about whether to list in the United States or Xiangjiang.

Weixin is different from many Internet companies that choose to go public in the United States.

Most of these Internet founders have very low equity in the company.

Taking Ahri Baba as an example, Ma Yun only owns less than 8% of Ahri Baba's shares, and can only rely on the structure of Nasdaq AB shares to achieve the purpose of controlling the company.

After Weixin went public, MIH was willing to hand over the voting rights to Su Wen without reservation, which also means that even if the structure of Nasdaq AB shares is not used, Su Wen can firmly control the company.

Su Wen pondered for a moment and asked Liu Chi. "Why do you think that the listing of Weixin Hong Kong Stock Exchange is better than that of NASDAQ?"

Liu Chi seemed to have prepared for Su Wen to ask such a question, Shi Shiran said.

"First, the business model of Weixin cannot find a comparable benchmark enterprise in North America. All of the instant messengers in the United States, from ICQ to Yahoo Messenger to MSN, are not independent companies and have not found a profitable model.

Americans believe that all Internet innovation should first appear in Silicon Valley or Boston's Route 6, and that the rest of the world is nothing more than a response to American-style innovation, which is what Braudel calls the world's time. ”

Now, Weixin tells a story that Americans have never heard before, and they may not be willing to pay for a Chinese story, and it has to be said that this is the sadness of the Nasdaq. ”

"Second, Heung Kong is closer to WeMessage's own home market, and Heung Kong's analysts and investors obviously know more about WeCom than Americans.

Theoretically, the closer a company is to its home market, the more real the value of the company will be.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange's valuation of Internet companies is certainly not as high as that of the Nasdaq, but there are fewer cases of stock price fluctuations than the latter, which may be a good thing for WeChat, which is pursuing continuous growth. ”

"Third, listing in Xiangjiang will also bring the possibility that as a red chip, it may return to China's capital market in the future, and it is always its hundreds of millions of users who know Weixin best. ”

I have to say that Liu Chi's observation is very detailed, and the three suggestions even won Su Wen's heart.

Su Wen now finally understands why Tengxun abandoned the better-looking NASDAQ and chose the more mediocre Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

This meeting was quite successful, and Su Wen directly decided to hand over the listing of Weixin to Goldman Sachs.

In fact, in addition to the three market-related reasons given by Liu Chi, there is another reason that finally made Su Wen decide to choose Xiangjiang, that is, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange can create private equity space for himself, which is relatively much easier, and Su Wen wants to complete the purchase at a lower price before the listing of Weixin.

However, in the U.S. capital market, this would be seen as an "inappropriate act to reduce the company's profits", but in Xiangjiang, this practice is widely recognized.

Of course, Liu Chi's plain attitude also made Su Wen feel at ease to hand over the listing of Weixin to Goldman Sachs, and he had a sense of identity with this unique investment bank manager.

After meeting with Goldman Sachs, Su Wen also met with the person in charge of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

In 03 years, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has never had an Internet company listed here, this is a new journey, and the people of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange are also paying special attention to it, maybe it can help them open another door.