2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 526 Orange Technology's IPO Plan
Faced with the reporter's aggressive questioning, Sun Tongyu and Tan Jincheng exchanged a smile.

This scene was child's play for them. Sun Tongyu was relatively reserved, but Tan Jincheng could be quite arrogant when he wanted to be.

It's just that I don't want to provoke Lao Ma.

"Life is like a journey, and each stage has different scenery. The days when I started working with Mr. Ma in 96 were the most important days of my life. Mr. Ma has had a great influence on my life, and I am very grateful to have been able to work with him."

Sun Tongyu spoke very sincerely. During his time with Ali, it was indeed the most important period of his life. Even though he had a less than pleasant falling out with Mr. Ma later on, it would be a lie to say that he was not grateful.

At least he achieved true financial freedom in Ali; it was Jack Ma, or rather Ali, who made him who he is.

"I would also like to thank Mr. Tan for the invitation. Joining Orange Technology is a new beginning for my career and a new challenge. As for the reason why?"

"It must be Mr. Tan's personal charm and Orange Technology's business philosophy that attracted me."

With a few words praising both his former and new employers, Sun Tongyu's response was completely unbiased, leaving the reporters somewhat disappointed.

"Alright, everyone, don't worry too much about my personal issues. Let's get to the main topic of the press conference. This is my first time hosting Orange Technology's work since taking office."

Sun Tongyu didn't want to continue on this topic, as saying too much would be a provocation to Mr. Ma, which would be detrimental to both him and the company.

Let bygones be bygones.

During his three months abroad, in addition to his normal life and studies, Sun Tongyu had fully become involved in the work of Orange Technology through Dingding. Tan Jincheng would forward him a copy of the operational data and financial status of the company's two major business segments.

It really doesn't waste any time at all, and I don't even have to pay my salary for the next few months.

"This press conference is mainly to report on Orange Technology's recent actions, some company data, and some of the company's future plans."

Aside from having a somewhat diverse business, Orange Technology is a tiny player compared to Taobao in terms of scale. In just a few months, Sun Tongyu had already sorted out the company quite thoroughly.

"Currently, our Kaixin.com has around 9000 million registered users, with around 3000 million active users online at the same time. Our Happy Farm has around 7000 million registered users, with approximately 2300 million active users online at the same time."

Sun Tongyu spoke slowly, but every word he uttered was incredibly impactful to these professional internet reporters.

Kaixin001 is already one of the top three social networking sites in China, but it hasn't released its registered user data for a long time. We can only guess its approximate data from data monitoring.

It goes without saying how popular Happy Farm has become in the past two years. This little game has become a social phenomenon, with discussions everywhere, including among the reporters in the audience, many of whom are deeply addicted to stealing vegetables.

From 60-year-old grandmothers to 10-year-old children, everyone loves to sit in front of the computer and play "stealing vegetables" (a popular online game). It's become an incredibly popular online game that makes more money than many large-scale online games.

What do these two sets of data mean?
The vast majority of Kaixin.com users play Kaixin Farm, and the number of active users is also very close.

Conversely, it can also be said that Happy Farm, a seemingly very simple game, directly supports the entire user base of Kaixin.com.

Kaixin.com's 90 million user base may not seem like much compared to top websites like BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent), but it's definitely a very impressive number for a second-tier site, and breaking 100 million is only a matter of time.

For a social networking site, having over 100 million users and not having over 100 million users are two completely different things.

"Chengpin Club has over 50 registered users. We have already established three logistics transfer centers in East China, South China, and North China. Next, Chengpin Club will build another logistics transfer center in Southwest China to achieve nationwide coverage."

"This round of snow disaster has dealt a heavy blow to the whole country. Although I am abroad, I am also deeply concerned about it. I will donate a sum of money in my personal capacity to contribute to the post-disaster recovery."

"But it cannot be denied that under the leadership of General Manager Tan and General Manager Gu, Orange Technology has done a very good job in handling and responding to this sudden disaster. Orange Products has the fewest complaints among all internet e-commerce companies with the same proportion of users, which is very difficult for a newly established internet website."

This statement is somewhat shameless; Orange Products only has a few users, while Taobao and JD.com have countless. However, few people in the internet industry care about their reputation, and the reporters present didn't react much. Nevertheless, it must be said that Orange Products has indeed provided the best service and logistics integration this time around, including its subsequent compensation mechanism, which is unmatched by other e-commerce websites.

The data for both business segments are very good. Although Orange Club doesn't have many users yet, it has only been officially operating for a few months. Even if it absorbs one-tenth of Kaixin.com's 9000 million users, it will still be a considerable user group.

Sun Tongyu is very familiar with Orange Technology, which is evident to everyone present. It reminds them of Taobao's ruthless attack on Orange Products last year when it was still in operation.

It seems the rumors were true. No wonder President Tan set the tone right from the start, telling everyone not to ask irrelevant questions.

Sun Tongyu continued his statement: "The ultimate goal of an internet company is definitely to go public. I experienced the IPO of Ali, and I am very fortunate to have come to Orange Technology. I will go through such a process again. For me personally, it is a very good experience and challenge."

"What do you mean by that, Mr. Sun? Does Orange Technology plan to go public?"

"That's right, Orange Technology will officially submit its prospectus to the SEC within the next week, officially launching my listing plan," Sun Tongyu said with a smile.

Almost all internet companies launch their IPO plans after Series C funding, or their final funding round; capitalists simply don't want to wait too long.

In addition, Tan Jincheng is quite anxious about Orange Technology's listing plan.

The normal listing cycle for Nasdaq stocks is six to nine months, and the fastest can be completed in four months.

Tan Jincheng doesn't remember exactly when the subprime crisis officially broke out, but he recalls it was around August or September, because he remembers the four trillion yuan stimulus plan was implemented at the end of the year after the subprime crisis.

Before the subprime crisis, they got Orange Technology listed to cash in on the US market. As for the stock price plummeting after the listing, who cares?
Anyway, it's not just this company that's falling in price. At worst, we can just buy back the shares at a lower price. We'll make money either way, and we can also profit from the US twice.

Since its Series C funding round, Orange Technology has been preparing for its IPO. Shen Nanpeng, Kuang Ping, and Pony Ma's professional investment institutions have all been working hard to get the company listed. They are very professional in how to take an internet company public.

Preparations for the IPO actually began as early as New Year's Day this year, including selecting suitable underwriters and legal teams, conducting financial and business audits, and improving the company's governance structure, etc.

Shen Nanpeng and Kuang Ping have a lot of connections with Lao Mi. Currently, the underwriters who are interested in taking over Orange Technology's listing plan include well-known institutions such as Shang Sheng and Morgan Stanley.

Shen and Kuang have been working with Lao Mi for over two months, and the first phase of preparations is almost complete. The next step is to formally submit the prospectus.

Tan Jincheng's advice to these people was to hurry up, although he didn't know why they needed to hurry, but this was exactly what they wanted.

After the prospectus is submitted, there will be a 21-day public notice period, followed by the SEC's review. During this period, the company needs to actively cooperate and provide the required supplementary information.

Once the SEC approves the application, the company can begin determining the stock price and issuing shares. The role of the underwriter is to assist the company in the pricing and issuance process.

If all goes smoothly, the public announcement and review process will take about a month.

If all goes well, Orange Technology will go public around June or July this year, which roughly conforms to the Nasdaq listing process.

After a brief commotion, a reporter suddenly asked, "Mr. Tan, isn't Orange Technology officially registered on March 3, 2006?"

Tan Jincheng smiled and picked up the microphone: "That's right, I didn't expect this friend to remember. This month marks the second anniversary of our Orange Technology."

There was a moment of silence below. The fastest IPO record for a domestic internet company is currently held by Zhang Wuli's Sohu, which went public in 2 years and 5 months, or 29 months. Ali took more than 10 years from its founding to its IPO, and Tencent also took many years.

Orange Technology is ready to formally submit its prospectus, which means that they have almost completed their preparations for listing.

If the review process goes smoothly, Orange Technology could go public as early as May this year, a record-breaking 26 months, which would set a new record for the fastest IPO for a domestic internet company!
Holy crap, without us even realizing it, Orange Technology is about to set a new record?

(End of this chapter)