When it comes to the number of listed companies, none of the Chinese auto tycoons can compare with Li Shufu. With the arrival of the largest IPO at the beginning of the year, Li Shufu already has eight listed companies in his hands, and there are three more IPOs ready to go. As a result, China's largest automobile group was born, and Li Shufu, a cattle herding baby, created a miracle.
For Li Shufu, February 23 is a good day for harvest. On this day, Geely's ultra-luxury car brand, Lotus, was successfully listed on the NASDAQ in the United States, ** as "LOT". This is the first IPO of an auto company in the United States in 2024, and it is also the largest IPO of Chinese concept stocks in recent years. As of the day**, the Lotus share price was 13$8, with a market cap of up to 92$9.4 billion (about 66.8 billion.)7.4 billion yuan), more than 91$1.4 billion for NIO, and 8.1 billion$4.2 billion Xpeng.
Lotus, formerly known as "Lotus", is a supercar brand that originated in the United Kingdom in 1948, and is known worldwide for its chassis tuning and hand-built lightweight sports cars. Due to poor management, Lotus has repeatedly fallen into financial difficulties and frequently faced the threat of bankruptcy. Lotus has been acquired by Toyota, General Motors, Daewoo of South Korea, and Proton of Malaysia. In 2017, Geely acquired Proton Motors and acquired Lotus. Under the leadership of Li Shufu, Lotus transformed to full electrification and intelligence, which not only brought back from the dead, but also rejuvenated itself and successfully landed in the capital market.
In fact, Lotus is Li Shufu's eighth IPO. In 2005, Geely Automobile, which he single-handedly founded, was listed in Hong Kong; In 2016, the listed company Qianjiang Motorcycle was acquired under its subsidiary; In 2020, it acquired the commercial vehicle Valin Xingma and changed its name to Hanma Technology; In 2020, Lifan Automobile, China's first listed private car company, was also won by Li Shufu and renamed Lifan Technology; In 2021, Volvo, which Li Shufu acquired 11 years ago, was successfully listed in Stockholm, Sweden. So far, Li Shufu already has five listed companies.
In 2022, Li Shufu will gain two more IPOs in one go: in June, Polestar, a joint venture between Geely and Volvo, was listed on the NASDAQ in the United States; In December, ECARX, an automotive intelligent technology company, was also listed on NASDAQ. With the recent Lotus, the number of listed companies under Li Shufu is as high as eight. Moreover, the three IPOs of ZEEKR, long-distance cars, and Cao Cao Travel are also on the way. In addition, Li Shufu also acquired the London Taxi Company in the United Kingdom, the American flying car company Terrafugia, etc., and took a stake in Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz. In terms of the size of the capital market, Geely can be called the largest automobile group in China.
Among China's auto tycoons, Li Shufu may be the one with the lowest starting point. In 1963, Li Shufu was born in a poor mountain village in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, and was a poor cattle herder when he was a child. However, Li Shufu did not bow to fate, he later started from scratch, opened a photo studio, produced refrigerators, sold decoration materials, and built motorcycles, becoming one of the representatives of Zhejiang's grassroots economy. In 1997, Li Shufu started the "car dream" and resolutely decided to lead Geely to enter the automobile industry monopolized by state-owned capital, and become the first batch of private forces to build cars.
In 2001, Geely became the first private enterprise in China to obtain the qualification to produce cars. In 2010, Li Shufu "swallowed the elephant", and Geely wholly acquired Volvo, a century-old luxury brand in Northern Europe, which boosted technological progress and improved brand reputation, and opened the road to globalization. In 2017, Geely officially jumped to the top spot in the sales of its own brand, and won the title for five consecutive years until 2022. In recent years, the tide of new energy vehicles has surged, and the industry has ushered in great changes unseen in a century. Li Shufu led Geely to fight against the odds and entered the field of new energy vehicles in a big way.
Li Shufu played a set of new energy combination punches: the low-end market, using geometry to layout; In the mid-to-high-end market, Geely Galaxy became an instant hit; In the high-end luxury market, ZEEKR Automobile has gradually become a powerful player; In the field of luxury, there is Lotus, which is getting better. Li Shufu led Geely to break through and replicate the legend of the fuel vehicle era in the era of new energy vehicles. In January this year, Geely Automobile's sales surpassed BYD and returned to the top spot in the auto market. From a rural cattle herder to an automobile leader, from an automobile maniac to the head of China's largest automobile group, Li Shufu's grassroots legend is talked about.