Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi’s shares hit a new all-time high today, fulfilling founder Lei's goal of doubling investors' earnings at the IPO in 2018. But at one point in this U-shaped move, Xiaomi investors who participated at the IPO lost more than 50 percent of their money.
As of 2:10 p.m. Beijing Time, Hong Kong-listed Xiaomi was up nearly 6 percent to HK$35.15, up more than 100 percent from HK$17 when the company went public on July 9, 2018.
Xiaomi was the first company to adopt a different voting structure after the HKEx's listing system reform. On the day of Xiaomi's IPO, Lei said at a celebration dinner that he wanted to double the profit of investors who bought Xiaomi shares on the first day of the IPO.
However, after a few days of gains, Xiaomi shares began a steady decline. On September 2, 2019, Xiaomi shares fell to as low as HK$8.28, 51% below the IPO offering price.
In the face of the huge drop in share price, Lei once said that short-term fluctuations in share price were not important and that it was important to get down to business and run the company well.
On December 28 last year, at the Xiaomi 11 launch event, Lei called the two-year-long period when Xiaomi shares were below the issue price a memorable moment for him in 2020. "To be honest it was humiliating and a super frustrating time for the last two years," he said.
After September 2019, however, Xiaomi shares were essentially moving higher, returning to the issue price on July 10 of this year. Xiaomi is up nearly 80% since the end of September 2020.
Xiaomi 11 unveiled as world's first phone with Snapdragon 888 processor, starting at about $611
