Not sure anyone really knows what to make of Baidu’s skyrocketing IPO, up 354 percent by Friday’s close. The reasons why the stock piqued interest are fairly clear — it looks like Google, was rumored to be a possible Google acquisition, (heck, Google evens owns 2.6 percent, worth about $100 million at $122.54 per share) and it’s Chinese. Huang Jia Li, analyst, Shanghai iResearch, told the NYT: “Outsiders are betting on the growth of the Internet in China. And over 80 percent of the Internet users in China are using Baidu.com as their search engine.”
But what does it mean? The premium being paid for a company that reported $8.4 million in revenue last quarter conjures up visions of bubbly dot.com days gone by. MarketWatch’s Steve Gelsi explains that the relatively low number of IPO shares pushed up demand and, with it, pricing.
It may mean more for possible Chinese IPOs than any U.S. companies. Paul Waide, an editor of Pacific Epoch,looks at some of the other companies that could be next in line — job site Zhaopin.com, financial portal Hexun.com, real estate portal Soufun.
Related: Baidu IPO Takes Off; Up 200 Percent Within Minutes
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