China Software Entrepreneur Becomes Billionaire After IPO Soars

Thunder Software Technology Chairman Zhao Hongfei has become China’s latest billionaire as investors wary of losses in the broader market embrace IPOs.

Thunder rose by 5.7% in Shenzhen today, making Zhao’s 36.4% stake in Thunder worth $1.4 billion.

Thunder, a provider of smart device platform technology, began trading at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Dec. 10 after raising 581.8 million yuan, or $88 million, by selling 25 million shares at 23.27 yuan each. Its stock price has gained nearly 10-fold since, ending at a post-listing closing high of 226.02 yuan today and bearing a triple-digit price-earnings ratio.

Thunder’s first-half revenue and net profit was 268 million yuan and 67.7 million yuan, or $40.7 million and $10.3 million. Clients include Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla and ARM, the company says.

Mainland China has been one of the world’s fastest-growing sources of new billionaires in the past decade.

China’s CSI index closed up by 2.9% today on hopes that a report showing the slowest GDP growth here since 2009 in the fourth quarter of last year would prod the government into action to stimulate the economy. (See related story here.)

–with Maggie Chen

–Follow me on Twitter @rflannerychina

Forrás: http://www.forbes.com