Top of the Great Era

Chapter 3018 Times Square

Today is the day when JD.com goes public, and Zhou Buqi cannot just disappear like that.

Congratulations to Liu Qiangdong and others for returning to Nasdaq.

While having lunch with two beautiful secretaries, Zhou Buqi had been following the news about JD.com's IPO, which was mostly good news. JD.com was listed on the Nasdaq under the name of "China's Amazon" and was recognized by the capital market. Its stock price rose by more than 15% in the morning.

The current market value has exceeded 380 billion US dollars.

Liu Qiangdong's personal shareholding exceeds 22%, which makes him a top-tier wealthy man and among the top richest people in China.

The Nasdaq Stock Exchange is right next to Times Square.

When he came back, Zhou Buqi found that there was still construction going on at Times Square. There were several construction scaffolds under the building. He was a little worried and asked the American driver named Locke, "What's going on with the construction at Times Square? Do you know?"

Locke said: "It should be the reconstruction of the billboard."

"When did it start?"

"last month."

"How long will it take to finish?"

"That's not very clear, we need to ask them."

Locke is a retired Navy SEAL, a bodyguard and part-time driver. He is from New York, so he is usually the one driving when we come to New York. If we go to the Bay Area, it is usually the uncle named Hendrick who drives.

Zhou Buqi said: "Then you can take the trouble to go and ask what's going on."

When I went to the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, Liu Qiangdong was still there.

Normally, when a company goes public, it is enough to take photos, accept interviews from reporters, and communicate with Nasdaq in the morning. There is nothing to do in the afternoon, so you can go shopping in Manhattan or go back to the hotel to rest.

Just attend the celebration party in the evening.

However, for Lao Liu, this is his first time going public, so his excitement is understandable. He has no interest in shopping and cannot stay in the hotel. He might as well come to the exchange to continue the excitement brought by the company's listing.

The Nasdaq Stock Exchange is a company that generates revenues of several billion dollars each year.

The main source of income is commission from transactions.

Therefore, Nasdaq and NYSE are competitors, and both are using various strategies to grab users - listed companies.

Since they are customers, there is a difference between important customers and ordinary customers.

JD.com’s market value is close to $400 billion, which makes it fully qualified to be included in the list of important customers, and the vice president can be directly responsible for it. As for Ziweixing and Ziweixing International, they are super customers and need to be directly responsible by the CEO or president.

At this time, Liu Qiangdong was in the office of a vice president of Nasdaq named Spot, holding a glass of American vodka on ice in his hand, his face flushed, and it was unclear whether it was because of the alcohol or the excitement.

After Zhou Buqi arrived, Spot immediately treated him warmly. On the one hand, he served wine to Boss Zhou, and on the other hand, he arranged for his female secretary to take good care of his female secretary.

"I don't drink, give me a bottle of Coke!"

Zhou Buqi couldn't stand drinking such strong liquor straight away.

Spate was slightly startled, then laughed and said, "I almost forgot that Mr. Zhou is a young man!"

Then, he immediately asked his secretary to prepare a Coke for him.

Zhou Buqi was not at all restrained. He walked to the window casually, looked at the Times Square opposite, and asked, "What's going on with this construction?"

Spate smiled and said, "Outdoor decoration, some renovation of the walls."

Zhou Buqi asked: "When will it end?"

Spate said: "It seems that the construction period is half a year. When autumn comes and the weather gets cold, the construction should be stopped. The latest is the end of October."

"That won't do!" Zhou Buqi frowned, then looked at Liu Qiangdong, "Did you go out to take pictures this morning?"

Liu Qiangdong said: "Yes, I took it."

"What about the construction scaffolding?"

"Nothing to do."

"The background is a construction scaffold?" Zhou Buqi curled his lips, "Just like that?"

Liu Qiangdong was participating for the first time, so he didn’t know anything about it. He just followed the procedures of Nasdaq-listed companies. “Well, it’s just in front… The square is cordoned off, so we just took a few photos on the pedestrian street here.”

Nasdaq and Times Square are one and the same.

Moreover, this is Midtown Manhattan, the financial center. Every time Nasdaq has a new listing, they will take photos in Times Square, which is a good publicity. And the relevant photos will be projected on the big screen in Times Square, and will also be sent to major media for extensive coverage.

The background is a construction platform, which affects the appearance a bit. It is also inconvenient to take pictures.

In order to protect the safety of the construction site, the square was even fenced off to prevent falling objects from the construction from hitting tourists.

Zhou Buqi said unhappily: "Ziweixing International will be listed next month."

Spot immediately understood what Boss Zhou meant and said, "I will contact them in a moment and try to stop the construction on the day of Ziweixing International's IPO and make way for Times Square."

"It's not about striving, it's about making sure!" Zhou Buqi didn't want to compromise and let Ziweixing International's listing leave such a flaw. "Stop working for two or three days, it won't delay the overall construction period. It's okay, I will bear all the extra costs that affect the construction period. I just have one request, don't affect the group photo when Ziweixing International is listed."

This is a major customer that is ten times more important than JD.com. Spat agreed without hesitation, "No problem! We will do our best to coordinate this matter with the Plaza, and it will not have any negative impact."

Liu Qiangdong felt a little uncomfortable when he heard their conversation.

  Depend on!

He is the boss of a big company with a market value of nearly 400 billion US dollars!

Compared with Zhou Buqi, I am nothing!

  How unbalanced!

……

Zhou Buqi also had to attend the celebration party in the evening.

Without outsiders, Liu Qiangdong said angrily: "Why didn't you tell me about the Times Square incident earlier?"

Zhou Buqi said: "I haven't been in New York before, so I don't know!"

Liu Qiangdong sighed, "What kind of thing is this?"

Zhou Buqi said nonchalantly: "It's just a few photos. It doesn't affect the overall situation. It's not important."

"It's not important?" Liu Qiangdong's eyes widened. "It's not important, but you still asked someone to contact the construction company and ask them to suspend construction and give up the square?"

Zhou Buqi asked, "Can it be the same?"

Liu Qiangdong was not convinced, "Why is it different?"

Zhou Buqi said: "The IPO of Ziweixing International may be the largest IPO in history. This is a historic event. Look at the photos of historical moments hanging on the wall of the Nasdaq Stock Exchange. When Ziweixing International goes public, those photos will also be collected and hung on the wall as a record of historical moments. Can the nature be the same? For Nasdaq and the US capital market, JD.com's listing is not a historic moment."

Liu Qiangdong's face froze.

  Depend on!

It’s better not to ask!

This makes me feel even worse and more unbalanced.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "JD.com's IPO was so successful, that's all, what's there to be dissatisfied about?"

Liu Qiangdong said: "Next time I come, I will also have to pay attention."

"next time?"

Zhou Buqi glanced at him.

Liu Qiangdong said ambitiously: "The next one will be JD Logistics! We will strive to go public within 5 years!"

Zhou Buqi shook his head and said, "Next time you want to go public in the United States, you may not have the chance."

"What do you mean?"

Liu Qiangdong was slightly stunned.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "JD.com went through a special approval process for Nasdaq. That was a special treatment for you. Many reviews were not done. For both of them to go public, Ziweixing International had at least two or three times more review materials than Ziweixing."

Liu Qiangdong said: "To grab customers! JD.com is an overseas user of Nasdaq. By bringing JD.com to Nasdaq, the transaction commissions they collect from JD.com's investors every year must be at least several million dollars, right?"

Zhou Buqi said: "In a few years, Chinese concept stocks may not have such a special channel. If the review is strengthened, many companies will not be able to go public even if they want to... Do you dare to say that the shareholder structure of JD.com is open and transparent? If it is not open and transparent, do you dare to hand over the relevant shareholder information to Nasdaq?"

"Depend on!"

Liu Qiangdong glared at him and wanted to scold him.

Zhou Buqi laughed and pointed to a direction in front of the right, "Do you know that guy?"

"Who?"

"Jack Dorsey, I invited him here. He previously founded Twitter and now he's founded Square, a mobile payment company. Come on, let me introduce you to him! If JD.com wants to do overseas business, it will definitely need the support of Square."

"go!"

(End of this chapter)