Liang Changlin, the founder of Chinese online grocery platform Dingdong Maicai, has joined the ranks of the world’s billionaires after the American depositary shares of his company surged 39% in the days after its debut on the NYSE.
At their current price of $32.57, Liang has a net worth of $1.2 billion based on his stake in the grocery delivery company. His fortune had briefly crossed the billion-dollar mark when the stock first began trading on Tuesday, but the shares surrendered the early gains later the same day.
The ADSs were paused for a short time on Wednesday due to their volatility. They briefly peaked at $46 each.
“We focus on the long-term sustainability of our business and not our stock price on any given day,” Dingdong Maicai said in a statement on Friday. “We have a long-term strategy and we are not distracted by any short-term movement.”
Dingdong Maicai debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on June 29.
Dingdong Maicai
Dingdong Maicai slashed its IPO fundraising target by 74% on Tuesday, shortly before it began trading in the U.S. The company said it would raise $95.7 million by pricing 4.1 million American Depositary Shares at $23.50 each later the same day. Its initial target had been $357 million.
Read more on Forbes: Chinese Grocery Delivery Tycoon Shrugs Off Reduced IPO In U.S.
Liang, 49, established Dingdong Maicai in 2017 after he spotted opportunities in the on-demand grocery market. The company now offers 12,500 types of fresh products and daily necessities, according to its prospectus. With a wide network of 950 distribution warehouses across 29 Chinese cities, Dingdong Maicai says it delivers customers’ orders to their doorsteps as fast as within 30 minutes.
Liang had served in the Chinese military for more than a decade, according to local media. His first venture as an entrepreneur was to develop software for video editing. It proved successful enough for him to gain sufficient capital to build a parenting and maternity discussion platform, which later was sold to New York-listed TAL Education, an after-school tutoring firm, in 2016.