Tom Online to Make Nasdaq Debut
Four years ago, when Li Ka-shing's Internet company Tom.com had an initial public offering of stock at what turned out to be the tail end of the tech frenzy, police were called in to control crowds scrambling to buy shares. The issue, one of Hong Kong's hottest IPOs ever, was 670 times oversubscribed and the price skyrocketed in the first few months of trading.
On Wednesday, Tom Online will split off from the Tom Group Ltd., formerly known as Tom.com, and begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market in the U.S. On Thursday, shares that have been priced at 1.50 Hong Kong dollars (19.26 U.S. cents) each will make their debut on Hong Kong's Growth Enterprise Market.
But don't expect a case of deja vu. The individual investor, or "retail," portion of the Hong Kong issue, increased last week to 20% of the offering from 10%, was 100 times oversubscribed. And no one expects the newly-listed shares to soar as sharply as the parent company did in 2000.
Though the new entity, Tom Online, is in many ways a close cousin to the original Internet company that Mr. Li, Asia's richest man, floated on the market in 2000, a lot has changed since then. The original Tom.com was an untested company with no clear revenue stream or business plan. Now, company executives boast, the new Tom Online has a proven revenue stream in areas such as wireless content and online advertising. And it is a player, though not a leader, in China's booming Internet field.
But just as this listing seems more grounded in reality than the last one, investors seem to be more careful as well. The demand for this IPO, while strong, was far lower than for some other recent ones in Hong Kong, which have been several hundred times -- and in one case more than 1,000 times -- oversubscribed. The Tom Online listing is expected to raise US$195 million.
Certainly, investors who bought into the original Tom.com have been on a wild ride. In March 2000, the share price rose to HK$14.30 from its IPO price of HK$1.78, giving the company a valuation of more than HK$39 billion. Even the company's chief executive officer, Sing Wang, now concedes "there was no fundamental support" for such a valuation. And it didn't last. The stock's lowest point was HK$1.42 on Oct. 10, 2002. It reported a loss of HK$1.2 billion during 2000, which by 2002 had narrowed to HK$410 million.
Tom Group's business plans took a similarly bumpy road. Executives used the profit from the original IPO of what was supposed to be an Internet company to buy more than 30 different businesses in fields as diverse as outdoor advertising and magazine publishing.
Because the original Internet business had negligible revenue at the outset, Mr. Wang says the buying spree was a necessary strategy to preserve the company's share price. Building the company was a "trial and error" process that he likens to fortunes of the U.S. media giant created when America Online Inc. and Time Warner Inc. merged. "I don't like to brag about Tom.com buying old media like Steve Case [did], but there is a fundamental truth in that," he says, referring to AOL's former chairman, who engineered a takeover of Time Warner.
The Tom Group has had some success in integrating its diverse acquisitions. Last year, the group reported its first-ever quarterly net profit of HK$10.2 million during the fiscal second quarter, compared with a net loss of HK$43 million for the year-earlier quarter. It reported a third-quarter profit of HK$18.5 million and will report fourth-quarter results next week.
As for the company's initial ambitions of becoming an online powerhouse, Mr. Wang says, "We wanted to be out there succeeding in Internet but the Internet needed time to mature."
Now, many feel that China's Internet business has arrived. China's top-three portals, Sohu.com, Sina.com and Netease, have all been profitable since 2002, and numerous smaller Internet-content firms in China are thriving. China's wireless value-added services market, for example, is estimated to be worth 26 billion yuan ($3.14 billion) during 2004, up from one billion yuan during 2002, according to Norson Telecom Consulting. Internet portals have turned wireless services, such as sending out short messages to cellphones, into a lucrative business.
This improving climate in China, where Tom Group conducts the lion's share of its business, is what prompted executives to hive off the company's Internet assets again into a separate listing. Tom Online posted a net profit of HK$153.8 million for 2003, compared with a year-earlier net loss of HK$65 million.
Still, Tom Online has consistently been a second-tier player in the major Internet-business lines such as online advertising, according to consultancy BDAChina. Tom Online launched its Chinese Internet portal during July 2001, more than three years after China's major players. It is also a late starter in China's rapidly expanding online-gaming market, estimated at two billion yuan annually. Tom Online only launched its first online game late last year.
There is one area where it's ahead: low-tech Interactive Voice Response services, a subscription service for voice updates on weather, horoscopes, finance and dating information. Tom Group acquired Beijing Leitingwuji Network Technology -- which holds more than 50% market share in IVR -- last November. Beijing Leitingwuji is owned by Solina Chau, a longtime business associate of Mr. Li. She also owns 24.6% of Tom Group. Tom Group agreed to pay as much as US$150 million in a mixture of shares and cash for Beijing Leitingwuji, depending on how the acquisition performs this year. Revenue from IVR services was US$3.2 million last year, according to the company.
However, the service is still new and Tom Online's first-mover advantage is minimal, says DBS Vickers analyst Wallace Cheung. China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd., has granted more IVR licenses to other providers since Tom Online launched the service last May. "It's almost as if everybody is starting from the first position," says Mr. Cheung. When Tom Online started offering the service last year there were only five content providers supplying China Mobile; now there are more than 20.
Tom Online has the backing of Mr. Li's Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd., though, which collectively own almost 40% of the parent company.
Tom Online's strategy, according to CEO Wang Lei Lei, sounds much like its parent -- buying growth through acquisitions. In an online-video presentation, Mr. Wang said half of the IPO proceeds will be used for acquisitions to build up its online content and existing services.
Some speculate that even for a company that often follows the market trends, that might be sufficient. "They're not being very original," says Napoleon Biggs, analyst at Internet consultancy firm WebGuruAsia, but "they're agile enough to buy the hottest thing."
Tom Online难现母公司风光
四年前，当科技股狂潮已近强弩之末的时候，李嘉诚(Li Ka-shing)的互联网公司Tom.com的首次公开募股(IPO)盛况空前，不得不动用警方来控制蜂拥认购的人群。此次IPO获得了高达670倍的超额认购，是香港股市有史以来最热门的IPO之一，而且其股价在上市交易的前几个月中一路飙升。
如今，Tom Online将从TOM集团(Tom Group, 原名为Tom.com)中分拆出来赴那斯达克上市。与此同时，该公司本周四也将在在香港创业板市场上市，每股的发行价为1.50港元（19美分）。
但是，不要指望它会再现昔日的辉煌。上周由10%增至20%的香港股份公开发售部分获得了100倍的超额认购。也没有人预计，这只新股能够重现2000年其母公司上市之初的惊人涨幅。
虽然，新实体Tom Online在很多方面与其2000年上市的母公司Tom.com十分相像，但此后的情形已经大为改观。起初的Tom.com没有明确的收入渠道或商业计划，而现在，公司管理层夸口说，无线内容、网络广告等领域都是新的Tom Online的收入来源。虽然不是一个领导者，但公司已经成为中国欣欣向荣的互联网领域中的一支生力军。
正如此次上市较上次更脚踏实地一样，投资者似乎也比以前谨慎了许多。虽说此次IPO的需求依然强劲，但远不及香港股市最近其他一些IPO获数百倍超额认购的盛况（一只新股甚至获得了1,000多倍的超额认购）。预计此次IPO将筹资1.95亿美元。
当然，买入Tom.com股份的投资者经历了股价大起大落的洗礼。2000年3月，该股由1.78港元的IPO价格飙升至14.30港元，公司市值跃升至390亿港元以上。就连公司的行政总裁王□(Sing Wang)如今也承认，如此高的市值没有基本面支撑。不过，这种局面并不持久。该股在2002年10月10日创下了1.42港元的最低点。
公司2000年公布亏损12亿港元，到2002年收窄至4.1亿港元。
Tom集团推进商业计划的路途也是波澜起伏。管理层利用IPO筹得的资金收购了30多家不同的业务，覆盖从户外广告到杂志出版等多个领域。
王□称，由于互联网业务在创立之初收入可谓微乎其微，积极的收购是保持公司股价的一个必要策略。公司的进步是一个不断尝试、反复纠错的过程。他将此与美国在线(America Online Inc.)和时代华纳(Time Warner Inc.)合并创立的美国媒体巨头做了一个比较。
王□称，"我并不想夸口说购买传统媒体的Tom.com就像当年发起收购时代华纳的AOL前董事长史提夫?凯斯(Steve Case)所做的那样，但其中的真谛是一致的。
Tom集团在对不同收购的整合方面小有成绩。去年，该公司公布第二财政季度净利润1,020万港元，为有史以来的首次季度盈利，而上年同期为亏损4,300万港元。公司第三财季利润为1,850万港元。它将于下周公布第四财季业绩。
谈及公司最初意欲争当网络业领头羊的野心，王□称，"我们希望在互联网领域取得成功，但该领域的成熟尚待时日。"
现在，许多人认为，中国互联网行业的春天已经到来。自2002年以来，中国三大门户网站搜狐(Sohu.com)、新浪(Sina.com)和网易(Netease)都已开始盈利。不计其数的小规模互联网内容公司也正在崛起。例如，诺盛电信咨询(Norson Telecom Consulting)的资料显示，预计2004年中国无线增值服务市场的规模约为人民币260亿元（31.4亿美元），高于2002年的10亿元。互联网门户已经使手机短信等无线服务成为一项盈利颇丰的业务。
形势的好转正是促使Tom集团管理层将互联网资产再次分拆上市的原因所在。中国大陆业务占该公司业务的绝大部分。Tom Online 2003年实现净利润1.538亿港元，2002年为净亏损6,500万港元。
不过，咨询公司BDAChina的资料显示，Tom Online一直是网络广告等主要互联网业务领域的二线公司。该公司在2001年7月推出了其中文互联网门户网站，比中国的主要竞争对手晚了三年多。而在中国迅速扩张的网络游戏市场，它也是起步甚晚，直到去年年底才推出了第一个网络游戏。这一市场的规模估计在20亿元。
未来还有一个领域有待开拓：语音互动服务(Interactive Voice Response，IVR)。这是一种有关气候、运程、金融和约会等信息的订制服务。去年11月，Tom集团收购了占据IVR市场逾半数占有率的北京雷霆无极网络科技有限公司(Beijing Leitingwuji Network Technology)。后者由李嘉诚的长期商业伙伴周凯旋(Solina Chau)所有，她还拥有Tom集团24.6%的股份。Tom集团同意最多支付1.5亿美元的股票和现金，具体金额取决于今年雷霆无极的业绩状况。
但是，DBS Vickers分析师Wallace Cheung称，这项服务仍是一个崭新的领域，Tom Online作为领跑者的优势微乎其微。自从Tom Online去年5月推出这项服务以来，中国移动（香港）有限公司(China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd.)已经向其他供应商发放了更多的IVR牌照。当Tom Online去年首推这项服务之际，中国移动的内容提供商只有5家，而现在已经超过20家。
不过，Tom Online背后拥有李嘉诚的和记黄埔(Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.)和长江实业(Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd.)的支持，这两家公司总共拥有Tom集团近40%的股份。
Tom Online行政总裁王雷雷称，该公司的策略和其母公司大致相同，那就是通过收购实现增长。他在一个网上视频介绍会上称，IPO的半数收益将用于收购，以增强其网上内容和现有服务。
一些人猜测，即使对一家常常随市场趋势而动的公司来说，这种策略也已经足够了。互联网咨询公司WebGuruAsia的分析师比格斯(Napoleon Biggs)称，Tom Online在新领域不具有特长，但它灵活应变，通过收购时下最热门的东西来促进发展
