"China's no.1 e-sports stock" was officially born!

On the evening of July 26, 2024 Beijing time, Xing Jingweiwu (NIPG.US) was successfully listed on the NASDAQ with an issue price of $9/ADS. The opening price rose more than 45% at one point, and the highest reported $13.12. The stock price fell back during the day, but still closed above the issue price at $9.02. It is worth noting that Ho Yau-jun, the son of Stanley Ho, held 14.2% of Xing Jingweiwu's shares and is the chairman and co-CEO of Xing Jingweiwu Group. This successful listing of Xing Jingweiwu also made the 29-year-old Ho Yau-jun the youngest founder of a NASDAQ listed company in Asia.

It is worth noting that Ho Yau-jun, the son of Stanley Ho, held 14.2% of Xing Jingweiwu's shares and is the chairman and co-CEO of Xing Jingweiwu Group. This successful listing of Xing Jingweiwu also made the 29-year-old Ho Yau-jun the youngest founder of a NASDAQ listed company in Asia.

Reviewing the performance of e-sports companies in the global capital market, most of them did not perform well. E-sports companies such as Astralis and Faze Clan went directly to the delisting step because they did not achieve sustainable revenue growth and were unable to break out of the profitability predicament.

The successful IPO is a new beginning in the development history of Xing Jingweiwu, and it is also a new beginning for the capital market to test it. It is not yet known whether it can take a different path from past e-sports companies' endings, but from the development trend of the industry and the company's own development, we can see that the e-sports industry that has entered the new stage may provide a new opportunity for Xing Jingweiwu to "show its skills".

In terms of the industry, encouraged and supported by policies of various countries, e-sports has evolved from a niche entertainment to a global sports and cultural phenomenon. According to Frost & Sullivan, as early as 2021, the global e-sports audience had surpassed 500 million, and the size of the global e-sports industry reached $52.6 billion that year. In 2023, e-sports made its debut as an official medal event at the Hangzhou Asian Games, further expanding the public's recognition of e-sports.

By 2025, e-sports is expected to accelerate its breakthrough, cover more global audiences, and promote the development of the industry faster. This is because e-sports has boarded the "Olympic" stage with a century-old IP. On July 23, the International Olympic Committee passed a proposal at its 142nd plenary session in Paris, France, to hold the first Olympic e-sports event in Saudi Arabia in 2025.

This means that with the help of the "Olympic Games" a century-old IP, the global recognition of e-sports will reach its highest level in history. This will be a milestone event in the development history of the e-sports industry and will have significant implications for the future development of the industry. It will also be a great opportunity for Xing Jingweiwu, the first listed company on the capital market.

Whether to seize this opportunity still depends on Xing Jingweiwu's business layout. Through the prospectus, it can be found that Xing Jingweiwu is no longer a simple e-sports company. Started with e-sports, Xing Jingweiwu has achieved diversified commercialization and global business layout.

In terms of commercialization, Xing Jingweiwu has achieved parallel development of multiple businesses such as e-sports, event activities, and talent brokerage, becoming a comprehensive digital sports group. In 2023, the revenue of club operations, talent brokerage, and event activities accounted for 25.9%, 62.9%, and 11.2%, respectively. Talent brokerage and event activities have become the new growth poles of Xing Jingweiwu's revenue, driving it to achieve rapid growth. Its total revenue increased by 27.09% to $83.668 million in 2023, breaking the plight of e-sports enterprises' difficult monetization.

Moreover, under the diversified business layout, Xing Jingweiwu has shown obvious profit potential although it has not yet profitable. In 2022 and 2023, Xing Jingweiwu's EBITDA profitability rate was adjusted to -1.0% and -2.1%, respectively, which is only one step away from profitability. This is a profit height that no listed e-sports company has achieved in the past. If Xing Jingweiwu can successfully achieve profitability in the future, it may further boost its valuation level in the capital market.

In terms of globalization, through the acquisition of NIP club, Xing Jingweiwu's business covers Asia, Europe, South America and other regions, and has home stadiums in Wuhan and Shenzhen, and regional offices in Stockholm, Shanghai and Sao Paulo. Its obvious advantage in globalization may provide possibilities for Xing Jingweiwu to share the global e-sports market.

Obviously, Star Esports' capabilities have shown significant differences from previously listed esports companies in terms of company positioning, business layout, and profitability. It is also accelerating the promotion of the "esports+" business model, hoping to further explore opportunities in the fields of esports education and training, community marketing, esports complexes and IP authorization, so as to achieve diversified monetization acceleration. Whether it can friction more sparks with the industrial opportunities of esports entering the Olympic Games in 2025 may be the key factor in determining Star Esports' direction in the capital markets. Time will eventually reveal the mystery to us.