Wednesday Jul.07, 2021

🛑 Didi's post-IPO blocker

_When the party takes a turn for the worse [fstop123/E+ via GettyImages]_
_When the party takes a turn for the worse [fstop123/E+ via GettyImages]_

Hey Snackers,

The French are unimpressed with a new Russian law, which states that only Russian sparkling wine can be called "champagne." Now, Moet is suspending champagne shipments to Russia. You get what you Putin.

Stocks dipped after the long weekend, pulling back from last week’s record highs.

Blocked

Didi's mega IPO party gets cut short, as China blocks app downloads and signups

Cancel the IPO honeymoon... Celebrations didn't last long for Didi Chuxing. Last week, the Chinese ride-hail giant raised $4.4B in the largest US IPO of the year — and the biggest IPO by a Chinese company since ecomm giant Alibaba in 2014. Didi notched a $68B market cap on its first trading day (two-thirds of an Uber). But that's how it started.

  • How it's going: Not well. Over the weekend, Chinese regulators ordered Didi to stop adding users and told app-store operators like Apple to take down Didi’s China service.
  • Why: China's explanation was vague, but regulators said Didi collected personal info “in violation” of the country's rules. Now, China is carrying out a cybersecurity review.
  • Didi's stock plunged 20% yesterday. BTW: two other recently IPO’d Chinese companies, Full Truck Alliance and Kanzhun, are facing the same restrictions.

Control > success... Five years ago, China might've hailed Didi's blockbuster IPO as a source of national pride. This year, China is driving the flops of its own biggest IPOs as it reminds tech companies who's in charge:

  • Strike 1: The infamous Ant Group squashing. China halted the fintech giant's mega-IPO, and pressured it to restructure its biz.
  • Strike 2: China ordered 34 of the country's largest tech cos, including TikTok-owner ByteDance, to comply with anti-monopoly laws or face “severe punishment."
  • Strike 3: China's antitrust regulator slapped Alibaba with a record-breaking $2.8B fine.

The theme has shifted for investors... It used to be: "Invest in China's growth opportunity." Now it's more like: "Invest in China at your own risk." Didi warned of this risk in its IPO filing, saying that if the Chinese government changes its interpretation of regulations or finds that Didi isn't compliant, the company could face "severe penalties." Zooming out, investors' opportunity is the growing size of China’s consumer market. The risk is the Chinese government's growing oversight.

Curve

Torrid's hot IPO: how the plus-size retailer is tapping into a major, underserved market

All about that CURV... Torrid is the largest direct-to-consumer brand of women’s plus-size clothing in North America. You might remember it as a sub-brand of Hot Topic (RIP studded belts). Six years after breaking up with checkered skinny jeans, Torrid has its own hot topic: a successful IPO. Torrid stock has jumped 15% since its NYSE debut last week — ticker symbol: CURV.

  • The profile: Torrid defines its style as "unapologetically youthful and sexy," and is "maniacally" focused on fit.
  • The numbers: Nearly $1B in sales last year, and it's profitable. But its profit has been roughly halving each year since 2018.
  • The source: Online sales made up 70% of Torrid's revenue last year while its 600+ stores were temporarily closed.

Don't curve your enthusiasm... The plus-sized market is significant, and it's growing. In the US, it serves a whopping 90M women wearing sizes 10 and up. Torrid says many brands treat plus-size customers as an afterthought, which is why the market has been underserved. Torrid's biggest strength: putting that customer base front-and-center.

Torrid turned fit into a brand... and won strong customer loyalty. 78% of plus-size women say they would spend more on clothes if they had more options available in their size. Urban Outfitter's blind spot is Torrid's super power: Last year, Torrid had an 82% customer retention rate. By dedicating itself to the needs of a broad, unsaturated market, Torrid is tapping into a key opportunity.

What else we’re Snackin’

  • Mutate: Pfizer's vaccine was found to be less effective against the Covid Delta variant, while cases are rising among the unvaxed.
  • JK: The Pentagon is canceling the $10B JEDI cloud contract that Microsoft won — and Amazon fought over.
  • Crypto: SEC Chairman Gary Gensler told lawmakers that investor protection rules should apply to crypto exchanges, too.
  • Ransomware: Hundreds of businesses were hit with a cyberattack that may be the work of Russia-based hacking group "REvil" (the same one behind the JBS meat hack).
  • SPAC: Nextdoor is going public through a SPAC merger that values the neighborhood social network at $4.3B.
  • Roborito: Grubhub plans to use self-driving robots to deliver food at college campuses this fall.

Wednesday

  • Earnings expected from WD-40

Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Apple

ID: 1711349

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