Gizmodo is not an international finance blog, so I can’t really tell you how unprecedented this is for the IPO of a Hangzhou, China-based company debuting on Shanghai’s STAR Market, but Unitree’s stock just skyrocketed by 629% on its first day of trading, according to Bloomberg.
It probably doesn’t hurt that, as we noted Monday, the company just unveiled a humanoid robot that’s faster than Usain Bolt, even if it moves like Shaggy trying to outrun a man in a gorilla suit:
The IPO price was 150.8 yuan, and it spiked to 1,100 yuan during trading.
That’s a big price pop by any standard. I’m familiar with one comparable story: the IPO of the Linux-friendly hardware company VA Linux, which shot up 698% on its first day in 1999. And that was at the height of the dot-com craze. VA Linux has changed names a few times, and is now—speaking of price pops—owned by GameStop. This all might be worth keeping in mind if you’re Unitree, but oh well. Enjoy your big day!
