On September 15, Beijing time, local time on Thursday, ARM, a British chip design company owned by SoftBank Group, officially landed on Nasdaq, raising US$4.87 billion, setting the largest listing transaction this year. As of Thursday's close, ARM's stock price surged 25% on its first day of listing, which not only boosted the stock market but also made SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son a huge profit.
ARM opened at $56.10 on Thursday, up 10% from the issue price of $51, and continued to rise during the session, with a maximum increase of 30%. As of Thursday's close, ARM's share price finally rose by $12.59 to close at $63.59, an increase of 24.69%, with a market value of $65.2 billion. If you include restricted stock units, ARM's fully diluted market value is nearly $68 billion.
ARM surged 24.69% on the first day
The success of ARM on its first day of listing also verified Son’s judgment. According to reports, at the last IPO meeting held on Wednesday, some bankers and SoftBank executives had suggested setting the IPO price at US$52 per share, which was higher than the previously established issue price range of US$47 to US$51, which could raise nearly US$100 million more. However, Son believes that it is not worth the risk of going public for the additional income of about US$100 million. In the end, SoftBank determined ARM’s issuance price as the upper limit of the issuance price range, which is US$51.
SoftBank holds approximately 90% of ARM shares. As ARM's stock price rose on Thursday, the value of SoftBank's ARM shares increased by approximately US$12 billion (approximately 87.3 billion yuan). ARM's listing has also become the largest IPO in the United States since the electric vehicle startup Rivian went public in October 2021 to raise US$13.7 billion. It also surpassed the $4.37 billion raised by Johnson & Johnson's wholly-owned consumer health subsidiary Kenvue in its listing in May this year, becoming the largest listing so far this year.