Bum-seok Kim, Chairman of Coupang’s Board of Directors, is posing in front of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on the 11th (local time) ahead of listing. Photo = AP
It was found that Korean investors started net selling after 5 trading days of Coupang listing. The interest of investors, who had net purchases of nearly 100 billion won for 4 consecutive trading days, has rapidly declined. One of the reasons for the sharp decline in the investment fever in Coupang was the news of the sale of 1.2 million shares by Coupang Chairman Kim Bum-seok. But there are many misunderstandings. This is because it is in a completely different context from some cases in Korea where the company’s representative sold a stake in order to realize a profit.
According to the Korea Securities Depository on the 23rd, Korean investors net sold Coupang worth about 800 million won on the 17th. KSD statistics take 3 trading days after the transaction to reflect the statistics. From the 11th to the 16th, when Coupang was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Korean investors net bought 88.1 million dollars (approximately 99.3 billion won). During this period, it ranked first in net buying among overseas stocks.
However, it switched to net selling after 5 trading days. On the 16th, the announcement that Chairman Bum-seok Kim sold 1.2 million shares was largely affected. In general, this is because the CEO’s selling of its own stock is considered a bad news in Korea. Among investors, voices of criticism broke out, saying, “Chairman Kim turned his back on investors to make profits” and “Is it a rocket?”
The securities industry explains that it is close to a misunderstanding stemming from the characteristics of the US public offering market. On the 16th, the US Securities and Exchange Commission announced that Chairman Kim sold 1.2 million Class A shares for $35 per share on the 15th. Because the transaction date is listed as the 15th, investors and most of the media accepted the sale on the 15th. This is the background of the criticism that it was selling after the listing price soared. However, this does not mean the date of the actual transaction, but the date when the electronic report processing is completed.
In fact, the 1.2 million shares sold by Chairman Kim are part of Coupang’s 20 million shares in European stocks prepared for the public offering. Old stock sales refers to the sale of stocks of existing shareholders. This sales of old stocks is not sold on the market after listing, but is included in the number of shares publicly available. In the process of listing, Coupang raised a total of 120 million shares, including 100 million new shares and 20 million old shares. Since Chairman Kim’s 1.2 million shares were in public offerings, it is no different from selling them before listing. It means that no transaction was made on the 15th. This is why Chairman Kim’s selling price was disclosed at $35 even though Coupang’s lowest trading price on the 15th, known as the trading day, was $49.02.
Experts explain that such sales of the old stocks are far from realizing the profits of the CEO. In the U.S. public offering market, companies often include the representative’s old stock in the public offering stock in order to increase the size of the public offering so as to activate transactions. An official in the securities industry said, “Chairman Kim’s selling of 1.2 million shares is a way to revitalize trading, and this is the same practice in the US public offering market.” Will you sell it?” he explained. In fact, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg also released 30 million shares as European sales in the process of public offering. Brian Cesky, Airbnb’s chief executive officer, sold 630,000 shares in the same way.
However, over the stock price level of Coupang, controversy over the overvaluation remains in the securities industry. Park Jong-dae, a researcher at Hana Financial Investment, said, “As Coupang received a high valuation while listing, growth stocks are constantly being adjusted in a swaying phase.” “I advised.
Reporter Go Yoon-sang [email protected]
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