On June 17, without warning, Zhou Hongyi, chairman of 360, issued an internal letter announcing that 360 would be delisted from Nasdaq privatization.

It is understood that 360’s board of directors has received preliminary non-binding acquisition letters from the company’s chairman and CEO Zhou Hongyi, CITIC Securities or its subsidiaries, GoldenBrick Capital Private Equity Fund, China Renaissance or its subsidiaries and Sequoia Capital China or its subsidiaries to acquire the company.

The Company owns all outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock that are not held by them or their subsidiaries.

Zhou Hongyi revealed in an internal email that privatization is a prudent decision made by 360 after repeatedly considering the current global and Chinese capital market environment. It is also an important step to accelerate the comprehensive upgrade of the business and expand the business development space.

To this end, 360's board of directors will establish a special committee composed of independent directors to evaluate the offer, and the special committee will hire independent financial and legal advisors to help evaluate the offer.

After the news was announced, Qihoo 360's stock price surged 12.13% before the market closed at $74.06.

It is worth pondering that Zhou Hongyi said in an internal letter, "These developments are inseparable from the support of the international capital market. 360 people also uphold a grateful heart, use our unique fighting spirit, continue to innovate, and achieve rapid performance with

Growth has rewarded the international capital market. However, many of us believe that 360’s current market value of US$8 billion does not fully reflect the company’s value.” Obviously, although 360 has made frequent moves since 2014 – 400 million.

US dollars were invested in Coolpad, and RMB 200 million was invested in Leiding, but it still did not trigger the return of the stock price that had been cut in half.

You know, before 2014, 360 exceeded the valuation of US$10 billion with 100% annual profit. At that time, it ranked third (Alibaba has not yet been listed).

Therefore, after 360 announced the privatization, someone joked in the circle of friends, "After 360's unremitting efforts, privatization may be the only chance to wake up the stock price." So far, affected by the privatization, 360's stock price has risen sharply.

11%, and that’s just the beginning.

Although the ridicule in the circle of friends lacks kindness, Zhou Hongyi does deserve to be angry.

Because whether it is compared with its rival Xiaomi, or compared with the current A-share darlings LeTV and Baofeng Video, 360 never thinks, "Where are they stronger?" because they simply do not believe that Xiaomi, LeTV,

Baofengyingyin is better than them.

Regarding privatization, Zhou Hongyi first expressed his position in 2011.

At that time, the short-selling agency Citron issued multiple short-selling reports on 360.

At that time, Zhou Hongyi told reporters that he did not understand the phenomenon of privatization of Chinese concept stocks.

He believes that listed companies have greater transparency. In addition to enjoying huge returns from foreign capital markets and shareholders, they should accept the assessment of the capital market and bear the fluctuations in market value.

Zhou Hongyi emphasized that Qihoo 360 will stick to the road to listing.

But now, Qihoo 360’s attitude towards privatization has undergone a huge change.

In addition, Qihoo's board of directors reminds the company's shareholders and other investors considering trading the company's shares that the company has only received this non-binding privatization proposal and has not yet made any decision.

There is no guarantee that a buyer will make a final formal offer, or that any future transaction will be concluded.

Zhou Hongyi said that 360’s operating income in 2014 was equivalent to more than 8.6 billion yuan, and its net profit exceeded 2.1 billion yuan.

At the end of 2014, the company's total assets reached 20.6 billion yuan and cash exceeded 10 billion yuan. The overall financial situation is very healthy.

Privatization is an inevitable choice to maximize the value of 360 Company.

But now, the privatization of Chinese concept stocks is not an isolated case. In addition to Baofeng Technology, which has recently been popular in A-shares, Mindray Medical, Jiayuan, Renren, etc. listed in the United States have also chosen to go private.

Wang Ran, founder of Yikai Capital, also said that it is inevitable for most Internet companies to return to A-shares. There are four Internet companies that are more suitable for listing abroad: First, there are very good benchmark companies abroad, such as Didi and Kuaiyi

There is the benchmark company Uber; second, the market value is large enough. For example, companies with a market value of hundreds of billions like Alibaba will choose to list in the United States when they reach a certain size in today's market environment; companies that cannot be listed in China due to clear national industrial policies

, such as gambling, although it may be "worse than death" in the United States due to the uncertainty of relevant domestic policies, at least there is a chance to be listed abroad; the fourth type is judgment made for personal reasons.

"It is inevitable for the vast majority of people to come back." Wang Ran judged, but he also said that everyone coming back is not rushing to list on the GEM, but in two directions - "New Third Board and A-share mergers and acquisitions or backdoors." Previously, Baofeng Technology CEO

Feng Xin also said that returning Internet companies to A shares is an irreversible process.

"My advice to them is to come back even if they are beaten to death. 99% of the companies listed in the United States and Hong Kong (China) have lost money." In fact, the huge difference in corporate valuations in domestic and foreign capital markets is considered to be the reason for this round.

The driving force behind the delisting of Chinese concept stocks.

A report from Zero2IPO Research Center shows that valuations of Chinese concept stocks are still generally low, but the performance of many Chinese concept stocks has shown rapid growth, which is in sharp contrast to their stock price performance.