Shanghai-based Hurun publishing group estimated that Huawei, which it calls the most valuable consumer electronics company in China, is worth $160 billion in its first-ever report ranking the country’s consumer electronics companies published on Monday.
Why it matters: Assessing Huawei’s value is difficult because the company is not publicly traded. The report offers a glimpse of the mysterious company’s overall size and how its value has been impacted by US sanctions aiming to cut it off from the global semiconductor supply chain.
Details: Hurun said in a report (in Chinese) Monday that Huawei was valued at RMB 1.1 trillion (around $160 billion), ranking it as the most valuable consumer electronics company in mainland China.
- Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun’s chairman and chief researcher, said in the report that Huawei’s valuation shrank from RMB 1.2 trillion last year to RMB 1.1 trillion this year because of US sanctions.
- The valuations were calculated by share prices as of market close on Sept. 30 for publicly traded entities, or estimated based on similar public companies if they were unlisted, according to Hurun.
- Trailing Huawei are Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi, valued at RMB 434 billion; Vivo, worth RMB 175 billion; and Oppo at RMB 170 billion.
- Huawei declined to comment on the valuation.
Context: Though not listed, Huawei releases reports about its quarterly and annual earnings. In July, the company said its revenue for the first six months of the year grew 13.1% year on year to RMB 454 billion.
- Huawei maintains that it is a private company 100% owned by its employees. The company had issued virtual shares to some 104,572 employees as of end-2019, including company founder and chairman and chief executive Ren Zhengfei, who held 1.04% of Huawei’s total shares, the company said in its 2019 annual report (in Chinese).
- The South China Morning Post said in a report in September that each virtual share of Huawei was valued at RMB 7.85 in 2019.