Dangdang CEO's Tweets Of Rage
E-Commerce China Dangdang Chief Executive Guoqing Li lost his temper Sunday on China’s biggest Twitter-like microblogging service, Sina Weibo, accusing Morgan Stanley of undervaluing his company’s initial public offering and exchanging outrageously off-color insults with a user who claimed to work for the financial services firm.
“I am here openly criticizing investment banks, criticizing Morgan Stanley, what, Morgan Stanley can’t be criticized? Not be cursed? You foreigners’ flunky!” he said on microblogging service Sina Weibo to a user going by the name Mishi De Weiyi, whose profile listed Morgan Stanley as her employer.
Dangdang, often likened to Amazon.com, is an online bookseller looking to expand its product range to fuel growth. It sold $272 million of shares in its IPO, including more than $56 million sold by Mr. Li and other existing shareholders, before listing on the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 8. Morgan Stanley was a lead underwriter. Dangdang’s American depositary shares recently traded at $33.86, versus their IPO price of $16.00.