Vietnamese unicorn VNG to list shares on UPCoM at about $10 apiece

On the first trading day, the reference price is VND240,000 ($10) per share. The market capitalization of VNG hits VND8,592 billion (equivalent to $363 million) if computed at current pricing. Interestingly, this cost is far less than the Vietnamese "unicorn's" prior billion-dollar value.

According to World Startup Report, VNG was valued at $1 billion in 2014 and became Vietnam's first unicorn.

During that time, VNG sold 355,820 Treasury Shares to Seletar Investments, a Singaporean government-run investment firm, for VND1,861,800 per share (equivalent to less than $100 at that time)

Following the transaction, Seletar now owns 1.74 million shares or 6.35% of the voting shares in VNG. The acquisition price of Seletar is greater than two times the company's 2014 estimate of $1 billion and equal to VNG's current worth of approximately VND51,000 trillion (about $2.2 billion).

As of 2019, VNG had a much larger market capitalization than FPT, the largest technological firm listed on the stock exchange, which was valued at just VND27,200 billion (around 1$ billion) 

However, despite a dramatic fall in the company's profitability, VNG is valued favorably compared to FPT, whose profits have increased consistently over time. Only VND347 billion ($14 million) was made after taxes by VNG in 2018, a 64% decrease from the previous year.