SHARES of gaming giant Tencent-backed online insurance technology firm Waterdrop Inc. tumbled 14.5 percent in their New York debut Friday. American depositary shares of the Beijing-based company opened at US$10.25, before recovering to US$11.50. The shares were priced at US$12 apiece in the initial public offering (IPO), raising US$360 million through the stock sale. Waterdrop’s founder and chief executive officer said the company would focus more on user growth than on profit in the short term. The firm aims to be China’s version of UnitedHealth Group in a decade and has no plan to revive its once popular mutual aid service, Shen Peng said. The loss-making company will focus until 2025 on growing its online insurance business in China, and would like to expand further into health care businesses in 10 years’ time in the country, Shen said. UnitedHealth is the biggest U.S. health insurer. “Currently, becoming profitable is not our priority,” said Shen, adding that growth and serving more users was more important in the short term. Waterdrop doesn’t plan to restore its mutual aid service, which was shut down in March and had provided 80 million users with shared basic health plan covering critical illnesses, as Shen believes such services are out of fashion and cost-effective insurance policies underwritten by insurance carriers will prevail in China’s lower-tier cities. (SD-Agencies) |