After only one year of being listed, Geely plans to privatize ZEEKR, Li Shufu: "Return to a Geely"

Geely has unveiled a major plan to privatize ZEEKR just one year after its listing, further integrating its automotive brands.

On May 7, Geely Automobile announced that on May 7, 2025, it submitted a non-binding offer letter to ZEEKR, proposing to privatize ZEEKR and acquire all issued and outstanding ZEEKR shares and American Depositary Shares. The proposed purchase price is $2.57 per ZEEKR share or $25.66 per American Depositary Share. This price is nearly flat compared to ZEEKR's current price, and ZEEKR surged over 10% at the opening of U.S. stocks today.

As of the announcement date, Geely Automobile holds approximately 65.7% of ZEEKR's issued and outstanding capital. If the privatization proposal is implemented and completed, ZEEKR will become a wholly-owned subsidiary, achieving privatization and delisting from the New York Stock Exchange.

It is worth mentioning that ZEEKR has only been listed on the New York Stock Exchange for one year, and this move has attracted market attention. In the past six months, an increasing number of Geely subsidiaries or sub-brands, such as Geometry, Lynk & Co, Yizhen, and Radar, have been merged.

In response, Li Shufu, Chairman of Geely Holding Group, stated:

Faced with fierce market competition and an increasingly complex economic environment, we will assess the situation, and in accordance with the spirit of the "Taizhou Declaration," continue to promote the integration of automotive businesses, return to a unified Geely, integrate technological advantages, enhance innovation capabilities and profitability, continuously create long-term value, and build a globally leading intelligent electric vehicle group.

ZEEKR listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2024, only one year after its IPO

ZEEKR is a high-end new energy brand established by Geely Holding in March 2021. By April 2025, ZEEKR Technology Group's total sales reached 41,300 units, a year-on-year increase of 18.7%, with ZEEKR brand sales at 13,700 units.

On May 10, 2024, ZEEKR officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock code "ZK." According to ZEEKR Technology Group's annual report, the company's total operating revenue for the entire year of 2024 was 75.913 billion yuan (approximately $10.4 billion), a year-on-year increase of 46.9%; fourth-quarter revenue was 22.778 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 39.2%; the gross profit margin for the entire vehicle sales for the year increased to 15.6%, reaching 17.3% in the fourth quarter. The company reported a net loss of 5.791 billion yuan for the year, a year-on-year decrease of 29.9%; the net loss for the fourth quarter was 821 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 72.1% and a quarter-on-quarter decrease of 28.0%.

CICC analyzed that ZEEKR's revenue and delivery volume in 2024 showed significant growth, losses narrowed, and gross margins improved. The launch of new models Zeekr 7X and Zeekr 007GT is expected to drive continued growth. Technology-driven ecological synergy and global layout enhance its market competitiveness. Risks for the company include new model ramp-up not meeting expectations, autonomous driving development not meeting expectations, and intensified industry competition.

This acquisition had been anticipated; previously, on November 14, 2024, Geely Holding announced the transfer of its 11.3% stake in ZEEKR to Geely Automobile. This transaction removed ZEEKR from Geely Holding's direct control, making it a subsidiary controlled by Geely Automobile.

Promoting automotive brand integration, "returning to a unified Geely"

Geely responded that the proposal to privatize ZEEKR is aimed at "focusing on the main automotive business and returning to a unified Geely." On September 20 last year, Li Shufu released the "Taizhou Declaration," proposing five major measures: "strategic focus, strategic integration, strategic synergy, strategic stability, and strategic talent." Among them, the requirement for "strategic integration" is: to comprehensively sort out Geely's various business segments, clarify business positioning, adjust and optimize industrial layout structure, further clarify brand positioning, streamline equity relationships, and reduce conflicts of interest and duplicate investments...

According to the "Taizhou Declaration," Geely Automobile Group will integrate Geely, Geely Galaxy, Radar, and Yizhen, targeting the mainstream market and accelerating the transition to new energy. Meanwhile, ZEEKR Technology Group will integrate Lynk & Co and ZEEKR to form a globally leading high-end luxury new energy vehicle group. In the future, Geely will continue to focus on its core automotive business, promoting the transformation towards electrification, intelligence, connectivity, and sharing.

Before the adjustment, the entire Geely system had as many as 14 automotive brands, such as Geely, Geometry, Lynk & Co, ZEEKR, Volvo, Polestar, Lotus, smart, and Radar. Some are self-produced, while others are obtained through acquisitions or shareholding.

On November 14, 2024, Geely announced the merger plan for Lynk & Co and ZEEKR. By February 14 this year, ZEEKR and Lynk & Co completed the equity transfer, officially establishing ZEEKR Technology Group, with ZEEKR holding 51% of Lynk & Co's shares.

At the same time, more and more Geely subsidiaries and sub-brands have disappeared from Geely's "relationship map." Over the past six months, subsidiaries or sub-brands such as Geometry, Lynk & Co, Yizhen, and Radar have been merged.

An article by "Prism" analyzes that the new energy market is approaching saturation, and the shift of enterprises from pursuing scale to pursuing profit is the internal logic of this major internal integration.