This upstart Chinese brokerage is now bigger than Credit Suisse

East Money Information, founded by a 49-year-old former stock commentator, is one of the big winners in China’s wildest stock frenzy in half a decade.

Shares in the online broker and market data provider have rocketed 78 per cent this year, giving it a market value of more than 200 billion yuan ($29 billion). That puts it among the world’s biggest traded institutional brokers, making it more valuable than even Credit Suisse, according to the Bloomberg data.

Its founder, a former analyst and columnist who goes by his pen name, Qi Shi, has become very rich. After starting the firm in 2005 as Shanghai Dong Cai Information Tech, his 21 per cent stake is now worth $6.2 billion. East Money has found a sweet spot with tech-savvy youth as millions, stuck at home amid the coronavirus, turned to stock trading. Its revenue swelled 67 per cent in the first half of 2020 and its net income more than doubled.