Brief stock market intermezzo: Geely takes Zeekr fully private again
Geely has taken Zeekr private from the New York Stock Exchange after just eighteen months. Zeekr’s IPO in May 2024 was impressive: the brand raised $441 million at the time and was valued at approximately $6.8 billion. The parent company retained control with 62.8% of the shares and officially announced last summer its intention to fully reintegrate Zeekr. Geely subsequently offered $2.4 billion for the outstanding shares after shareholders rejected a previous bid of $2.2 billion. The revised offer was ultimately accepted. Geely merged Zeekr with its subsidiary Keystone Mergersub Limited, bringing the brand fully back under its umbrella. In addition to economic reasons, geopolitical tensions between the US and China likely influenced this decision.
However, there is more to the story: Geely Holding has been restructuring its assets since last year to avoid cannibalisation effects among its numerous subsidiaries. The group includes well-known brands such as Volvo, Polestar and Lotus. Through a joint venture with Mercedes-Benz, Geely also owns half of Smart. The Chinese automotive group has repeatedly stated its aim to better leverage internal synergies and reduce costs overall. Even before announcing the delisting last summer, Geely had begun reorganising its brand portfolio. For instance, Volvo Cars transferred its 30% stake in Lynk & Co. to Zeekr internally. Geely also divested further shares, resulting in Zeekr becoming the majority owner of Lynk & Co. with 51% as of February 2025. Geely retains the remaining 49%.
Founded in 2021, the Zeekr brand is positioned within the Geely universe as a premium battery-electric vehicle marque, directly competing with domestic rivals such as Tesla, Nio and Xpeng. It also aims to challenge European premium brands and US companies like Lucid and Tesla. From the outset, Zeekr has focused on innovative technologies such as solid-state batteries, software-defined vehicles and autonomous driving functions. Its model range includes the Zeekr 001 and the Zeekr 7X. In its latest statement, the Zeekr Group stated its ambition to create a “fully integrated user ecosystem” through its two brands, Lynk & Co and Zeekr, encompassing proprietary software systems and electric powertrains.
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