Construction Industry News
The founder and chief executive officer of One 97 Communications Ltd. compared his company to Tesla Inc. -- drawing parallels between himself and Elon Musk by extension -- after the Indian payments startup took a brutal plunge the first day after its first public offering .
Vijay Shekhar Sharma held a four-hour town hall to gather workers who had seen the company's shares plunge 27% on Thursday, according to people in attendance. The 43-year-old encouraged them to look beyond the first stumbling block and focus on the long-term opportunities to bring digital payments to the country's burgeoning internet population. One 97 Communications is the parent company for the Paytm service.
Sharma, who has tweeted about his admiration for Musk and his purchase of a Tesla vehicle, reminded employees that the electric vehicle manufacturer's inventory used to be one of the most shorted in the world.
But the company overcame years of struggle to become one of the most recognized brands worldwide, he said, as well as the most valuable automaker in the world.
Shares of the company plunged again on Monday, the first trading day after the three-day holiday weekend. Shares fell another 17% on Monday, leaving them about 40% below the IPO price of 2,150 rupees.
"After so many naysayers and people trying to take down @elonmusk, he's proven what he's made of!" Sharma said in that tweet and signed the Hindi aphorism: "Someday my time will also come."
Tesla shares rose by 41% on the first day after the IPO in 2010. They later fell to less than $4 each and have since surged to give the company a market value of over $1 trillion.
