Ren Ren chases me-too IPO

Seems like anyone with a dot-com in their name and China in their address is chasing an IPO these days in hopes of getting a sky-high valuation from Western investors fixated on the fast-growing but only mildly profitable Chinese Internet market. The latest IPO wannabe, Ren Ren, which some are calling China’s Facebook, is reportedly seeking $500 million through a U.S. listing. The company hasn’t given financials, but I’ve no doubt it’s either losing money or is only mildly profitable. But that didn’t stop Youku (NYSE: YOKU), a Chinese video sharing site that went public last year and soared on its debut, only to trade sideways since then. Lesson from this is being first in your class does indeed command a premium. But that said, unless you can get in on the IPO itself, being first to market doesn’t mean you’re the best. There are plenty of other Chinese Facebook wannabes out there, including two companies called Kaixin and a service operated by China’s biggest Internet company Tencent (HKEx: 700) that could all turn out to be formidable rivals.