Renren's social network impresses US investors

The power of Chinese social networks is unquestionable the social connections, or guanxi, which shape the country’s complex social order are followed by hundreds of millions of people without question.

Likewise, Renren.com, a Chinese social-networking website, won adulation from investors in its $743 million US IPO on Wednesday, despite an accounting scandal and a high-profile resignation from its audit committee.

Indeed, neither the controversy nor the fact that Renren has yet to become profitable were a concern for investors. The stock soared 28.6% in its trading debut on the New York Stock Exchange, even after the company lifted the offering price 27% higher than the upper end...