China's Twitter to go public in NYSE
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail China.org.cn, February 25, 2014
China's internet giant Sina Corp is preparing for the initial public offering (IPO) of its microblogging service in the New York Stock Exchange.
Sina Weibo, the twitter-like service, is expected to raise around US$500 million in a public listing, according to The Financial Times. Sina reportedly hired Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse to oversee the IPO, which is expected to happen in the second quarter.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd bought an 18 percent stake in Sina Weibo for US$586 million last April, valuing Weibo at US$3.3 billion. If the IPO takes place, the company has an option to increase its stake in Sina Weibo to 30 percent for an unspecified amount within a certain time period, reported by Reuters.
Sina Weibo is the country's most popular microblogging outlet, facing a lot of competition from messaging service WeChat, Tencent's instant-messaging application.
In January, China Internet Network Information Center, a government-established research group, said the total number of microblog users in China dropped 9% to 280.8 million last year from 308.6 million in 2012.
But Sina said in November that Weibo's third-quarter daily active users rose 11% to 60.2 million from the previous quarter.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)