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Tencent, China’s US$424 billion social media and gaming giant, today launched an IPO for its spin-off e-book division, which is now worth US$6.4 billion, reports Reuters.
It’s the latest in a rising wave of tech IPOs this year in China, part of an overall boom in public listings that was 406 percent larger in the first six months than in the same period in 2016.
It’s not just unicorn startups – like Qudian last week – joining in the fun. So are China’s tech titans. Tencent is the first of a potential series of massive spin-off IPOs, in which the nation’s most established tech names seek to finance specific departments.
Baidu, China’s top search engine, is said to be doing this for its Netflix-like iQiyi (at a possible US$8 billion valuation), while the most hotly anticipated is the listing for Alibaba’s Alipay (US$60 billion), though it has seen several delays.
Tencent’s China Literature unit, composed mostly of a Kindle-esque store with 8.4 million literary works, raised US$1.1 billion in this morning’s debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Tencent retains a 62 percent stake in China Literature.
This latest IPO boom is seeing Hong Kong challenge New York as the most desired location, with Alipay said to be considering both cities.
Editing by Michael Tegos
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