Industry

Tencent Music Debuts IPO at NYSE

Dec 13, 2018, 16:58pm2018/12/13 17:14:56 Shaw Wan

Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Music (TME), the music streaming subsidiary of the China tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., raised $1.1 billion in its U.S. initial public offering (IPO), pricing shares at $13 per piece on Dec. 12 local time.

Today we welcome Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Music Entertainment for their $1B IPO on the NYSE: $TME (our banner raises are a bit more festive in December) pic.twitter.com/XYLh23mPbw

— NYSE (@NYSE) December 12, 2018

“Music is an important part of Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder />‘s entertainment strategy. Along with long videos, short videos, online games, online literature and podcasts, it defines and builds up China’s pop-culture ecology,” said Tang Daosheng, president of Tencent Music Entertainment Group<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> and senior executive vice president of Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder />.

Tencent Music IPO — Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Music IPO at NYSE (photo credit to NYSE)

Spun off from the Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Group, TME is the second arm that went public. In November 2017, Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder />‘s online literature platform China Literature launched its IPO in Hong Kong.

“Because of the mergers and acquisitions in Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Music’s development, we felt it’s more suitable for a spin-off,” the company president Liu Zhiping said earlier this year.

SEE ALSO: Tencent to Spin off its Music Division for an IPO in the U.S.

In 2003, the messaging platform Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> QQ started to provide an online music streaming service. One year later, another popular music streaming app Kugou Music was born, followed by QQ Music, Kuwo Music, and the karaoke service WeSing.

Tencent Music IPO — Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Music: Kugou, Kuwo and QQ Music APP

According to Quest Mobile’s report on China’s mobile music streaming, Kugou, QQ and Kuwo Music topped the list of monthly active users (MAU). The number of their total MAU reached almost seven times that of NetEase<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder />, which ranked number four.

“Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> will support the development of Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Music from all aspects, as it always does,” Tang explained. “And Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Music is much more than just a service providing users with music experience. We will explore how to connect people with music.”

Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> music benefits from its belief in social music. Compared with Spotify, which is still trying to make ends meet, Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> music was reported to be the first music platform that has gained profits. In the first three quarters of 2018, its revenues climbed 83.7 percent year-on-year to 2 billion dollars (13.6 billion yuan).

Featured photo credit to jiemian