Chinese Video Platform Bilibili Eyes $2 billion in Secondary Hong Kong Listing: Report
Chinese video platform Bilibili is reportedly aiming for a secondary listing in Hong Kong in an attempt to raise more than $2 billion.
The Shanghai-based company may file for a Hong Kong public offering at the end of this week or early next week, according to a CNBC piece quoting an unidentified source. Pricing details will not be included in the filing.
The fast-growing platform – popular with China’s millennials – is currently listed on the Nasdaq. The $2 billion capital raise is significantly higher than the $1 billion and $1.5 billion anticipated last year, CNBC noted.
Bilibili is the latest U.S.-listed Chinese company to seek a secondary listing in Hong Kong over the last 14 months. Others include Alibaba, JD.com and NetEase. The video company’s Nasdaq-listed shares have grown over 300% over the last 12 months.
Pandaily has reached out to Bilibili for comment.
The platform, also nicknamed B Site, offers video content related to animation, comic and mobile games, as well as live broadcasts that allow users to interact with livestreamers. Its core feature is a real-time captioning system called bullet-screen comments, or danmu (弹幕), that formats and displays user comments as streams of scrolling subtitles overlaid on videos, creating a chat room experience for viewers.
The site became more popular amid the coronavirus pandemic, as shown by its third-quarter performance in 2020. As of end-September, Bilibili’s average monthly active users (MAUs) reached 197 million, and average daily active users (DAUs) crossed 53 million, representing a 54% and 42% year-over-year (YoY) increase respectively. Users spend an average of 81 minutes per day on the platform.
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The young firm is currently expanding its offerings to include more professional user-generated video content and heavily investing in paid content. It also recently launched localized services in Thailand and Malaysia, marking its first landing in Southeast Asia.
