A screenshot of YouKu, the Chinese equivalent of YouTube
Recently, Renren, described as the Facebook of China, filed for a U.S. initial public offering. The flotation is intended to fund development of marketing and technology. According to the organization’s SEC filing, the social-networking service will sell 53.1 million shares at between $9 and $11 each. As much as $584 million might be raised. Trading began on May 4.
In its filing, Renren cited data from iResearch that said it was China’s premiere social networking site in terms of page views and time spent. The company provides a professional networking service, a social commerce site, and an online games site, it’s biggest money-spinner. Renren had around 117 million users at the end of March, compared to Facebook’s 600 million. Facebook is banned in China.
Renren means “everyone” and the service is the most popular social networking service for Chinese college students. It began in 2002 under the name Xiaonei (on-campus) Network. Its instant messaging service is more popular than Facebook chat. Blogs with keywords such as Zhao Ziyang, Falun Gong, and Tiananmen Square cannot be released.
Chinese internet stocks have been hot properties on the U.S. market for some months. In December, shares in Youku and Dangdang soared after their introduction. These are the Chinese equivalents of YouTube and Amazon.
Photo: Gauravonomics
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Veronica worked on Wall Street before becoming a business and financial writer. We are fortunate to have such a talented and knowledgeable journalist heading up our business news desk.
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