Video streaming platform iQiyi files for US stock market listing

Chinese video-streaming platform iQIYI on Tuesday filed documents with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for an IPO that would raise $1.5 billion, the Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.

The platform, which offers a service similar to Netflix, plans to list its American Depository Shares on the NASDAQ Global Market under the ticker “IQ”. Goldman Sachs (Asia), Credit Suisse, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, China Renaissance, Citi and UBS Investment Bank will be joint bookrunners on the deal. No pricing terms were disclosed.

The filing said iQIYI had 50.8 million subscribers as of the end of 2017 and posted annual revenue of $2.67 billion, with a net loss of $574.4 million.

The platform is one of the largest online video-streaming platforms in China, and it competes fiercely with its rivals Tencent Video and Youku Tudou for users, usage time and advertisers.

Of the three, iQIYI was the largest in terms of user time and average total monthly active users in 2017, according to data provider iResearch.

Upon the completion of this offering, Baidu Inc, the Chinese search engine, will beneficially own all of the company’s outstanding high-voting Class B ordinary shares and remain its controlling shareholder, according to the filing.

IQIYI’s move to seek listing on NASDAQ followed a busy year of Chinese IPOs on major US stock exchanges. In 2017, 26 Chinese businesses went public on American exchanges, 17 of which chose to list on NASDAQ, said Bob McCooey, senior vice president of NASDAQ’s Listing Services Unit on Tuesday.