Baidu’s video unit iQiyi plans for IPO this year

Chinese video streaming service provider iQiyi is planning to go public in the U.S. The Baidu ’s unit is filing for an offering of up to $ 1.5 billion with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission.

IQiyi is known as a Chinese’s version of Netflix. The Beijing-based firm now has more than 50 million subscribed members at the end of last year. The numbers of average monthly users reach more than 420 million.

The company aims to reach a market valuation of $ 10 billion; a source said as scmp.com quoted.

Iqiyi has appointed Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC, Credit Suisse and BofA Merrill Lynch as the leading underwriters to the IPO.

Iqiyi combines local contents and licensed international series. The firm signed a licensing deal with NetFlix last year. Netflix has tried to deal with China’s strict censorship standard to be able to win the Chinese market.

I Iqiyi will be listed on Nasdaq under the symbol”IQ”. Last year, it obtained $ 1.53 billion in funding fund, which included $ 300 million from its parenting company Baidu .

Expansion after IPO

Iqiyi said it will use half of the IPO proceeds to add more content and expand. The company itself faces fierce competition in China. Other Chinese companies, Tencent and Alibaba, also have their video streaming service providers.

Chinese companies are arriving in the U.S for a public offering, citing that their presence in the U.S helps to boost their brandings’reputation.

Bloomberg data stated that 21 Chinese companies listed their shares on American exchanges in 2017. The IPOs raised a combined proceed of $ 3.9 billion.

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