Chinese anime-streaming platform Bilibili filed for a U.S. IPO of up to US$400 million of its class Z ordinary shares.
The Shanghai-based company, which has applied to list its American depositary shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BILI, has not yet specified the number of shares or price range for the IPO.
Bilibili plans to allocate the net proceeds to investing in and developing its technologies — specifically artificial intelligence, big data capability and cloud technology — and to marketing. The company will also use the funds for general corporate purposes, which it says may include content acquisition and licensing as well as "potential strategic acquisitions, investments and alliances."
Reports of a U.S. IPO plans first surfaced in October 2017.
Another Chinese streaming platform, Baidu Inc.'s iQiyi Inc., recently filed for a US$1.5 billion IPO in the U.S., choosing to list on the Nasdaq Global Market. Meanwhile, two other Chinese streaming platforms were reported to be planning IPOs earlier in 2018. Tencent Holdings Ltd-backed live game-streaming platform Douyu is expected to raise up to US$400 million from a Hong Kong IPO during the second half, while Guangzhou-based YY Inc. is reportedly looking to spin off and float its Huya Broadcasting e-sports video platform in the U.S. to raise more than US$200 million.
Bilibili, which primarily generates revenue from mobile games, live broadcasting and online advertising, had 71.8 million average monthly active users in the fourth quarter of 2017, up by 45.3% from 49.4 million in the previous year, as stated in its prospectus filed March 2 at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company reported 2.47 billion Chinese yuan in 2017 net revenue, up from 523.3 million yuan in 2016.
Morgan Stanley & Co. International Plc, Merrill Lynch, Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC are serving as joint book runners of this offering.
