Rumor: Baidu to Spin Off and IPO Music, Literature, iQiyi, Other Businesses
Cnstock, 1/28/16
Nine of Chinese internet company Baidu's (Nasdaq: BIDU) subsidiaries are preparing for IPOs in the domestic capital markets, according to Chinese news media reports. The 9 subsidiaries are:
1. Baidu Music - digital music service
2. Baidu Literature - online and mobile literature business division
3. Nuomi.com - group buy website
4. iQiyi - online video platform
5. Baidu Takeout Delivery - O2O food delivery platform
6. 91 Desktop - mobile home screen replacement and handset management app
7. Zuoyebang - mobile homework app
8. Healthcare business division
9. Baidu Film Department
Baidu Music, Baidu Literature, Nuomi.com, and Baidu Takeout Delivery are seeking to list on China's National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ) OTC-style agency share transfer system. The Baidu Film Department plans to IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Baidu's online video subsidiary iQiyi is targeting the China Strategic Emerging Industries Board. Baidu's healthcare division will reportedly be restructured, and its operating status and target stock market have yet to be revealed.
Editor's Note: While the listing requirements for the Main Board and Small & Medium Enterprise Board of both the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges include a 3-year track record of positive net profits, neither the NEEQ nor the Hong Kong Stock Exchange require past profitability. The listing requirements for the new Strategic Emerging Industries Board are still being formulated, but it is expected that this board will also allow companies that have not posted profits in previous years to list. Responding to a Marbridge request for comment, Kaiser Kuo, Baidu's Director for International Communications, e-mailed Marbridge late this evening and denied that Baidu had any immediate plans to seek a domestic listing for any of these nine businesses. Kuo said that a number of these businesses, including Baidu Takeout Delivery, iQiyi, 91 Desktop, Baidu Music, and Zuoyebang had received outside investment in the past, but that Nuomi had not been opened to outside investment. For more information on this topic, please see "Rumor: Baidu to Spin Off Assets in Preparation for Domestic IPO," MD 1/01/16 issue.
Keywords: film Internet IPO literature mobile literature online video Baidu BIDU Nuomi iQiyi National Equities Exchange and Quotations O2O Baidu Music 91 Desktop Zuoyebang Strategic Emerging Industry Board Baidu Takeout Delivery Baidu Literature group buying spin-off handset manager mobile application food O2O
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