On December 8, 2021, Weibo officially launched its secondary listing on the Main Board of the HKEx, becoming a star stock in China’s social media platform sector. The public offering price of the stock (stock code 9898.HK) was HK$272.80.
It is learned that Weibo is a leading social media platform in China that has become one of the most influential online media platforms over a dozen years’ development, since its establishment in 2009.
Comprehensive Content Ecosystem, Bolstering Core Competitiveness
As a pioneer and leading social media in China, Weibo has been leading the industry’s development and innovation for years, with a rapidly growing user base. In September 2021, Weibo had 573 million MAUs and 248 million average DAUs.
In addition to a large and diverse user base, there are also significant connections and interactions among users on Weibo. In June 2021, its users generated 15.7 billion monthly social interactions on the platform, including the activities of Like, Comment, Repost and Follow. As of June 30, 2021, Weibo had 318 billion “follow” relationships existing on its platform. During the Track Record Period, Weibo’s ratio of average DAUs to MAUs remains as high as 43% to 45%, demonstrating user’s high engagement and stickiness to the platform.
Weibo offers the most comprehensive coverage of content categories. Its users can create, discover, consume and share various formats of content, including text, photo, video, live streaming, audio and topic. In June 2021, Weibo had 46 content verticals, such as celebrities and entertainment, humor, media, variety shows and TV programs, fashion, cosmetics, finance and games. Among these content verticals, 28 of them each has over 10 billion monthly views.
In addition, Weibo attracts a large number of talented content creators who remain highly engaged and active on the platform. In June 2021, Weibo had 41.9 million monthly active content creators, and top content creators reached 2.3 million.
Favorable Recognition of Investors, Weibo Enjoys Promising Future
“We delivered another solid quarter, with sustained user growth and top line expansion,” said Gaofei Wang, CEO of Weibo. According to the Third Quarter Financial Results released by Weibo, for the third quarter ended September 30, 2021, its net revenues reached US$607.4 million with an increase of 30% year over year. Net income attributable to Weibo for the third quarter of 2021 was $181.7 million, compared to $33.8 million for the same period last year.
The positive performance and diversified ecosystem have earned Weibo high recognition from investment banks and brokers. Guosheng Securities and CITIC Securities both gave high performance expectations and target prices.
In the long term, the user base of social media platforms in China will continue to expand steadily. According to the CIC Report, the MAUs of social media platforms is anticipated to increase moderately in the coming years at a CAGR of 3.7% from 2020 to 2025 to 883.4 million by 2025, which suggests very promising industry prospects.
As a leading social media platform, Weibo has sound fundamentals, a large user base and a comprehensive and vibrant content ecosystem, allowing it to build a solid competitive barrier and further enhance its diversified monetization capability. Weibo shares are still at low valuations. With this secondary listing in Hong Kong, it is expected to share the bonus of the steady development of the social media industry with Hong Kong investors and enhance its investment value.