Yang Li
China’s most popular dating app, Momo, is reportedly preparing to delist from the NASDAQ for February 2016, Tencent Tech reports.
Momo, a combination of Tinder and Snapchat, is reported to terminate its Variable Interest Entity contract by August of next year in preparation for an IPO on China’s Mainboard for 2017.
Founded in 2012, Momo has over 70 million monthly active users and has as many as 180 million registered users. It’s main business lines include a paid membership service, video games and advertising.
In December 2014, Momo listed on the NASDAQ. In June 2015, Momo CEO, Tang Yan, announced a privatization takeover bid together with Momo board members Matrix Partners China and Sequoia Capital. The purchasing price for ordinary shares will reportedly be set at USD 18.90.
There has been a trend among some of China’s larger tech companies to return to the Chinese stock market. In June, China’s Facebook, Renren, officially announced its privatization takeover bid, immediately following a similar announcement from China’s second largest search engine, Qihoo 360. Eight other companies announced similar offers that same month.
Momo seems not to have gained much from listing on the NASDAQ. In the year 2014, Momo barely made a profit. In the first quarter of 2015 Momo’s revenues were USD six million. Analysts say profits were largely derived from a strategic cooperation with Alibaba and 58.com, both of which contributed large amounts of advertising income.
When Momo went public in 2014 its market value was more than USD three billion. Momo’s market value now sits below USD 2.3 billion. By the end of Thursday, the closing price of Momo stock was USD 10.96 per share.
So far, Momo has not officially commented on its privatization process nor its future IPO plans.
Edited by Rohan Malhotra
(Photo from PEdaily.cn)