Tencent Music

Chinese streaming giant, Tencent Music’s much talked about U.S. IPO is finally here, with the company announcing a $1.1 Billion raise in the same.

It is of course lower than the speculated $1.2 Billion, with the closed share price fixed at $13, lying in the lower bracket of the suggested $13-$15 range. Nevertheless, it continues to be one of the biggest tech IPOs this year. And despite an uncertain market and continuing trade tensions between the US and China, Tencent Music’s IPO acts as a positive beacon for newer tech companies looking at making it big.

According to the company’s regulatory filings, Tencent Music sold 41 million ADRs, while existing shareholders sold a further 40.9 million. 

Tencent Music’s valuation with this IPO will soar to $21.3 Billion, once again proving market acceptance for floated valuations coming from most tech companies listing on US bourse. This valuation is a tad lower than Spotify’s $30 Billion from earlier this year. In terms of revenue, Spotify’s quarter revenues of $1.6 Billion are more than the $1.3 Billion reported by TME in its first six months. 

However, what works in TME’s favour is its profitability, a rarity in startup ecosystems globally and something which continues to elude Spotify and presumably Apple Music. TME runs a gamut of services in China, which includes a plain-say streaming service as well as karaoke and live-streaming services. TME claims a consolidated 800 Million registered users, but that is by and large due to duplicate counts from multiple service.

TME’s IPO will end a rather interesting year for Chinese tech companies in the US market. Before Tencent Music’s debut, Chinese companies have together cobbled up close to $8 Billion in IPO listings, the highest amount since 2014, the year of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s record $25 billion IPO.

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