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Chinese lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu, known as ‘Little Red Book’, puts its US IPO on hold amid Beijing’s crackdown
- Xiaohongshu among dozens of Chinese firms re-evaluating their IPO plans as China puts overseas listings under greater scrutiny
- Social media and e-commerce platform topped 100 million monthly active users in 2019
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Chinese social media and lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu has put its planned initial public offering in the United States on hold after Beijing announced plans to increase its scrutiny of foreign listings by the country’s high-flying technology sector, according to people familiar with the matter.
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The company, also know as “Little Red Book”, is evaluating its next steps after the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said it would review all foreign IPOs by technology platforms in China that possess the personal data of at least 1 million users, said the people, who were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.
Xiaohongshu filed confidentially to list in the US earlier this year and was hoping to raise more than US$500 million.
Bloomberg reported the delay in Xiaohongshu’s IPO plans earlier on Friday.
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A Xiaohongshu representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
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Backed by Tencent and Alibaba Group Holding, Xiaohongshu was founded in Shanghai in 2013 and has expanded to include social media and e-commerce. As of October 2019, the company had more than 100 million monthly active users, with 70 per cent of them born in the 1990s or later, according to its website. Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.
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