Weibo, 'The Chinese Twitter,' Filed An IPO — Here's A Guide To Its Finances
<img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/53246bb769bedd9a794b7d65-834-410/screen-shot-2014-03-15-at-10.18.27-am.png" border="0" alt="Weibo" />
Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, filed for an IPO yesterday. A look inside its F-1 disclosure shows that it is strikingly similar to Twitter in terms of its user base but is much smaller as a business.
Here are some highlights:
<ul>
<li>Ownership: Weibo is owned and controlled by Sina Corp. which has 77% of the shares. Alibaba group, a Chinese e-commerce company, invested $585.8 million and owns 18% of the company, with an option to increase its stake to 30%. (Yahoo owns 24% of Alibaba.)</li>
<li>Revenues in 2013: $188 million, up 185%. (Twitter by contrast got $665 million in the same period.)</li>
<li>Net loss in 2013: $38 million (its net loss is declining).</li>
<li>129 million monthly active users. (Twitter has 241 million MAUs.) Users generate 2.8 billion feeds a month. Interestingly, Weibo is much smaller than previously thought. It's less of a threat to Twitter.</li>
<li>70% of Weibo users are on mobile devices.</li>
<li>Revenue per user is roughly $1.45. (Twitter's RPU is roughly $1.49.)</li>
<li>Weibo's Alibaba alliance will bring it $380 million in revenues through 2015.</li>
<li>Weibo is holding $246 million in cash on its balance sheet.</li>
<li>Weibo can be shut down by the Chinese government any time if it "impairs the national dignity of China."</li>
<li>Weibo must also register its encryption software with the Chinese government.</li>
<li>The company is officially registered in the Cayman Islands in order to avoid lawsuits.</li>
</ul>
Here's Weibo's income statement (click to enlarge):
<img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/53246c3a69beddc2044b7d64-1200-572/screen-shot-2014-03-15-at-10.28.56-am.png" border="0" alt="Weibo" width="600" />
Historic user growth:
<img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/53246c5eecad045e71314c8a-693-383/screen-shot-2014-03-15-at-10.36.49-am.png" border="0" alt="Weibo" />
Weibo daily user activity:
<img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/53246c826bb3f7d369d00b60-686-396/screen-shot-2014-03-15-at-10.37.01-am.png" border="0" alt="Weibo" />
The filing also has some useful information on the web in China generally. Here is a chart of internet penetration in China. You can see how much room Weibo has to grow - the Chinese population is 1.3 billion.
<img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/53246caaecad04b075314c8d-889-308/screen-shot-2014-03-15-at-10.38.36-am.png" border="0" alt="China internet Weibo" />
This chart shows internet ad spending in China, which is now up to $15 billion a year.
<img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/53246d116bb3f7f561d00b6b-888-285/screen-shot-2014-03-15-at-10.39.09-am.png" border="0" alt="Weibo China internet" />
Here's an example of how Weibo posts go viral. A passenger on the jet that crashed in San Francisco last year uploaded some of the first pictures to Weibo. Chinese TV news stations used the pictures in their reporting.
<img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/53246d596bb3f77667d00b62-947-434/screen-shot-2014-03-15-at-10.42.14-am.png" border="0" alt="Weibo" />
<b>See Also:</b>
<ul><li>Twitter Appears To Be Fighting A Massive Botnet, Possibly Involving Millions Of Accounts</li><li>SOCIAL BIG DATA: Each Social Network Is Using A Very Different Data Lens To Understand And Target Users</li><li>TWITTER IS BACK</li><li>The Best Thing About Being A Twitter Billionaire According To Biz Stone </li><li>Here's When You're Depressed, Happy, And Hungover</li></ul>