Modeled on Youtube, the Chinese video sharing platform Tudou (which means potato in Mandarin) made its debut on Nasdaq Wednesday, falling heavily. The transaction has reached nearly 178 million.
The context, however, was not encouraging. Ten of the twelve planned IPO were postponed in the U.S. last week, because of the behavior of volatile markets. But the Chinese Tudou has decided to take the plunge and returned on Nasdaq Wednesday.
Require significant investment
The online video site has issued 6 million shares at 29 dollars, the average of the range proposed by the site (between 28 and 30 dollars). But from the opening, the price fell nearly 10%.
However, Tudou was able to raise $ 178 million, for a value estimated at $ 822 million. This value would reach 16 times the revenue of the company made during the fiscal year 2010-2011 ending in March. Turnover was 12 million in the first quarter of 2011, but the company posted a net loss of $ 52 million over the same period.
Modeled on Youtube, Tudou allows its 90 million users to watch, comment, post videos and recommend. The site is also a producer of content, such as TV series. This new money should be used to increase the bandwidth of the site, update it technically and pay the fees for certain videos, with a view to broaden its audience abroad.
The value of its rival and market leader in China, Youku, listed on the New York Stock Exchange since December 2010, is estimated at $ 2.7 billion. The latter account for 27% of the market for online video advertising in China, against 14% for Tudou.