‘Netflix of China' iQiyi plans RM1.27b Hong Kong listing amid return of Trump-era delisting risk
According to the global financial media site, the Netflix-style streaming platform, backed by Baidu Inc, has begun talks with global banks about a potential offering later this year.
If the plan proceeds, iQiyi would become the latest US-listed Chinese firm to tap investors closer to home, amid renewed geopolitical uncertainty and a resurgence in Hong Kong's equity markets.
Negotiations are still fluid and the company may change course. A spokesman for iQiyi declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg.
The platform, which streams everything from period dramas to Hollywood films, competes with Tencent Holdings Ltd and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, and reportedly has over 400 million monthly active users.
iQiyi shares briefly rose 6 per cent in New York following the news, but ended little changed.
A successful Hong Kong debut would place iQiyi among other Chinese giants returning to regional markets. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), a battery maker listed in Shenzhen, is also weighing a Hong Kong share sale.
These moves have helped revive Hong Kong's IPO market.
A wave of fresh listings this year has returned the city to second place globally for share sales — a title it last held in 2012. Looser listing rules and Chinese issuers have driven the rebound.
For firms like iQiyi, political pressure in the US is also prompting a rethink.
'Donald Trump's return to the White House this year has revived the threat of their stock getting delisted in America,' Bloomberg noted.
The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, passed in 2020, allows the SEC to delist firms if auditors can't be inspected for two years — a law aimed at improving transparency after prior accounting controversies.
Though a 2022 agreement gave US regulators access to Chinese audit documents, speculation lingers that companies like iQiyi and PDD Holdings Inc. might seek 'friendlier' markets.
Before the pandemic, Alibaba and Baidu paved the way with Hong Kong listings following their US IPOs — a path iQiyi may soon follow.
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