Chinese streaming giant Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) is said to be preparing for an IPO in the second half of 2018 that would value it at $25 billion.
The company is said to be interviewing potential banks over the next month with plans to float in the US, according to Wall Street Journal sources.
That $25bn price tag is more than double the $10bn valuation the company received after its most recent funding round.
Tencent Music is majority owned by Tencent Holdings, which currently has a market cap value in excess of US $500bn on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Since its last funding round, Tencent Music has traded a 10% ownership stake with Spotify, launched a label with Sony Music and led a $115m investment round in India-based streaming platform Gaana.
Should the company reach a $25bn public valuation, it would be the fourth biggest US-listed technology IPO on record.
That’s not including Spotify, which was valued at just shy of $30bn for its direct listing style debut on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month.
Tencent spent big in 2016 to acquire a majority stake in $2.7bn-valued China Music Corp, taking control of two key music platforms in China – Kuwo and KuGou.
Added together with its own QQ Music, Tencent’s Chinese music services are said to reach over 700m monthly active users.
Music Business Worldwide
