Chinese social media giant Weibo is raising $700M to fund acquisitions

Weibo, the Twitter-like Chinese social network that is profitable unlike Twitter, is raising $700 million as it looks for acquisitions to continue the rocket ship growth its business has seen in 2017.


BEAM Team

28 Oct, 2017

Chinese social media giant Weibo is raising $700M to fund acquisitions | BEAMSTART News

- From our Sponsors -

Weibo, the Twitter-like Chinese social network that is profitable unlike Twitter, is raising $700 million as it looks for acquisitions to continue the rocket ship growth its business has seen in 2017.

The Beijing-based company, which is listed on the NASDAQ with a current market cap of $21 billion, announced today it will offer up to $700 million in convertible senior notes in order to finance “working capital needs and potential acquisitions of complementary businesses.”

Related: Create awareness & reach out to more people  

Any acquisitions are likely to be in China and could well focus on video and entertainment, where Weibo is finding serious traction, and ad tech, where it has made recent investments.

Beyond a valuation which is nearly double that of Twitter, which has struggled to get to anything close to profitability, the Chinese service has gained widespread attention for having a larger userbase than its U.S. peer and very impressive financials, too.

Weibo claims 159 million daily users — and 361 million monthly — and, according to unaudited figures released this week, its most recent quarterly profit reached a record $101.1 million up from a then-record $73.5 million in the previous quarter. It’s worth noting that the previous quarter had seen profits increase by 184 percent year-on-year so there’s plenty of momentum right now.

The company has credited its surging video and mobile ads business for the revenue jumps, with the Weibo platform rapidly standing out as a platform for entertainment and celebrity news for young generations in China.

Weibo’s biggest backers are parent firm Sina (media) and e-commerce giant Alibaba, both of which help funnel advertising revenue to the business. Together the two investors own more than 70 percent of Weibo.

Related:

- From our Sponsors -

Latest Jobs

Product Engineer / AI Operator

Cogram

Berlin,

Full Time

USD 60000 — USD 90000 yearly

AI Forward Deployed Engineer

Harper

California,

Full Time

USD 140000 — USD 230000 yearly

Founding Full Stack Engineer

Zuma

California,

Full Time

USD 180000 — USD 210000 yearly

GTM Sales Associate

Corgi

Utah,

Full Time

USD 60000 — USD 150000 yearly

Staff Infrastructure Engineer

Porter

New York,

Full Time

USD 200000 — USD 280000 yearly

Founding Backend Engineer, AI Agents

Tivara

New York,

Full Time

USD 120000 — USD 200000 yearly

Generalist – Sales / Success / Growth

Tank Payments

Texas,

Full Time

USD 75000 — USD 110000 yearly

Product Manager - AI

Dynamo AI

California,

Full Time

USD 110000 — USD 150000 yearly

Founding Engineer (Golang/ReactJS)

Snazzy

Karnataka,

Full Time

USD 800000 — USD 2000000 yearly

Founding Engineer - Hardware & Chip Design

Zettascale

California,

Full Time

USD 150000 — USD 300000 yearly

BEAMSTART is a hub for everything Startups, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation. Connect with a global community of people, and stay updated with the latest startup jobs, news, and discussions.

 
© 2016 - 2025 BEAMSTART. All Rights Reserved (Legal).