Chinese Action–the Virtual Kind–in U.S. Stocks
Sohu.com, one of China’s largest Internet companies, hopes U.S. investors like its hack-and-slash videogames enough to give it as much as $120 million.
The Beijing-based company filed this week for an initial public offering of American depositary shares for its online game subsidiary, Changyou.com, on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The company started its road show presentations for investors in Hong Kong Wednesday, and will issue the price of the deal in the coming week, said company executives.
Changyou.com has developed the popular multiplayer online role-playing games Tian Long Ba Bu and Blade Online. Both feature sword-and-sorcery action, though they draw from China’s kung fu legends.
If it happens, the listing will be the first on Nasdaq since last November, according to Reuters. And it would be the first Chinese company to do an IPO in the U.S. since television advertising company China Mass Media International Advertising Corp. launched in August. This will also make Sohu the first Internet service company in China to have its Web portal service and online game division listed in the stock market.
