Tencent Music may be targeting stateside IPO for October

Tencent Music Entertainment may have set a date for its planned IPO in the United States. Sources in China, now also being covered in the western press, have reported that Tencent IPO will be submitted to the SEC on September 7 for a stock exchange debut on October 18. At the latest valuations, Tencent’s music branch has risen to nearly $30 billion.

Tencent’s move follows the less convention version of a listing taken earlier this year by Spotify. That streaming service embarked on a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange in April. Spotify and Tencent have additional reason to follow each other’s business steps closely. In December 2017, Spotify and Tencent Music Entertainment Group acquired minority stakes in each other. Tencent Holdings, majority owner of the music property, also made a separate investment in Spotify.

Tencent Music operates three platforms: QQ Music, Kugou, and Kuwo. It also operates karaoke app WeSing and has a vast footprint over the music landscape of China and Asia at large.

Anna Washenko