Bilibili launches secondary listing in HK

Chinese video site Bilibili Inc launched its secondary listing in Hong Kong on March 29, 2021. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Chinese video site Bilibili Inc launched its secondary listing in Hong Kong on Monday.

Shares dipped by nearly 7 percent below issue price of HK$808 ($103.97) after trading commenced at 9:30 am.

"It is my great pleasure to share this moment with you to witness the listing of Bilibili on HKEX (the Hong Kong bourse) today and our homecoming to China's capital markets," Chairman and CEO Chen Rui told a ceremony in Shanghai, where the 12-year-old company is headquartered.

He said the temporary share tumble could be subject to the current unfavorable environment towards Chinese public companies trading overseas and that would not affect the company's long-term vision. "In 10 years' time, nobody would remember whether the company's share jumped or dropped on the first day…we aim at delivering long-term value to users."

Chen said since the firm first floated its shares in Nasdaq in 2018, the number of monthly active users has jumped from 71.8 million to 202 million, and the number of monthly active content curators also surged from 200,000 to 1.9 million.

Calling the Hong Kong listing "a milestone and a new starting point", Chen said he foresees video to be "a huge wave and an inevitable trend" that is set to become the mainstream form of internet content, and that video creation is bound to change and influence every facet of society.

In its latest earnings report, Bilibili said more than 86 percent of its users are aged 35 and below. Chen said that means every one in two Chinese youngsters is a Bilibili user.

The company prides itself on having a committed fan base. Its content library spans topics ranging from cosplay and anime, to technology and current affairs.

But such momentum has not kept the company from operating in the red, as its fourth-quarter net loss more than doubled to 843.7 million yuan from 387.2 million yuan a year earlier.