Tencent's Internet literature business China Reading Limited has submitted pre-listing documents to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited.
The documents show that for the past 12 months ended December 2016, China Reading Limited reported net profit of CNY30.4 million, which was about USD4.5 million. Just one year before that, the company still made net losses of CNY354.2 million. At the same time, China Reading Limited's operating revenue reached CNY2.6 billion in 2016, representing a year-on-year increase of 62.5%.
In addition, during the year of 2016, China Reading Limited's online reading operating revenue accounted for 77.1% of the total operating revenue of the company, reaching nearly CNY2 billion. Users can choose to pay to read the whole book after reading the first chapter or they can subscribe on a monthly basis.
Tencent's president and executive director Liu Chiping revealed in March 2017 that China Reading Limited would be separated from Tencent and seek listing on Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited.
Credit Suisse, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley are joint sponsors for the listing of China Reading Limited.