Chinese Video Sites, Burning To The IPO, With Hope

You may still question about the revenue model of online video and how long they will be burning the money, but the fact is that Ku6 has been listed, and other two leading video sites Tudou and Youku both are preparing for its IPO. (ref: Chinese online video sharing: where is the way out)

The Money

Tudou has raised USD 135 millions since it was set up in 2005; Youku has raised in total USD 160 millions in its 6 rounds of fundrasing and the latest one is USD 50 millions which closed only 2 months ago (ref: this). No need to say why they still need money, but you may wonder why not go for VC money for one more time? First of all, I don’t think it make sense any more to raise another round of VC money. USD 50 millions investment this amount probably has reached the max for a VC round; The valuation for these sites is very high after several rounds. Also from strategy point of view, video sites need much more money to cope with very high copyright fee, more bandwidth, fast growing mobile market. Of course, I guess the pressure from the investors may also be the reason. After years of burning money, VC firms of course want the exit as soon as possible. Acquisition sounds impossible anymore for Tudou and Youku considering their valuation, IPO seems the only and a must solution.

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