PPTV, the leading peer-to-peer video download services in China, will go for IPO in the U.S. in 6 months, said an investment banking source.
Founded in 2004 as PPLive, the Shanghai base was one of the first China online video media. It changes its name to PPTV in 2010 to better reflect its business. Most people use it to watch movies or TV drama. It is one of the largest aggregator of Chinese TV programs with thousands of TV shows and programs from over 120 TV stations.
As of December 2010, it had more than 200 million user installations and its active monthly user base was 104 million, i.e., 43% penetration of Chinese internet users. Average viewing time per person per day has reach over 2 hours and 30 minutes, the highest among all China websites.
Bill Yao, the president and founder of PPTV, quitted from Huazhong University of Science and Technology to start a business during his study for a Master’s degree in 2004. He set up Shanghai Synacast MediaTech.Co.,Ltd in April, 2005 which later became PPTV.
Currently CEO of PPTV is Vincent Tao, a former Microsoft executive. He was Director of Microsoft Online Services Division, responsible for the global business strategy and product development for MSN online services.
In February, Softbank invested US$250 million into the company. Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) is another investor.
PPTV’s largest rival is Shanghai based PPS Net TV, which was founded in January 2006, by Lei Liang, Zhang Hongyu and Xu Weifeng.
According to iResearch, in the end of 2010, PPS Net TV has over 210 thousand sets of movies and TV programs and over 280 million subscribers. It has over 25.12 million daily users and more than 100 million users per month. The market share of PPS reaches 55.30%. Monthly effective using time has been over 711 million hours. Qiming Venture Partner is one of PPS’ investors.
did it happen? if not, when?