China’s lottery website 500.com planned to launch IPO on U.S. market for $150 million, according to people familiar with the matter (source in Chinese). The company has previously secured venture capitals from IDG, SIG and Sequoia Capital.
With more than 15 million users, 500.com generated around 3 billion yuan ($486.52 million) of sales in 2011, said the source. According to industry practice, lottery website usually takes 7% to 11% from the total sales as commission fees, and therefore, the net profit of 500.com will amount to more than 300 million yuan in 2011.
Lottery industry witnessed booming development in recent years, especially after the Ministry of Finance eased reins on the sector at the beginning of this year. The sales of lottery climbed 16 percent year-on-year to 149.7 billion yuan in the fist half of this year. Lottery websites teamed up with Internet giants to gain access to larger user base. 500.com has previously join hands with Sina.com and Tencent; the latter also buddied up with 8788.cn.
In addition to 500.com, several Chinese companies are in discussion to launch IPO on the US market which show signs of recovery in the second half of this year, including 58.com, Qunar.com and Jumei.com.
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