The WSJ reports,"Alibaba Group Holdings’ planned multibillion-dollar IPO in the U.S. should be a hot deal, say investors, as long as the price is right. The possible U.S. IPO of a Chinese dating and chat app designer in which Alibaba has invested may also be hot, but in a different way.
Beijing Momo Technology Co., whose Momo app resembles the U.S.’s Tinder in helping users find prospective dates and friends located close to them, is planning a U.S. IPO this year, according to people familiar with the matter. A recent round of private fundraising valued the company at $2 billion, people familiar with the matter said.
The app, launched in 2011, claims nearly 120 million registered users, according to its website".
"But an ongoing Chinese government campaign against sexual content online, which has helped slash stock prices for sanctioned Chinese internet firms such as Sina Corp., means Momo’s IPO would face headwinds.
The company itself is eager to shed its reputation as a hormonal hotbed. A spokeswoman acknowledged in an email that “an extremely small number of sex worker gangs” have used Momo to solicit customers. However, Momo “is determined to resist the use of the Internet to create and disseminate pornographic content” using “the strictest methods in the industry.”
“We sincerely welcome the 2014 anti-pornography campaign,” the spokeswoman wrote. “This is not just talk; our future and our commercial interests are totally incompatible with lewd and sexual content.”
A team of Momo employees reviewing content will expand to around 100 people by the end of this year from its current headcount of about 60, and the company is seeking to filter and censor user profiles containing words like “club,” “hotel” and “health protection,” a euphemism often used to indicate sex services, from user profiles, according to the spokeswoman.
Despite Momo’s vigilant stance–or perhaps because of it–the company hasn’t faced anything approaching the state media and regulatory censure that web companies like Sohu.com Inc. or Sina have. Sina was stripped of two online publication and distribution licenses for hosting lewd articles and videos last month.
But the uncertainly cast by the government anti-pornography campaign could still give investors pause".
Source: Xinhua
