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- Douyu is set to revive its delayed U.S. IPO, and is now seeking up to $944M USD.
- The Chinese livestreaming platform has previously received $632M in investment from Tencent Holdings, and initially announced a planned $500M IPO in April.
- Douyu will begin trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol “DOYU” on July 17, with American depositary shares offered for $11.50-$14 each.
Chinese livestreaming platform Douyu 
has restarted its planned U.S. initial public offering, which the company first filed for in April before briefly shelving the plan.
Douyu originally hoped to raise up to $500M via the offering on the New York Stock Exchange (Nasdaq), but delayed the move when trade tensions flared up between China and the United States.
Now, the company has nearly doubled its potential raise, up to $944M. Douyu will offer 44.9M American depositary shares for $11.50-$14 apiece, with existing investors offering up another 22.5M shares. The IPO’s underwriters include Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Merrill Lynch, and CMBI.
According to Douyu’s latest regulatory filing, the company plans to use 35% of the proceeds to expand its content offerings (including esports), and 30% for research, development, and technology. Another 15% will go towards marketing, while the remaining 20% will be used for working capital and potential acquisitions and investments.
Chinese multinational investment holding conglomerate Tencent Holdings invested $632M in Douyu in March 2018, and has repeatedly invested in the company since 2016. As of the April IPO announcement, Tencent owned 40.1% of the outstanding shares in Douyu via its Nectarine Investment subsidiary.
Related Article: Gen.G Signs Douyu as Chinese League of Legends Streaming Partner
As of Q4 2018, Douyu had 153.3M monthly active users from China, up from 134.3M a year prior. It also had 6M streamers, with about 5.2K of the most popular ones under contract with the company; that had jumped up from 3.9M streamers and 2K under contract one year earlier.
Douyu is expected to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol “DOYU” on July 17. Rival Chinese streaming platform Huya , which has reportedly received $461.6M in total investment from Tencent, raised $180M in its U.S. IPO in May 2018.
