China Literature must summon army of Harry Potters

China Literature

10/11/2017 03:34

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions 
expressed are his own.) 
    By Pete Sweeney 
    HONG KONG, Nov 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Tencent's online 
publishing arm has 6 mln writers peddling pulp. To justify a $12 
bln valuation after a first-day pop, it has to find lots of J.K. 
Rowlings among their ranks, then conjure value by transmuting 
their tales into hit films and games. That reads like fantasy 
fiction. 
          
    Full view will be published shortly. 
    On Twitter https://twitter.com/petesweeneypro  
     
    CONTEXT NEWS 
    - Shares in China Literature rose 86 percent on their first 
day of trade in Hong Kong on Nov. 8. That gave the online 
publishing arm of technology giant Tencent a market 
capitalisation of about $12 billion.  
    - Company executives project a net profit of 400 million 
yuan ($60 million) for 2017 and 1 billion yuan for 2018, Reuters 
reported, citing investors who attended roadshow meetings for 
the initial public offering. 
    - China Literature publishes online literature from some 6.4 
million writers, some professional and many amateur, according 
to the IPO prospectus. 
    -  For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can 
click on  SWEENEY/  
    - SIGN UP FOR BREAKINGVIEWS EMAIL ALERTS: http://bit.ly/BVsubscribe 
  
 
    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
Tencent's China Literature in smashing debut, boosts outlook for 
HK tech IPOs     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1NE1AM 
BREAKINGVIEWS-Hong Kong's IPO market is turning Chinese    
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1NE1MS 
BREAKINGVIEWS-Tencent's books are less gripping than its games   
  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1MZ15Y 
BREAKINGVIEWS-Tencent's hit spinoff reads like a prologue    
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1N71US 
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> 
 (Editing by Jeffrey Goldfarb and Katrina Hamlin) 
 ((pete.sweeney@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: 
pete.sweeney.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: CHINA LITERATURE IPO/BREAKINGVIEWS