Weibo paring gains after Bloomberg denies earlier report of $20B take private offer (update)
Jul. 06, 2021 7:57 AM ETWeibo Corporation (WB), BABABABA, WBBy: Joshua Fineman, SA News Editor14 Comments
- Update 8:45am: Updates shares, adds denial report.
- Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) is paring some of its gains, now up 12%, after Bloomberg reported that a report that Weibo is going private is "not true."
- Earlier, Weibo gained more than 40% on a Reuters report that the company's chairman Charles Chao and a Chinese state investor are in talks to take the Twitter-like company private in a deal for at least $20B.
- The Weibo chairman and state investor are expected to offer $90-$100/share for the company, according to a Reuters report, which cited sources familiar. Chao's holding company New Wave is the largest holder of Weibo, which had a 45% stake as of February.
- New Wave is joining up with an unidentified Shanghai-based state firm for a consortium for a take private deal for Weibo, according to the report.
- A take private of Weibo would let the company's second largest holder Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) and top customer exit its investment.
- Weibo short interest 23% of float.
- In February, Weibo gained on report it was preparing to list in Hong Kong.