Xinhuanet launches IPO in Shanghai

BEIJING - Xinhuanet.com, the official website of China's Xinhua News Agency, launched its initial public offering (IPO) on Friday on the Shanghai bourse.

According to the company's prospectus, Xinhuanet.com plans to issue 51.9029 million shares for its Shanghai IPO at 27.69 yuan ($4) per share to raise up to 1.437 billion yuan ($212 million), accounting for 25 percent of its total shares.

The company got the green light for an IPO a month ago after years of waiting. It planned to raise funds from the stock market to expand its multi-media business, cloud service and mobile Internet services.

Established in 1997, Xinhuanet.com is a comprehensive news and information service-oriented website with Xinhua News Agency as its sponsor.

Xinhuanet is the second state media outlet going public. People.cn, website of the People's Daily -- the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China, started to be publicly traded in early 2012.