Is GREE the Next Big IPO from Asia?
We reported last week about Japanese gaming company GREE’s lofty aspirations, aiming for a user base that would rival Facebook’s in size. The company’s CEO Yoshikazu Tanaka has not been shy about sharing his overseas ambitions, pointing to American and Chinese markets as keys for potential growth.
And now this morning Bloomberg is reporting (see video below) that Tanaka is eyeing an overseas listing in the U.S. as well:
"Numerous Japanese companies have listed overseas after doing so on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. We would like to consider such an option as well… If the Japanese markets shrink, we would need to be a global company or our business would shrink."
ライバルのフェイスブックと同じ規模の利用者数を目指すという日本のゲーム会社グリーの野望については先週報告した。同社田中良和CEOは海外への計画を明かし、米国と中国をこれからの成長のための主たる市場として挙げた。
そして今朝ブルームバーグの記事によると(ビデオを参照)田中社長は米国での株式公開も狙っているそうだ。
「多くの会社が東証への上場のあと海外での上場をしている。我社もそれをひとつの可能性として考えてみたい。日本の市場が縮小するとすると、グローバルな企業として成り立っていかないと、我社も縮小してしまう」
If Japan-based GREE were to IPO, it would follow a number of Chinese internet companies that have done so over the past year, as Renren, Jiayuan, and Qihoo are already listed and there are more on the way.
Gree already has partnerships in place with Tencent and mig33, which should help it expand in China and South East Asia respectively.