Xinhuanet.com, the official website of Chinese state media Xinhua News Agency, launched its initial public offering (IPO) at Shanghai stock Exchange on Friday. Xinhuanet now has become the second state media company, after People.cn, to go public.   

A total of 51.9 million shares were made available through the IPO, accounting for nearly a quarter of the company's market capitalization. Xinhua owns more than 80 percent of these shares.

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The company's prospectus claimed that it plans to use the IPO funds to expand host of businesses, including multi-media, cloud services, mobile Internet services and online education business.

Xinhuanet will continue to seamlessly integrate technology, capital and talent into its media business in a bid to build a world-class Internet culture company, Xinhuanet chairperson Tian Shubin said.

Xinhuanet.com has seen its net profit rising during the past three years, from 167 million yuan in 2013 to 261 million yuan last year.

This is mainly attributed to its fast-growing business in information services and mobile networks. In the first half of the current financial year, its net profit stood at 102 million yuan.

The website enjoys pretty good standing in the online world. It generally ranks within the top 100 global websites, according to Alexa Internet, a popular California-based internet company.

Xinhuanet.com got a go signal for the IPO nearly a month ago after years of waiting.

The website first applied for an IPO in 2013, but its application got blocked as the China Securities Regulatory Commission approval of new stock listings was temporarily halted.

Xinhuanet then decided to resubmit its IPO application in mid-2014 after the approval process resumed.   

TagsXinhuanet, Xinhuanet IPO, Xinhuanet.com, China IPO, china, Chinese state media