BEIJING, March 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Weibo
Corporation ("Weibo" or the "Company") (Nasdaq: WB and HKEX: 9898),
a leading social media platform in China, today provides an update on its status
under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (the
"HFCAA").
On March 23, 2022, in connection
with its implementation of the HFCAA, the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (the "SEC") provisionally named the Company as
a Commission-Identified Issuer, following the Company's filing of
its annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended
December 31, 2021 (the "2021 Form
20-F") with the SEC on March 10,
2022. The SEC estimated that 273 registrants might be
identified under the Act as part of its review of registrants in
calendar year 2020.
The identification is pursuant to the HFCAA, which states if the
SEC determines that a company has filed audit reports issued by a
registered public accounting firm that has not been subject to
inspection for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or
the PCAOB, for three consecutive years beginning in 2021, the SEC
shall prohibit its shares or American depositary shares (the
"ADSs") from being traded on a national securities exchange or in
the over-the-counter trading market in the United States. The Company has previously
disclosed that its independent auditor, the independent registered
public accounting firm that issued the audit report included in its
2021 Form 20-F, is not currently subject to inspection by the
PCAOB, hence the identification by the PCAOB is expected.
The Company's ADSs, each representing one Class A ordinary
share, have been quoted on the Nasdaq Global Select Market system
under the symbol "WB" since April 17,
2014. The Company's Class A ordinary shares have been listed
on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (the "HKEX")
since December 8, 2021 under the
stock code "9898." The Company's Class A ordinary shares listed on
the HKEX and the Company's ADSs quoted on the Nasdaq are mutually
fungible.
The Company will continue to monitor market developments and
evaluate all strategic options.
About Weibo
Weibo is a leading social media for people to create, share
and discover content online. Weibo combines the means of public
self-expression in real time with a powerful platform for social
interaction, content aggregation and content distribution. Any user
can create and post a feed and attach multi-media and long-form
content. User relationships on Weibo may be asymmetric;
any user can follow any other user and add comments to a feed while
reposting. This simple, asymmetric and distributed nature
of Weibo allows an original feed to become a live viral
conversation stream.
Weibo enables its advertising and marketing customers to
promote their brands, products and services to
users. Weibo offers a wide range of advertising and
marketing solutions to companies of all sizes. The Company
generates a substantial majority of its revenues from the sale of
advertising and marketing services, including the sale of social
display advertisement and promoted marketing
offerings. Designed with a "mobile first" philosophy, Weibo
displays content in a simple information feed format and offers
native advertisement that conform to the information feed on our
platform. To support the mobile format, we have developed and
continuously refining our social interest graph recommendation
engine, which enables our customers to perform people marketing and
target audiences based on user demographics, social relationships,
interests and behaviors, to achieve greater relevance, engagement
and marketing effectiveness.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements that
relate to, among other things, Weibo's expected financial
performance and strategic and operational plans (as described,
without limitation, in the "Business Outlook" section and in
quotations from management in this press release. Weibo may also
make forward-looking statements in the Company's periodic reports
to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"),
in announcements, circulars or other publications made on the
website of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the
"Hong Kong Stock Exchange"), in press releases and other written
materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or
employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical
facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and
expectations, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking
statements can be identified by terminology, such as "will,"
"expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes,"
"confidence," "estimates" and similar statements. Forward-looking
statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of
important factors could cause actual results to differ materially
from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Potential
risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, Weibo's
limited operating history in certain new businesses; failure to
grow active user base and the level of user engagement; the
uncertain regulatory landscape in China; fluctuations in the
Company's quarterly operating results; the Company's reliance on
advertising and marketing sales for a majority of its revenues;
failure to successfully develop, introduce, drive adoption of or
monetize new features and products; failure to compete effectively
for advertising and marketing spending; failure to successfully
integrate acquired businesses; risks associated with the Company's
investments, including equity pick-up and impairment; failure to
compete successfully against new entrants and established industry
competitors; changes in the macro-economic environment, including
the depreciation of the Renminbi; and adverse changes in economic
and political policies of the PRC government and its impact on the
Chinese economy. Further information regarding these and other
risks is included in Weibo's annual report on Form 20-Fs and other
filings with the SEC and the Hong Kong Stock
Exchange. All information provided in this press release is current
as of the date hereof, and Weibo assumes no obligation to update
such information, except as required under applicable law.
Contacts
Investors Relations
Weibo Corporation
Tel: +86-10-5898-3336
Email: ir@staff.weibo.com
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SOURCE Weibo Corporation