Weibo

For other uses, see Weibo (disambiguation).

Weibo
Type of site
Microblogging
Available inSimplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
English (partial)
OwnerWeibo Corporation
URLweibo.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
Launched14 August 2009; 15 years ago (2009-08-14)[1]
Current statusActive
Weibo
Chinese新浪微博
Literal meaningSina Microblog
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinXīnlàng Wēibó
Bopomofoㄒㄧㄣ ㄌㄤˋ ㄨㄟ ㄅㄛˊ
Gwoyeu RomatzyhShinlanq Ueibor
Wade–GilesHsin1-lang4 Wei1-po2
Tongyong PinyinSin-làng Wei-bó
IPA[ɕín.lâŋ wéɪ.pwǒ]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationSānlohng Mèihbok
Jyutpingsan1 long6 mei4 bok3
IPA[sɐn˥ lɔŋ˨ mej˩ pɔk̚˧]

Weibo (Chinese: 微博; pinyin: Wēibó), previously Sina Weibo (Chinese: 新浪微博; pinyin: Xīnlàng Wēibó), is a Chinese microblogging (weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China,[1] with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily active users) as of Q1 2022.[2] The platform has been a huge financial success, with surging stocks, lucrative advertising sales and high revenue and total earnings per quarter.[3][4] At the start of 2018, it surpassed the US$30 billion market valuation mark for the first time.[5][6]

In March 2014, Sina Corporation announced a spinoff of Sina Weibo, a separate entity called simply "Weibo", and filed an IPO under the symbol WB.[7][8] Sina carved out 11% of Weibo in the IPO, with Alibaba owning 32% post-IPO.[9] The company began trading publicly on 17 April 2014.[10] In March 2017, Sina launched Sina Weibo International Version. In November 2018, Sina Weibo suspended its registration function for minors under the age of 14. In July 2019, Sina Weibo announced that it would launch a two-month campaign to clean up pornographic and vulgar information, named "Project Deep Blue" (蔚蓝计划).[11] On 29 September 2020, the company announced it would go private again due to rising tensions between the US and China. Sina had gone public on the Nasdaq in 2000.[12] As of  September 2021 Sina Weibo had 523 million active monthly users, with three in seven of those using the site daily.[13] Sina Weibo has attracted criticism over censoring its users.[14]

  1. ^ a b Michelle & Uking (2 March 2011). "Special: Micro blog's macro impact". China Daily. Archived from the original on 28 January 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  2. ^ "Weibo Corporation: DAUs 2022". Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  3. ^ "Weibo Added 15 Million Users in Q3". Yahoo! Finance. Archived from the original on 3 October 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  4. ^ Bylund, Anders (29 November 2018). "Weibo Added 15 Million Users in Q3 –". The Motley Fool. Archived from the original on 18 July 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  5. ^ "Weibo Market Cap (WB)". ycharts.com. Archived from the original on 7 December 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  6. ^ Deagon, Brian (13 February 2018). "Weibo Earnings, Revenue Top; Parent Sina Reports Strong Top-Line Growth | Stock News & Stock Market Analysis – IBD". Investor's Business Daily. Archived from the original on 26 November 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  7. ^ "Sina Weibo, 'China's Twitter', files for IPO". Hindustan Times. Agence France-Presse. 15 March 2014. Archived from the original on 15 March 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  8. ^ "Sina Weibo removes the 'Sina' from its name, now just 'Weibo'". South China Morning Post. 31 March 2014. Archived from the original on 12 October 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  9. ^ Joe Cornell (14 April 2014). "Spin-Offs in the Spotlight: The 'Spin-Cycle'". Forbes. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  10. ^ Patrick M. Sheridan (17 April 2014). "Weibo IPO leads Chinese stock invasion". CNN. Archived from the original on 14 February 2020. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  11. ^ Team, What's on Weibo (6 July 2019). "Summer Censorship: Weibo Launches "Project Sky Blue"". Archived from the original on 12 October 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  12. ^ Sherisse Pham (29 September 2020). "A big Chinese tech company is quitting Wall Street after 20 years". CNN. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  13. ^ "Statistics: Weibo monthly active users (MAU) & DAU". China Internet Watch. 28 September 2020. Archived from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  14. ^ Griffiths, James (20 March 2019). "Weibo's Free-Speech Failure". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2020.