HONG KONG, Dec 8, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - China's Twitter-like social media
platform Weibo debuted on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Wednesday but
slipped in early trade as investors remain wary of tech during a Beijing
crackdown on the sector.

  Weibo was trading 7.2 percent down from its initial listing price of
HK$272.80 soon after the open, although it began to recover some of that
ground by mid-morning.

  Several US-listed Chinese tech firms such as Alibaba have held initial
public offerings in Hong Kong over the past two years as the United States
has stepped up scrutiny of Chinese companies.

  Listing in Hong Kong is seen as a hedge against the risk of being removed
from US exchanges and a way of accessing an investor base closer to their
home markets.

  China has also been encouraging its big-tech players to list either in Hong
Kong or Shanghai.

  Weibo raised a healthy $385 million in its Hong Kong IPO, its second
listing after New York's Nasdaq.

  But its tepid debut points to ongoing concerns that China's plans to rein
in the tech sector are not over.

  In recent months, Chinese regulators have launched a wide-ranging clampdown
on tech companies such as Alibaba, Tencent and Meituan -- clipping the wings
of major internet firms that wield heavy influence over consumers' daily
lives.

  According to Bloomberg News, Chinese companies that managed to raise more
than $100 million in their Hong Kong IPOs this year have seen an average
first-session gain of 15 percent.

  Weibo, which launched in 2009 and was among the earliest social media
platforms in China, had 566 million monthly active users as of June, it said
in a filing.

  Its shares have traded on the Nasdaq since 2014.

  Weibo is among the most widely used social media platforms in China, where
authorities have blocked major international players such as Facebook.

  Weibo said it planned to use the funds raised from its Hong Kong listing to
grow its user base and for research and development.

  But it cautioned that it was "subject to changing laws and regulations
regarding regulatory matters, corporate governance and public disclosure"
that have increased both its costs and risks of non-compliance.