Weibo Denies Report of Plans to Take Company Private

  • Internet pioneer Sina Corp. launched messaging app in 2009
  • Company chairman Chao cited denying report in statement

   

Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg

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A Weibo Corp. representative denied a report that the chairman of the Chinese Twitter-like service and a state investor are in talks to take the company private.

The shares gave up much of the gains on an earlier reportBloomberg Terminal from Reuters that said the deal could value Weibo at $20 billion and ease an exit for Weibo’s major shareholder, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Reuters cited people familiar with the matter and said it wasn’t clear which Chinese state firm was in on the deal.