Deep-dive 2020-6: Weibo Corporation

Weibo Corporation (WB US) is a Chinese social media platform that reminds us of Twitter. Just like Twitter, Weibo is a public platform that influencers can use to reach their fans, for the government to reach citizens, where journalists can release their news articles and where individuals can share their ideas with the world.

Weibo's strength is the network effect it has in being the largest public social media platform in China, with over 500 million users. Key opinion leaders are attracted by the massive user base, and users are attracted to the people and the information available on the platform. No-one has been able to compete with Weibo – not even Tencent.

In 2018 and 2019, Weibo suffered by an advertising inventory oversupply driven by a massive ramp-up in advertising on Bytedance's platforms. But Bytedance has already finished ramping up its ad load. In early 2020, COVID-19 also hit advertising revenue hard. But promising new vaccines suggest that economy-wide consumption patte…