Baidu-backed iQiyi, the Chinese video streaming service recently valued by analysts¹ at $15bn, has filed for an initial public offering in the US.

百度(Baidu)投资的爱奇艺(iQiyi)已申请在美国举行首次公开发行(IPO)。爱奇艺是一家中国在线视频网站，最近分析师对其的估值为150亿美元。

Owner Baidu confirmed last week it was filing documents with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to list the streaming unit in the US.

百度上周证实已向美国证交会(SEC)提交文件，申请让这家在线视频网站在美上市。

The SEC filing to list on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker IQ, published on Tuesday evening, gave an initial offering size of $1.5bn - a value iQiyi said was a placeholder estimate. Jeffries analysts have valued the company at $15bn.

周二晚公布的美国证交会申报文件显示，爱奇艺将在纳斯达克(Nasdaq)交易所上市，股票代码为IQ，首次发行规模为15亿美元（爱奇艺表示这只是一个虚数）。杰富瑞(Jefferies)分析师对该公司的估值为150亿美元。

Subscription² fees from the video streaming service, which has been likened to Netflix, were the key driver behind Baidu’s strong revenue growth in 2017. The search engine giant has spent more than $2bn acquiring content to beef up iQiyi against streaming platforms run by Chinese rivals Alibaba and Tencent.

爱奇艺的订阅费是百度2017年收入强劲增长背后的关键驱动力。这家搜索引擎巨头已在内容购买上花费了20多亿美元，以增强爱奇艺相对百度的国内竞争对手阿里巴巴(Alibaba)和腾讯Tencent)运营的在线视频平台的竞争力。

Baidu will remain controlling shareholder³ of iQiyi after the listing, holding all Class B voting shares as Class A shares are offered to the public.

爱奇艺上市后，百度仍将是其控股股东、持有所有B类有投票权的股份，A类股份则面向公众发售。