As It Files to Go Public, Weibo Emphasizes Mobile (As You Do, When You Do)

As it prepares to go public, the Sina spinoff Weibo is pitching itself as a “mobile first” product with 70 percent of users accessing the social media service from phones and 22 percent of total revenue in 2013 from mobile advertising.

Weibo is hoping to raise $437 million in a Nasdaq listing, according to a recent filing. Weibo has 143.8 million monthly active users, with $188.3 million of revenue for a loss of $38.1 million in 2013.

Though Weibo is perhaps a little too old -- it started in 2009 -- to be a true mobile-only product, mobile is one of the stronger stories the company is telling.

Weibo has been hurt recently by challenges to user growth including competition from Tencent’s mobile messaging service WeChat (though Weibo still serves a need as more of a public tool), as well as rising government censorship, including arrests of prominent Weibo personalities like investor Charles Xue, which was perceived by many as a form of government intimidation of critics. The company said in its filing that growth has also been hurt by recent government identity verification requirements.