(Yicai Global) March 26 -- Chinese lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu, better known overseas as Little Red Book, has recruited an investment banker from US financial services giant Citigroup as its new chief financial officer and is not preparing to go public anytime soon, The Paper reported today.

Yang Ruo, who was managing director of Citi’s technology, media and telecoms investment banking department, will be responsible for drawing up Xiaohongshu’s financial strategy as well as financial management and internal controls, the report said. He also worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Guangzhou office before joining UK professional services firm Ernst & Young in San Francisco.

Xiaohongshu also denied a report published today by US media outlet The Information that the Shanghai-based company is planning an initial public offering in the United States as soon as this year, The Paper said. According to The Information, investors said the floatation could value the firm at more than USD10 billion.

In June 2018, Xiaohongshu secured USD300 million in funding led by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holdings, boosting its value to around USD3 billion.

The platform lets users share product reviews, travel blogs and lifestyle stories through short videos and photos. It had over 100 million monthly active users as of last June, most of which were women born between 1990 and 1999.

Editor: Kim Taylor