(Yicai Global) April 24 -- Douyu International Holdings, the Chinese video game live-streaming platform backed by Tencent Holdings, aims to raise USD500 million through a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. 

Wuhan-based Douyu, seen as the Chinese version of Amazon's streaming platform Twitch,  will use the proceeds for content, research and development, marketing  and general corporate purposes, according to the filing. Shenzhen-based  Tencent holds a 40 percent stake in the firm.

The company's greatest rival, Guangzhou-based Huya, listed in the US in May. 

Douyu pocketed an annual revenue of CNY3.7 billion (USD543 million) last year  and incurred a net loss of CNY876 million. Monthly active users  averaged 159 million in the first quarter of this year, of which six  million have paid subscriptions. 

Huya generated CNY4.7 billion in revenue last year with a net loss of CNY1.9  billion. It boasted 116 million monthly active users as of the fourth  quarter, with close to five million paid members. 

Sustained losses, a single income model and a deep reliance on subscriptions have  emerged as problems for China's live-streaming sector. For Douyu,  revenue from live streaming accounted for 77 percent, 81 percent and 86  percent of total revenues in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. It  comprises 96 percent of Huya's revenue while advertising makes up less  than 4 percent. 

Tencent and Douyu have conducted close business cooperation. The tech giant  paid around CNY50 million in advertising fees to Douyu last year while  the platform paid CNY260 million for cloud services and over CNY100  million for content.

Editor: William Clegg