Xiaohongshu Bets on Male Users Ahead of IPO as Goldman Sachs Leads Hong Kong Listing
Taylor Wilson
Xiaohongshu has hired Goldman Sachs to lead a Hong Kong IPO that would be China's largest internet listing since Didi in 2021. The company is betting its growth on male users rather than lower-tier cities — a high-ARPU but unproven expansion path chosen on the eve of going public.
How big is this IPO?
Xiaohongshu (小红书) has appointed Goldman Sachs as lead underwriter and assembled lawyers and headhunters to prepare for a Hong Kong listing.
A 2024 private share sale valued the company at $17 billion; secondary-market prices have risen sharply since.
This means → if approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, it would be the largest Chinese internet IPO since Didi's 2021 U.S. listing — a landmark deal for Hong Kong's market.
Why target male users instead of lower-tier cities?
Xiaohongshu has 350 million monthly active users; 60% are concentrated in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and other top-tier cities. Males account for just 26%.
The internal logic: lower-tier users generate less ad revenue per head; male users in first-tier cities carry higher spending power.
In plain terms = rather than chasing cheaper users in smaller cities, Xiaohongshu wants first-tier men scrolling the same app — same city, one more ad sold.
What cards has the male-user strategy played?
When the push began in 2020, women made up roughly 90% of users. The platform then boosted creators in cars, watches and other male-leaning categories.
In 2024 it signed French footballer Kylian Mbappé as brand ambassador; this year it secured FIFA World Cup broadcast rights for China.
This reflects a "crossover" playbook — use sports rights for a short-term traffic spike, then try to retain users through the content ecosystem.
Can the World Cup actually retain male users?
One company investor was blunt: "The World Cup may broaden the male user base, but whether those users stay after the tournament is the real question."
A case in point: a 30-year-old user surnamed Zhou in Zhejiang installed Xiaohongshu for the World Cup, then deleted it and switched to state broadcaster CCTV, saying the app still feels like a "women's platform."
This means → sports rights can create a traffic peak, but once a brand perception hardens, a single tournament is unlikely to reverse it — retention is the make-or-break variable for the IPO story.
Strong ads, weak e-commerce — two sides of one model?
Xiaohongshu turned profitable in 2023; advertising is the primary revenue source. Known for high-quality content and aesthetic curation, its ad rates rank among the highest in Chinese social media.
Olivia Plotnick, founder of Shanghai marketing firm Wai Social, noted: "Consumers get inspired on Xiaohongshu, then complete the purchase on Taobao."
E-commerce team members revealed that many merchants offer lower prices on Taobao and refuse to match them on Xiaohongshu, because the platform lacks Taobao's scale economics.
In plain terms = Xiaohongshu is a "discovery engine" but not a "checkout counter" — users are persuaded, then pay somewhere else. The e-commerce loop has not closed.
How will capital markets read this story?
The company is recruiting international executives to its board to strengthen governance; the IPO has not yet received CSRC approval.
Whether male-user retention holds up after the World Cup buzz fades will be the pivotal test for the market's assessment of the growth thesis.
This means → investors face one core question: is Xiaohongshu a proven premium-ad platform, or a growth story still betting on an unproven user-mix shift — and the IPO pricing will hinge on which answer prevails.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.