Rumor Has It Shein Has Filed for a US IPO — Retail Bum

Fast fashion giant Shein, valued at over $60 billion, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in New York, media reports indicate.

An IPO could make Shein the most valuable Chinese company in the U.S. market, following in the footsteps of ride-hailing giant Didi Global, which went public at a valuation of $68 billion in 2021. Didi Global was later delisted amidst the Chinese government’s crackdown on firms that were listed or preparing to be listed in overseas markets.

While the company labeled the news of its IPO registration as rumors, sources reveal that could company could make its public debut by the end of 2023.

The company’s IPO filing comes after nearly three years of repeated efforts to go public in the U.S. This included moving the company’s headquarters from Nanjing, China, to Singapore and Shein founder Chris Xu applying for Singaporean citizenship to bypass China’s arduous overseas listing rules. However, challenges posed by the pandemic, regulatory crackdown, and, more recently, the global repercussions of Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine severely delayed the company’s timeline.

Earlier this year, the company was looking to raise $2 billion in an investment round led by UAE’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and supported by the company’s existing…