Hong Kong — Tencent Holdings has agreed to invest in Chinese live broadcasting app Kuaishou ahead of a potential initial public offering (IPO) of the Baidu-backed start-up, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Tencent and Kuaishou planned to announce the deal as soon as this week, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions were confidential. Tencent has been boosting spending on services, including video-streaming, to retain users for its WeChat and QQ messaging platforms. Kuaishou, which runs a live-streaming social media platform similar to Twitter’s Periscope and Facebook’s Instagram, was founded in 2011, its website shows. Millions of original videos are generated daily using its technology, according to the website. The company competes with Sina-backed Miaopai, which allows users to film and share brief videos. A representative for Kuaishou declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Tencent did not immediately respond to an e-ma...
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