The newspaper – the mouthpiece of China’s ruling Communist Party – wants the money so the website can compete with its commercial rivals.
It will upgrade technology and improve online services.
The latest change comes to the People’s Daily, a national newspaper that has been the voice of China’s ruling Communist Party since 1948.
It has applied to list its website in Shanghai within the next six months. About one quarter of the site’s shares are being offered.
It wants to use the money raised to develop mobile services and strengthen its editorial team.
The People’s Daily is not known as an easy read.
The People’s Daily Online currently attracts just a fraction of those websites’ online traffic.
It hopes the money raised in this initial public offering will help rectify that problem.