The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on January 13 approved the initial public offering (IPO) by People's Daily's online news portal, People.cn, which will become the first publicly listed state-level news platform.

People.cn plans to raise about 527 million yuan ($84 million) on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, according to a preliminary prospectus posted on CSRC's website.

People's Daily, one of the country's biggest newspapers by circulation, is the largest shareholder in People.cn. It has 66.01 percent of the portal's equity.

People.cn plans to invest more in its Internet services, improve its infrastructure and strengthen its news reporting team.

The company is facing "serious challenges" from Sina.com.cn, Sohu.com, QQ.com and other commercial news websites, the prospectus said.

People.com.cn, People.cn's chief website, was placed at No. 64 in a ranking of China's most popular websites on January 13, according to data from Chinarank.org.cn, which ranks other websites. Its main competitor, the commercial website Sina.com.cn, ranked No. 4 on the list and Sohu.com came in at No. 6.