Chinadotcom Corp (
CDC Mobile, which sells pictures and ring tones to cellphone users in China, had revenue of US$5.9 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30. The company, which didn't say how much it plans to raise, will announce more details in the next few weeks, said spokesman Craig Celek.
"By spinning out the wireless part, they give investors a good way to play the part of their business that has faster growth," said Paul Leung, who helps manage US$1 billion at Sterling Johnson Capital Management in San Francisco.
Shares of Chinese Internet companies such as Sina.com (
Chinadotcom's US-traded shares more than tripled this year as the company posted four quarters of consecutive profit, the longest profitable period since it first sold stock in July 1999.
The stock jumped 10.7 percent today to US$8.67, the largest gain since Oct. 28. Chinadotcom said it expects proceeds from the CDC Mobile sale in the first half of next year.
China's Ctrip.com International Ltd (
Ctrip.com sold 4.2 million American depositary shares in an initial public offering on Monday, raising US$75.6 million in the first Chinese Internet IPO in the US since July 2000. Each ADS is the equivalent of two ordinary shares.
Sohu, Sina and Netease share revenue from messages and other content with cellular duopoly China Mobile Communications Corp (
Sina.com, the largest Chinese internet company by market value, said it plans will raise advertising rates by as much as 30 percent in the first quarter after ad sales jumped 76 percent in the third quarter to US$11.4 million. Total revenue more than tripled to US$31.9 million from US$10.3 million a year earlier.
Their earnings could fall should China Mobile and China United renegotiate contracts, said Leung at Sterling, which sold its 225,000 Chinadotcom shares in July. AOL Time Warner Inc, once the company's fifth-largest shareholder, sold its entire stake of 6.8 million shares, worth US$64.9 million, in September.
"People are looking for growth and see China as an unlimited area," said Jason Diamond, director of research at Capstone Investments in San Diego. "Is there a tremendous amount of logic attached to it? No, there's a sizable hype-premium relative to their earnings performance."
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CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
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Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique