Sina.com (新浪網), operator of one of the world's most popular Chinese-language Web sites, may seek a listing on the NASDAQ stock market, following the success of a similar move by China.com Corp.
Sina.com officials in Taiwan declined to either confirm or deny a report in yesterday's Hong Kong Economic Times newspaper that the announcement will come within two weeks. That report, which didn't cite its sources, said Goldman Sachs Group will underwrite the listing. Goldman declined to comment.
Sina.com's listing, like China.com's, would combine the Internet and the global Chinese-speaking consumer market.
China.com's shares have risen 308 percent since it listed in mid- July, though the company lost US$8.5 million last year on sales of US$3.5 million.
Sunnyvale, California-based Sina.com was created in December by the merger between Sinanet.com -- founded by three Taiwanese four years earlier -- and Stone Rich Sight Information Technology Co Ltd.
The company operates Chinese-language Web sites in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and North America.
In May, Sina.com said it received a total of US$25 million from Goldman Sachs, the Economic Development Board of Singapore, New York-based Internet venture capital investor Flatiron Partners, and other Internet venture capital groups to help raise its international exposure and enhance its technology.
In June, the company teamed up with Compaq Computer Corp. to allow its Altavista Web search engine to reach Chinese speakers on-line.
Sina.com says it is the No. 1 brand in the Chinese Internet market. According to research firm International Data Corp, the number of Web users in the Asia Pacific area will top that in Western Europe by the year 2001 to become the second-biggest market behind the US.
The company said it has one million registered users and 200 million page hits per month. Its pages include free e-mail, links to electronic commerce vendors and pages on weather, finance, sports and entertainment.
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