U.S. firms invest in Chinese Web site
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A group of U.S. venture capital firms, including Disney's investment arm, was set to announce Wednesday that it had invested $23.5 million in UUSee, a major Chinese site for Web video.
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(InfoWorld) - One of Jack Ma's companies has 27 million registered users, but the Alibaba.com chief executive officer can only think of the people not using his site. "We want to show how big the China market is," Ma said Saturday in an interview in Hangzhou, where Alibaba is headquartered. The group's auction site, Taobao.com, claims 27 million registered users and about 70 percent of China's consumer auction market. "I want the Taobao team to focus on getting more and more people and more and more transactions," Ma said, adding that "110 million [Chinese Internet] users are not using the site." To encourage use, Ma announced in 2005 that Taobao would not charge for transactions or listings. "Last year we said three years. Maybe next year we'll think about starting to charge," he said. He also projected that the auction company will account for 30 percent of Alibaba's revenue by 2010. Ma, whose Chinese name is Ma Yun, said he still has no timetable for the company to go public. "It is a golden time for Alibaba to get ready for the next wave of e-commerce in China." He sees that next wave as the large-scale adoption of e-commerce by small and medium-sized businesses. SMBs will be "the engine for the next five to 10 years of the Chinese economy," he said. E-commerce is the Internet's "third wave" in China, Ma said, having been preceded by revenue generated from short messaging service (SMS), which provided a way for Web portals to collect subscription fees, and then from online and mobile gaming. There is no rush for Alibaba to go public, Ma said. "We spent $750 million to buy out all the small investors and let our long-time employees cash out. This is why it's not urgent for us to go public," he said, referring to money gained from a $1 billionÂ investment in AlibabaÂ last year by Yahoo, which took a 40 percent stake in the company and handed over control of its China unit as part of the deal. Of Yahoo China's first year under Alibaba management, he said, "We're happy with the first year results. Yahoo survived." Headcount doubled from 400 to 800, he said. "I want to lower expectations for Yahoo China," Ma said, adding that he wanted to do something "new and fresh" with it. The site's new search technology would be ready at the end of September or early October, with which Ma said, "We can compete" with Baidu and Google's sites. "Next year, we want to make Yahoo China healthy. Then the next year, we make it a top-tier company, top three [in China]," he said. Yahoo shareholders are getting a good return on their investment, according to Ma. "Even if Alipay [Alibaba's online payment company] is zero, Taobao is zero, and Yahoo is losing money, Alibaba.com is already profitable." The group has over $250 million in the bank, and is cash-flow positive, Ma said. Speaking earlier in the day at the company's Alifest company event in Hangshou, Yahoo cofounder Jerry Yang said "We are extremely satisfied with our cooperation with Ma Yun." He added that when Yahoo was re-examining its presence in China, "we looked for the most suitable partner, and we invested in Alibaba."
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A union group on Thursday unveiled a  Web site that lets users identify more than 200,000 U.S.-based  companies it says have exported American jobs or lost them  because they were hurt by foreign trade.
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China remained an attractive destination for foreign investors who poured in 43.6 billion dollars during the first eight months of the year, 18.8 percent more than the same period last year, the government said.
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Investor's Business Daily - Chinese Internet companies that lit up Wall Street last year have become fading stars. Most blame the slowdown in the wireless end of their business for their shrinking market value.
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Billions of dollars worth of global telecommunications networks bought or built by United States investors now belong to Chinese, Indian and other non-American companies that have snapped them up for a fraction of their cost.
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EBay Inc. CEO Meg Whitman emphasized her commitment to the Chinese e-commerce market Tuesday, announcing a new Web site and joint venture with a Beijing-based Internet company.
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China.com, a leading Internet services provider in China and a Hong Kong  listed subsidiary of CDC Corporation (NASDAQ:CHINA), announced today  that it has signed advertising contracts with Google and China Mobile to  further expand its strategic partnerships with these industry leaders.
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The notion that names of Web sites can be valuable, cash-generating assets just like stocks, bonds or property appears to be gaining a broader acceptance.
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Chinese banks, an instant messaging service, and games topped the list of fastest-rising search terms on Google's Chinese Web site in 2007.
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Shares in China's online site Tom Online rose strongly on Tuesday, after reports the firm could join with eBay in China.
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China's top site has another big quarter.
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What does it mean that more Chinese will soon be online than Americans?
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EBay Inc.  on Tuesday  confirmed it is forming a joint venture with Chinese partner  Tom Online (8282.HK) as the U.S. Web auction giant  switches strategies for tapping the promising China market  where it has so far struggled.
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Google Inc. and Baidu.com Inc., its biggest rival in China, are exploring similar options to expand their online video services in the world's fourth-largest economy.
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News Corp.'s (NWSa.N) MySpace.com is  in talks to bring the social-networking site to China with  Boston technology trade publisher International Data Group's  Chinese venture arm and former China Netcom Group Corp.  (0906.HK) Chief Executive Edward Tian, the Wall Street Journal  reported on its Web site on Friday.
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Google Inc.  has won  preliminary approval from Beijing to provide Internet content  in China, the firm said on Wednesday, potentially allowing it  to offer news in the world's second-largest Internet market.