China.com Makes Further Asian Web Investments
- 07 January, 2000 13:01
China.com Corp., the aggressive Hong Kong-based Internet company that aims to provide content, services, and advertising across the entire Asian market, yesterday announced the latest in a string of acquisitions.
The company bought a majority stake in Yes!Net, a Taiwanese operator of entertainment and other Web sites, and a minority stake in MusicAsia.com, a music shopping and information site.
China.com purchased 80 percent of Yes!Net in an equity swap under which Yes!Net retains 20 percent ownership. The Taiwanese company runs more than 10 Web sites, including the only site in Taiwan where local Web sites can register their URLs for search engines worldwide, according to China.com. The company also operates an advertising server that supports multiple languages and helps to make efficient use of Internet advertising space.
Other Yes!Net sites offer software downloads, entertainment and lifestyle news, and jokes. China.com now owns the intellectual property rights to Yes!Net's content and plans to leverage it to enrich its China.com's offerings at its own Web portals, such as Hongkong.com and Taiwan.com.
MusicAsia.com features e-commerce functions as well as information on Asian, European, and U.S. music, according to China.com.
Yesterday's acquisitions follow China.com's announcement earlier this week of an e-commerce deal with U.S. business-to-consumer vendor TheBigStore.com. (See "China.com, TheBigStore.com sign retail deal," Jan. 5.) China.com said its MusicAsia.com purchase brings its majority and minority purchases and joint ventures to a total of 23.
Companies both in Asia and the U.S. in recent weeks have joined an Internet land rush to grab their share of an Asian e-commerce market expected to explode in the next few years. (See "Asia E-Commerce Deals Tap Into Big Market," Jan.
6.)
China.com is in Hong Kong and can be reached at http://www.corp.china.com.