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¡¡Welcome£ºAbout SINA > Press Releases > Text
 
SINA to Acquire Online Travel Company in China

¡¡¡¡Acquisition will mark SINA¡¯s entry into online travel market in China and will be a cornerstone of SINA¡¯s overall E-Commerce strategy

¡¡¡¡Shanghai, China.--(PR Newswire)¡ªDec 9, 2003--SINA Corporation (Nasdaq:SINA), a leading online media company and value-added information service provider for China and for global Chinese communities, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Fortune Trip, an online hotel booking company based in Shanghai. After the acquisition, SINA expects Fortune Trip to become a cornerstone of its expanded effort into E-Commerce.

¡¡¡¡In the past five years, China has seen a rapid growth in its economy. Along with this growth, its travel industry has expanded dramatically experiencing a 12.9% compounded annual growth from 1998 through 2002. According to data from the China National Tourism Administration, the total tourism expenditure in China was roughly 388 billion RMB (USD 47 billion) in 2002. Simultaneously, with a rapidly expanding Internet population in China reaching 68 million users as of June 2003, according to CNNIC, an ever increasing amount of hotel information and booking are being researched and conducted over the Internet.

¡¡¡¡Fortune Trip is an online hotel booking company established in November, 2001. It currently has over 130 employees with main operation based in Shanghai along with in-field sales and marketing personnel operating in several major metropolitan areas including Beijing, Shanghai and cities in Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces. Fortune Trip has a national coverage with over 1,000 hotels in its hotel network.

¡¡¡¡"With the rapid advancement of Internet and Mobile industry in China, we believe that the growth of E-commerce will soon follow," said Wang Yan, CEO of SINA. "Leading the way of E-commerce growth in China will be virtual products such as hotel and airline booking, digital entertainment such as game and music downloads that bypass the issue of logistics. Our acquisition of Fortune Trip represents a significant step in the direction of E-commerce for SINA.¡±

¡¡¡¡The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2004.

¡¡¡¡About SINA

¡¡¡¡SINA Corporation (FKA: SINA.com) (Nasdaq:SINA) is a leading online media company and value-added information service ("VAS") provider for China and for global Chinese communities. With a branded network of localized web sites targeting Greater China and overseas Chinese, SINA operates three major business lines including SINA.com (online media and entertainment service), SINA Online (consumer fee-based online and wireless VAS) and SINA.net (small and medium-sized enterprises VAS), providing an array of services including online portals, premium email, wireless short messaging, virtual ISP, search, classified information, online games, e-commerce, e-learning and enterprise e-solutions.

¡¡¡¡To learn more about SINA, please logon to our corporate Web site at corp.sina.com

¡¡¡¡Safe Harbor Statement

¡¡¡¡This announcement contains forward-looking statements. We may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in our periodic reports to the Securities and Exchange commission on forms 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, etc., in our annual report to shareholders, in our proxy statements, in our offering circulars and prospectuses, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by our officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current plans, estimates and projections, and therefore you should not place undue reliance on them. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. We caution you that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, SINA¡¯s historical losses, its limited operating history, the uncertain regulatory landscape in the People's Republic of China, fluctuations in quarterly operating results, the Company's reliance on its mobile content value added services and online advertising sales for a majority of its revenues, the Company¡¯s reliance on mobile operators in China to provide wireless short messaging service, any failure to successfully develop and introduce new products and any failure to successfully integrate acquired businesses. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in SINA's prospectus, 10K, 10Q and in its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contact:
Denise Roche
646-536-7008
droche@theruthgroup.com
Chen Fu
(86-21) 62895678 ext. 6089
fuchen@staff.sina.com

 






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