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¡¡Welcome£ºAbout SINA > Press Releases > Text
 
eLong Announces Plan to Acquire Fortune Trip, One of China¡¯s Leading Hotel Consolidators; Enters Three Year Strategic Advertising Agreement with SINA

¡¡¡¡BEIJING and SHANGHAI, China ¨CMay 31, 2005 - eLong, Inc. (NASDAQ: LONG), a leading online travel service provider in China, and SINA Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA), a leading online media company and value-added information service provider for China and for global Chinese communities, today announced that they have entered into definitive agreements by which eLong will acquire Shanghai Xinwang Computer Technology Co., Ltd. and its affiliate Bravado Investments Limited which together are engaged in the business of providing online and offline hotel booking services in the People¡¯s Republic of China (¡°PRC¡±) under the Fortune Trip brand name. eLong expects the deal to close during its second quarter ending June 30, 2005.

¡¡¡¡Fortune Trip is one of the largest hotel consolidators in China and has its head office in Shanghai, China. During the year ended December 31, 2004, Fortune Trip¡¯s customers booked approximately 250,000 hotel rooms through its call center and online via SINA¡¯s hotel channel. Fortune Trip has a national hotel network of 1,600 hotels.

¡¡¡¡eLong and SINA separately announced they have entered into a three year strategic advertising cooperation agreement whereby eLong will become SINA¡¯s exclusive hotel bookings partner in the PRC upon the closing of the Fortune Trip transaction. During this period, SINA and eLong will operate a co-branded online hotel booking channel, and eLong will receive advertising placements on SINA¡¯s website including SINA¡¯s travel channel, which is located at tour.sina.com.cn. The co-branded hotel channel will be located at sina.elong.com.

¡¡¡¡¡°Through this acquisition we believe eLong will enhance our competitive position especially in Eastern China, increase our hotel volumes and strengthen our management team. We are especially pleased that at closing, Wu Hai, Fortune Trip¡¯s founder and one of China¡¯s most seasoned travel executives, will be joining eLong as a Vice President and Wu Hai will be joined at eLong by the Fortune Trip management team,¡± said Justin Tang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of eLong.

¡¡¡¡¡°We are pleased for the next three years to be teaming up with eLong, one of China¡¯s leading online travel companies, to provide our growing user base access to eLong¡¯s high quality hotel, air and vacation package products,¡± said Wang Yan, Chief Executive Officer of SINA.

¡¡¡¡eLong¡¯s Safe Harbor Statement

¡¡¡¡Statements in this press release concerning eLong¡¯s future business, operating results and financial condition are "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon management's current views and expectations with respect to future events and are not a guarantee of future performance. Furthermore, these statements are, by their nature, subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance and results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors. Factors that could affect the Company's actual results and cause actual results to differ materially from those included in any forward-looking statement include, but are not limited to, eLong¡¯s historical operating losses, its limited operating history, declines or disruptions in the travel industry, the recurrence of SARS, eLong¡¯s reliance on having good relationships with hotel suppliers and airline ticket suppliers, collection risk with respect to eLong¡¯s corporate travel accounts receivable, the possibly that eLong will be unable to timely comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the risk that eLong will not be successful in competing against new and existing competitors, risks associated with IAC¡¯s investment in eLong and the integration of eLong¡¯s business with that of IAC¡¯s, changes in eLong¡¯s management team and other key personnel and other risks outlined in eLong¡¯s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (or SEC), including eLong¡¯s registration statement on Form F-1 filed with SEC in connection with eLong¡¯s IPO and eLong¡¯s Form 6-K filed with the SEC in connection with this press release. eLong undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

¡¡¡¡About eLong, Inc.

¡¡¡¡Founded in 1999, eLong is an independent travel service company headquartered in Beijing with a national presence across China. The Company uses web-based distribution technologies and a 24-hour nationwide call center to provide consumers with consolidated travel information and the ability to access hotel reservations at discounted rates at over 2,600 hotels in major cities across China. The Company also offers air ticketing and other travel related services, such as rental cars, vacation packages and corporate travel services. eLong operates the websites www.elong.com and www.elong.net

¡¡¡¡About SINA

¡¡¡¡SINA Corporation (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 provides services through five major business lines including SINA.com (online news and content), SINA Mobile (mobile value-added services), SINA Online (community-based services and games), SINA.net (search and enterprise services) and SINA E-Commerce (online shopping and travel). Together these provide an array of services including region-focused online portals, mobile value-added services, search and directory, interest-based and community-building channels, free and premium email, online games, virtual ISP, classified listings, fee-based services, e- commerce and enterprise e-solutions.

¡¡¡¡SINA¡¯s Safe Harbor Statement

¡¡¡¡This announcement contains forward-looking statements. SINA may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission on forms 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, etc., in its annual report to shareholders, in its proxy statements, in its offering circulars and prospectuses, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. SINA assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements in this release and elsewhere. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company¡¯s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. 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, the effect of the notice issued by SARFT in late January 2005 on the Company's revenues from usage-based SMS products promoted via direct advertisement on radio and television, the Company's ability to develop and market other usage-based SMS products, fluctuations in quarterly operating results, the Company's reliance on mobile value-added service and online advertising sales for a majority of its revenues, the Company's reliance on mobile operators in China to provide mobile value-added service, the changes in January 2005 by China Mobile to its billing process for undelivered MMS services and the effect of such changes on the Company's MMS revenues, the migration by China Mobile of MMS onto MISC platform and the effect of such migration on the Company's MMS revenues, 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 Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 and its recent reports on Form 10-Q as well as 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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