Yahoo! And SINA announce auctions joint venture
Combination of China's Leading Portal and the World's No. 1 Internet Brand Will Create a Full-Featured Auctions-Based Ecommerce Service In China
Sunnyvale, CA & Beijing, China -- January 13, 2004 -- Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - News), a leading global Internet company, and SINA Corporation (Nasdaq:SINA - News), a leading Chinese portal, today announced they have signed a definitive agreement to establish a joint venture that will provide a new auctions-based ecommerce service for small- and medium-sized businesses and buyers and sellers in China. The new service will combine SINA's leading brand and valuable audience in China with Yahoo!'s global brand strength and proven ecommerce expertise from its top-ranked auctions services in Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Through the joint venture, Yahoo! and SINA will create a full-featured auctions-based ecommerce platform that will provide both a fixed-price and bid-price model for the sale of consumer goods, and also offer a range of services to facilitate transactions.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"The Yahoo! and SINA joint venture creates a full-featured ecommerce service capable of pairing small- and medium-sized businesses with buyers and sellers in China," said Dan Rosensweig, chief operating officer, Yahoo! Inc. "The new service also extends the current offerings of both companies in an emerging ecommerce and auctions market that is growing quickly."
"With the rapid growth of the Chinese Internet market, we see that all indicators point to a strong surge in Chinese ecommerce," said Yan Wang, chief executive officer, SINA. "With SINA's brand and traffic in China coupled with Yahoo's technology, know-how and worldwide brand, we are creating an ecommerce platform that will be trusted and widely available to Internet users in China. We hope that through this venture, we will ultimately make a significant contribution to the further development of ecommerce in China."
During the last five years, China has witnessed significant growth in its Internet user population, and according to CNNIC, there were 78 million Chinese Internet users as of December 2003.
The Yahoo! and SINA joint venture supports the companies' respective strategies to further enable and support China's small- and medium-sized businesses in their efforts to reach a larger buying audience.
The service will be co-branded, and is expected to be available to Chinese Internet sellers and buyers by mid-year 2004.
About SINA
SINA Corporation (FKA: SINA.com) (Nasdaq:SINA - News) 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.
About Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is a leading provider of comprehensive online products and services to consumers and businesses worldwide. Yahoo! is the No. 1 Internet brand globally and the most trafficked Internet destination worldwide. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Yahoo!'s global network includes 25 world properties and is available in 13 languages.
Yahoo! Inc. Safe Harbour
This press release and its attachments contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning Yahoo! Inc.'s and SINA Corporation's planned joint venture, and Yahoo!'s expected strategic and operational plans. Actual events or results may differ materially from those described in this press release due to a number of risks and uncertainties. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the possibility that the reaction of, and acceptance by, customers of the proposed joint venture and general economic conditions. More information about potential factors that could affect Yahoo's business and financial results is included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2002 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2003, including (without limitation) under the captions, "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," which are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and available at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.
SINA Safe Harbour
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:
Yahoo!
Media Relations:
Diva Cheung, + 86-10-85192125
Yahoo! China (Beijing, China)
divach@yahoo-inc.com
Scott Morris, 408-349-6347
Yahoo! Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA)
smorris@yahoo-inc.com
Investor Relations:
Cathy Larocca, 408-349-5188
Yahoo! Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA)
cathy@yahoo-inc.com
or
Fleishman-Hillard, San Francisco (for Yahoo!)
Ruben Osorio, 415-318-4108
osorior@fleishman.com
or
SINA
Media Relations and Investor Relations:
Chen Fu, +86-2162895678 ext. 6089 (China)
fuchen@staff.sina.com
or
Denise Roche, 646-536-7008 (US)
droche@theruthgroup.com
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