China's Netease looks to Nasdaq listing next year
SHANGHAI, July 16 (Reuters) - Netease, one of China's most popular Internet portals, plans to make a listing of its shares next year, possibly on Nasdaq, a company official said on Friday.
The official of the Beijing-based company declined to say how much might be raised through the offer, but he said the firm could make a listing in mid-2000 after it had time to expand its business.
China.com Corp (Nasdaq:CHINA - news), a Hong Kong-based Internet portal company, made a hugely successful initial public offer this week, more than tripling in price on its first trading day on Nasdaq.
That has inspired other China-related Internet firms to consider similar moves.
Beijing-based Sohu.com has also said it wants to offer shares next year.
Netease (www.netease.com), founded two years ago by chief executive officer William Ding, ranks in various user surveys among the top three portal sites in China along with Sina.com and Sohu.com.
The company says it has about 3.3 million page views per day though independent consultants give a somewhat lower figure.
The Netease official told Reuters the company had started work on a public offer at the end of last year. He did not say how proceeds from an offer might be spent but he said the company saw e-commerce as a key area of expansion.
Netease recorded profits of four million yuan ($483,000) in 1998, the official said.
It expects to have revenue of about $700,000 this year from its web-site advertisements. The official gave no other figures.
($1 = 8.28 yuan) |
