Asian Buying Consortium Teams With KoreaLink.com to Form Click2Asia.com Set to Become Leading Global Asian Portal
LOS ANGELES, Aug 30, 1999 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
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Partnership Will Establish Click2Asia.com as the Dominant Web Site For the Explosive Asian Online Market
The Asian Buying Consortium (ABC), the premiere membership buying club and Web destination (abcflash.com) for Asians in North America, and KoreaLink.com, North America's largest Korean online community, have joined forces to form a new global Asian portal Click2Asia.com.
"ABC's extensive relationships in the Asian Pacific American community and offline marketing expertise together with KoreaLink.com's online community building experience will enable Click2Asia.com to expand its global market presence to English speaking Asians," said Joseph Cheon, founder of KoreaLink.com and CEO of Click2Asia.com.
"This combination will help build Click2Asia.com as the number one online brand for all Asians worldwide. Click2Asia.com will be the first company in the global Asian online space that seeks to merge successful online communities with offline membership benefits and marketing expertise," Cheon concluded.
KoreaLink.com is one of the most successful ethnic Web sites in the world with over 150,000 registered Korean members in North America and 500,000 unique monthly visitors. In 1997, KoreaLink.com was listed as a top 100 site and at its peak was rated the 35th highest trafficked site in the world by Hot100.
ABC brings a successful and extensive membership base and strategic alliances to Click2Asia.com. Among other incentives, ABC provides members with discounts on products and services, including long distance, travel and wireless services, as well as free trial issues and subscription rate discounts on popular Asian-American publications.
Click2Asia.com has a very committed and well established group of investors and board members, including Gareth Chang, chairman, StarTV; John Tu, co-founder and president, Kingston Technology; Thomas Yuen, chairman, SRS Labs and co-founder, AST Research; K.H. Wun, president, Anixter Far East; and AsiaTech Ventures, a leading venture capital firm co-headquartered in the Silicon Valley and Asia.
In the near-term Click2Asia.com will seek to solidify its market dominance in the English speaking Asian community that includes 11 million Asians in the U.S. and 3 million in Canada (U.S. Census).
"As the Asian online market expands, Click2Asia.com will look to raise significantly more funds to acquire and partner with local in-language sites in each major country to extend its presence and unite all Asians globally," said Gareth Chang, chairman, Click2Asia.com advisory board.
According to a United Nations world population report, Asia accounted for 61 percent of the world population, which was 5.9 billion in 1998. After solidifying its leadership in the North American Asian market, Click2Asia.com plans to expand into, and ultimately command, this lucrative global Asian marketplace, which Gartner Group estimates will grow from 12 million current Internet subscribers to 90 million users by 2003.
China.com was the first Asia-related portal to go public on the NASDAQ in July 1999. Shares of China.com closed at US$67.11 on its first trading day, more than triple its initial offering price of $20 per share. Despite not ranking in the top 20 Web sites in China at IPO, China.com's success validates the enormous opportunity for Asian portal companies. Asian users want specialized content, interactivity with other Asians and Asian-centered purchasing opportunities.
"It has been difficult for mainstream portals and Web sites to target this growing and important online segment, but with Click2Asia.com's expertise and dedicated Asian focus, we believe it will be able to clearly command this space," said James Yao, AsiaTech Ventures, a Click2Asia.com investor.
With headquarters in Los Angeles, Click2Asia.com will officially launch in October with additional regional Asian sites planned for introduction shortly thereafter. The Click2Asia.com site promises to be a unique and entertaining Web site that provides visitors with distinctive, informative and interactive content that focuses on Asians and those interested in Asia. Click2Asia.com is actively seeking strategic partners for content, traffic and technology to achieve its global Asian initiatives. |
