Sina.com Chairman Sees Great Potential in China's CyberspaceChina will play a leading role in the development of Internet industry, said Tuesday Daniel Chiang, chairman of Sina.com.China, with its huge market, will attract lots of talents and capital like a huge magnet, Chiang said at a luncheon panel discussion sponsored by the Asia Society Hong Kong Center. Chiang also pointed out that portals must provide viable channels and own a solid business model to survive in the tough competition in Internet industry. He predicted that the gap between the leading Internet companies and the fledgling ones will be widened and the latter will gradually be squeezed out of the market. "The first is the winner in cyberspace," he said. Chiang told the press that Sina.com, created in March 1999, is still at a loss, but is expected to break even in the next one or two years. Sina.com, listed on the Nasdaq stock market on April 13 this year, does not rule out the possibility of being listed on other markets in the future, according to Chiang. Chiang admitted that the timing of Sina's listing on Nasdaq may be the worst in the past 10 to 12 years. "But we do not rule out the possibility of a second or third public offering when the public market bounces back," he said. He said that advertisement is the main source of Sina's revenue, like the case at many other portals. "Though electronic commerce begins to grow, our edge is the huge information base," he said. |
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