M&A Rumors II: Sina, Yahoo!, Netease, Shanda, Eachnet

From China Economic Net:

"A source with Yahoo China noted that acquiring Sina accords with Yahoo's logic. Yahoo likes to make up for its weakness through M&As."

"In November last year, Yahoo reviewed the China market, and acquired a Chinese website 3721with US$120 million. In April this year, its founder Jerry Yang noted in Beijing,"The game just got started in China". However, 3721's domain name service utterly does not meet Yahoo's impulse for portals. As a powerful media, Sina has broad business lines, and makes the best target of acquisition for Yahoo in its attempt to become the premier portal in China. In April this year, Sina and Yahoo set up a joint venture"1pai"."

They also assume that NetEase or Shanda could be interested in a merger with sina to keep a competitive position in the chinese market.

"By acquiring Sina, Yahoo will pose pressure to NetEase and other portals. Yahoo's search, email, instant communication technology and management expertise are precisely Sina's weaknesses. Once these combine with Sina's enormous traffic, it will generate huge power. The combination of Shanda and Sina will result in a giant that is an absolute leader in the fields of online games, wireless communication and content. That will put NetEase, which is weak in all of the three aspects, in an awkward position in competition."

"Whether Yahoo, NetEase or Shanda wins at last, the reshuffling of China's portal sector has inevitably started." Read More


From English.eastday: Eachnet denies Sina buy report

"Eachnet.com will not purchase the key rival Sina.com, its chief executive officer Sun Deli said yesterday as quoted by Eastday.com.Sun was clearing a recent message circulating on the market at a press conference when the company published its third quarter financial report for this year."It's totally a rumor", he said, adding that "Eachnet has not conducted any talks for merges or acquisitions with Sina"." Read More