Its founder, William Ding, is reportedly ready and willing to sell to the highest bidder. But insiders say that until the deal is officially announced, anything can still happen as bankers, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs converge on Beijing to put money on the table. Sohu, which runs the third major Chinese portal, has seen stakes previously owned by foreign companies, including Dow Jones and Intel, being snapped up by a Chinese software company called Beida Jade Bird Group. The attention isn't just on those for sale. Buyers are under frenzied pressure, too.
Executives there are publicly coy about specific acquisition plans.
But Chinadotcom has to stop sniffing around and act soon, analysts say. The company had a licensing agreement with AOL in Hong Kong, but that is winding down, and AOL is likely to bypass them in favor of Legend as a partner in China. Chinadotcom was one of the first China Internet companies to diversify its revenue stream beyond the portal business, but if it wants to remain a serious force in the market, it desperately needs to acquire one of the existing domestic portals. Privacy Policy Stock data provided by Stockpoint and its data suppliers.