China New Spate of Local Online Media IPOs?

So suggests this Reuters story, citing the example of Eastday.com, Shanghai’s biggest online news portal…the story says that the site, owned majority by Shanghai city government (not an uncommon occurrence in the country) plans to do its IPO locally in China by early next year. This is unlike other online portals such as Sina, Sohu, Netease and Tom Online, which are all listed on Nasdaq.

Eastday.com was launched in 2000 and run by the news office of the Shanghai government…Shanghai Oriental, operator of the city’s Oriental Pearl TV Tower, has invested 72 million yuan ($9.37 million) for a 12 percent stake in Eastday.com and will remain its top shareholder after the Web site’s IPO, the story says.

This IPO is part of Beijing’s plans to boost China’s media industry ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games….other sites controlled by the govt, such as People.com.cn, the site of the official People’s Daily, and Xinhuanet.com, the online version of China’s official Xinhua News Agency, are also slated to have been “chosen” by the Chinese govt. as pilot portals that the government is looking at for possible public listings as well.

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