Sina's Weibo rings in profits

An advertisement for Weibo.com, the Twitter-like microblogging service of Sina, is seen at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport in Shanghai, China, 13 July 2013. [Photo / Image China]

Although facing strong competition from Tencent's WeChat, Sina Corp's Q4 net revenue soars as Weibo's advertisements sales witness a year-on-year increase of 163 percent.

Sina Corp, a Chinese online media company that runs Weibo, a famous Twitter-like micro-blogging service, released its annual revenue report and Q4 revenue report on Feb 25, 2014.

According to the two reports, with a year-on-year increase of 151 percent and $3 million operating profits in Q4, Sina Weibo has made profits for the first time since its launch in 2009. Meanwhile, the company’s annual net revenue reached $665.1 million, up 26 percent year-on-year, and its net revenue of the fourth quarter hit $197 million.

Increase in sales came from Weibo's advertisements while value-added services contributed to company's annual revenue, said Cao Guowei, chief executive officer of Sina.

As one of the main social networking services provider in the Chinese market, Sina Weibo is well set to make profits, said T.H. Capital, an independent research and investment advisory firm based in China.

JPMorgan Chase & Co, a New York-based financial institution, maintains Sina's shares at overweight and the target price at $100.

To help Weibo's commercialization, Sina will leverage its online news portal, Internet video and mobile payment to help it grab a piece of the pie of the booming mobile Internet market.

The company plans to invest in mobile Internet, online video and other vertical value-added services to increase its competitiveness and expand its market share, said Cao. "By leveraging Sina.com and Sina Weibo, Internet finance and online sports game broadcasting will be used by Sina to compete in the industry," added Cao.

According to Xinhua News Agency,just a couple of hours after Sina announced its financial results,a source told Xinhua that Sina Weibo is planning a stock market listing in New York "relatively soon". The initial public offering, which will look to raise about $500 million, is scheduled to happen in the first half of the year, possibly in May, added the source on condition of anonymity.

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