UUZone.com, one of the first social networking service websites in China, has published a notice stating it will close all services in March 2009.
As one of the first batch of Chinese SNS websites, UUZone.com once gained over USD1 million investment from the venture capital firm Morningside Ventures. In 2005, the peak time for UUZone.com, its comprehensive power ranked first among the top nine Chinese SNS websites with three million registered users. Apparently it could not adequately maneuver a userbase of three million into making decent revenue, so the website must now close.
Morningside is probably licking its wounds now, and the website's closure comes after a number of missteps. In mid-December 2006, the third anniversary of UUZone.com, its founder Mao Zhihong departed from the company. At the end of February 2007, the website suffered problems that caused it to go offline, which caused concern among users. On May 15, 2007, UUZone.com dismissed many of its employees because of financial problems.