China.com, the first big tech IPO from China and one-time darling of netizens of Beijing in the late 1990s before running into disarray for many years as it hopped to new management and buyers, has found a new owner.
According to reports in Chinese local media, Lander Sports Development will fully acquire China.com for no less than CNY150 million and the related trademark and China.com domain will continue to be used after the acquisition.
Lander Sports said that its multimedia networking platform will be based on China.com and will become the core platform of the media business sector of the company.
Lander Sports and GMG, the current owner, have reportedly signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement on China.com, which states that Lander Sports will invest CNY150 million to acquire GMG's subsidiaries, China.com (Hong Kong) and Huawang Huitong; meanwhile, Lander Sports will inherit the domain and trademark of China.com.
After getting listed on Nasdaq in 1999, the company experienced a bubble period in 2000; and with the severe competition among portal websites, the company finally filed for bankruptcy in October 2011, ending its ten-year suffering period. China.com was delisted on October 28, 2011.
After delisted, China.com continued its daily business, but continued to lose money. In 2013, the company was sold to GMG for CNY71.85 million.
