SHANGHAI, China, May 10 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- 51.com, China's largest
 blog community, recently announced the closure of its latest round of
 financing, which is co-invested by Intel Capital, Redpoint Ventures (the
 investor of MySpace, the well-known social network in the U.S.), Sequoia
 Capital China and SIG. Prior to that, 51.com received the first round of
 investment from Sequoia Capital China and SIG in May 2006.
     Intel Capital is the venture capital arm of the world largest
 chipmaker, Intel, responsible for equity investment in technology
 innovation companies and other companies worldwide. As one of the largest
 venture capital companies in the world, Sequoia Capital has invested in
 Apple Computer, Cisco, Oracle, Yahoo!, Google, and Paypal, etc. Founded in
 1972, this VC has become the flagship of the American venture capital
 industry. Neil Shen, board director of 51.com is the Founding Managing
 Partner of Sequoia Capital and the co-founder of Ctrip.com International
 Ltd. and Home Inns. He was honored the 2006 CCTV Top Economic Person of
 China.
     The above-mentioned heavyweight investors demonstrate their high
 recognition to 51.com. Neil Shen said, ''We are very satisfied with
 51.com's development in the last year. At present, with the roaring number
 of registered users, login users, simultaneous online users and average
 page views per day, 51.com tops the ranking of Chinese websites. We are
 full of confidence for its future and will continue to support 51.com.
     According to David Yuan, the partner of Redpoint Venture, the investor
 of MySpace, ''Redpoint has been always been looking for a company with the
 same growth potential as MySpace in China, and we decided to invest in
 51.com through a deep understanding of the Company. We believe that 51.com,
 together with its excellent team, will be as successful as MySpace.''
     Alan Pang, Chairman of 51.com, said that the capital raised this time
 would be used for expanding system capacity, improving service and
 enlarging markets. While strengthening product innovation, 51.com would
 constantly improve product quality and enhance user experience so as to
 provide more netizens with excellent blog community services. Max Huang,
 the Chairman assistant and head of data mining and strategy studies of
 51.com, believed that 51.com's blog & community mode set a model for Web
 2.0. With 60 million registered users, over 5 million login users each day
 and an average online duration of 40 minutes for each user, this mode
 competes with TV. Meanwhile, the maximum amount of online users reaches
 500,000, exceeding most online games. And each user views up to 40 pages
 after login on average, exceeding that of a portal.
     New media mode brings new advertising mode. Mr. Pang said, ''It's
 absolutely possible to deliver advertisements according to the users'
 features such as interest, region, age, etc., as only by login can users
 use the services and view the pages.'' Accurate marketing, which is
 impossible to achieve in Web1.0, comes true in the 51.com blog community
 mode.
     The 51.com blog community is devoted to delivering a healthy culture,
 advocating a diversified culture and leading a harmonious culture. As
 regards the business mode's positive impact on society, Mr. Pang said,
 ''The 51.com blog community will provide a platform for Chinese netizens to
 achieve their personal value. It directs the development of industry
 upgrading and we are confident about the future.''
     Insiders think that 51.com's new gain of venture investment of millions
 of dollars in the sluggish financing environment in 2007 symbolizes a new
 mode that balances the self-actualization needs and social demands. Blog
 communities are emerging from the new Web2.0 and they represent the
 development trend of the Internet industry, sending encouraging signals to
 new dotcoms, especially Web2.0 start-ups.
     About 51.com
     http://www.51.com , China's largest blog community, is committed to
 providing personal blog networking services for millions of users via the
 Internet, and it is the network platform for millions of netizens to show
 off themselves.
     51.com's subscribers have reached 60 million, and such a figure is
 still increasing at a rate of 5 million new subscribers per month; the
 website's monthly login users have reached 20 million, and the simultaneous
 online users rocketed to 500,000; with daily average page views totaling up
 to 200 million times. Now 51.com has earned a rank in the top 20 Chinese
 website's worldwide, and its striking development speed has been deemed a
 miracle in China's Internet industry in 2006.
     In May 2006, Sequoia Capital China and SIG successively completed a
 US$6 million strategic investment to 51.com. In May 2007, 51.com obtained
 US$10 million joint investment from Intel Capital, Sequoia Capital,
 Redpoint, and SIG, which completed the Company's second round of financing.
 Such strategic investment offers strong and forceful support for the
 following development and management of 51.com.
     The 51.com blog community will dedicate itself to acting as an
 advocator for a healthy culture, a diversified culture, and a harmonious
 culture. Meanwhile, the Company will continuously strengthen its
 management, R&D and operations, in order to offer high-level products and
 services for Internet users and improve its business model. In addition,
 the Company is making endeavors to become a strong stock on the NASDAQ
 market within three years.
 
 

SOURCE 51.com