China.com Jumpstarts Global Internet Expansion Plans

More than a decade after the website sunk into oblivion, the new owners of the China.com domain name are hoping an international revival will grab users back to the site.

Guoguang Global Media Holdings Limited, the industrial management platform of China Radio International, recently announced growth plans for its acquired business, China.com. Founded in May 1999, China.com is one of the earliest portal websites in China. In October 2013, China.com's Internet portal business was acquired by Guoguang Global Media for HKD90.8 million.

According to Guoguang Global Media, China.com will open several foreign-language websites, establish transnational portals and vertical channels, and develop mobile client products in the future.

Zhou Yueyun, general manager of China.com, told local media that the company's development plan for 2014 includes three major sectors. For the mobile sector, they will focus on the development of news and forum client products and as a content provider they will cooperate with more devices. For the regional sector, they will adopt the franchising model to establish portals in over 20 cities in China as well as 11 foreign-language sites. For the industry sector, they will add new vertical channels such as finance, tourism, trade, and calligraphy, in addition to their existing automobile and game channels.

In the China.com plans, foreign-language sites are a very important part of their strategy. The website has launched 11 foreign-language sites, and more will be available in the future. Gong Yuguo, president of China.com, said though the existing portal website model is mature, the successful cases of transnational portals are rare. This is expected to become the greatest value for China.com in the future.