Sina.com sees light at the end of the tunnel

Updated at 5.13pm, Friday: Nasdaq-listed Sina.com is still in red but well on its way to making a profit, according to its first quarter (July to September) financial report for the financial year 2001, which was released on Friday.

Sina.com posted a quarterly net loss of US$ 6 million (HK$46.6 million), equivalent to US15 cents loss per share, down US7 cents from that of last quarter and well below the US22 cents loss per share forecast by analysts.

Sina.com also recorded US$6.3 million in advertising income, indicating an almost six fold increase in year-on-year business income and a 28 per cent rise over the previous quarter.

As the biggest Chinese content provider, Sina.com currently has 11 million registered users worldwide, up 4 million on the last quarter. Daily page views for the quarter reached 46 million, up 35 per cent from last quarter, mainly due to Olympics interest.

The news may help to stabilize Sina.com's diving Nasdaq share price. Since its high profile April debut on Nasdaq, Sina.com has lost more than 65 per cent of its initial value of US$17 per share.

Sina.com's report admitted that the Internet policy uncertainty by mainland authorities was the biggest obstacle to recovery. Local and overseas analysts says that it has become a major victim of the government's latest harsh regulations governing Internet content because it is the most popular online news provider.