Zhaodaola Internet is aiming to be one of the top three mainland portal operators and is taking an aggressive stance towards an impending branding war in the mainland Internet industry.
The company, founded in 1996 with partial funding from Malaysia-based MUI Media, initially provided databases on the Internet for mainland companies to search for business opportunities overseas.
In February, the Beijing-based company launched its China portal Zhaodaola (meaning 'found it!' in Putonghua) offering a bilingual Internet search engine, news, entertainment and travel information.
Zhaodaola president Bill Waddell said that although the mainland Internet industry was still in its infancy, only the top four to five companies with the largest market share would achieve long-term profitability.
'The industry is just a baby now, which makes it difficult to predict who is going to be the winner,' he said.
He said surveys found the mainland had more than two million Internet users, which was forecast to increase to six million by the end of next year and about 50 million by 2005.
Zhaodaola plans to invest up to 50 per cent of its budgeted revenue on advertising to boost its brand awareness.
