Sina buys $66.4m stake in video website Tudou

Shanghai: Sina, owner of China's third-most popular website, paid $66.4 million (Dh243.82 million) for a stake in Tudou Holdings to boost its investments in online video services.

Sina acquired 1.075 million American depositary receipts (ADRs) at Shanghai-based Tudou's initial public offering in the US this month for $31.2 million, it said in a filing to the Securities and Exchanges Commission Monday.

Sina spent $35.2 million for an additional 1.49 million Tudou ADRs, after the listing, taking the total holding to 9.05 per cent, according to the filing.

Sina is adding video, social-networking and electronic commerce services to attract users in the world's biggest internet market.

The investment in Tudou, China's second-biggest video website, follows Sina's acquisition of a minority stake in online apparel retailer Mecox Lane this year.

Tudou is open to "strategic business cooperation in multiple areas" with Sina, it said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.