Softbank Corp. plans to take control of Chinese Internet firm Oak Pacific Interactive by buying a 40 percent stake for about ¥40 billion by 2011 in a bid to expand its Internet business in China.
On April 7, the Japanese telecom and Internet company paid about ¥10 billion to acquire around a 14 percent stake in Beijing-based OPI, which operates the social networking services site Xiaonei.com, which offers services to university students and boasts 22 million users.
Softbank may spend a total of ¥40 billion on the investment, making it the top shareholder of OPI, company spokesman Takeaki Nukii said.
Softbank, which holds roughly a 30 percent stake in China's largest e-commerce site, Alibaba.com Ltd., is stepping up its China drive to establish a foothold in the country's huge and fast-growing Internet market.
"We didn't have a SNS site in China and we'd like to establish a customer base through the SNS site," Nukii said.
Mixi Inc., Japan's biggest SNS operator, plans to establish a foothold in China by setting up a subsidiary in Shanghai by the end of May.
The company declined to comment on what kind of Internet services it plans to offer.
The global foray by Japanese Internet service companies makes sense as "they are expected to further grow their business among investors," said Noritaka Kobayashi, a senior consultant at Nomura Research Institute. "If they continue to do business only at home, it's obvious that their business cannot grow at a quick pace."