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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 20-F

 

 

Date of event requiring this shell company report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

For the transition period from                       to                        

 

Commission file number: 000-30698

 

SINA CORPORATION

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

Cayman Islands

(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

37F, Jin Mao Tower 88 Century Boulevard, Pudong Shanghai 200121, China

(Address of principal executive offices)

Chief Financial Officer Phone: +8610 8262 8888 Facsimile: +8610 8260 7166 20/F Beijing Ideal International Plaza No. 58 North 4th Ring Road West, Haidian District, Beijing, 100080, People’s Republic of China

(Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

 

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act.

 

Title of each class		Name of each exchange on which registered
Ordinary Shares, $0.133 par value		The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC
Ordinary Shares Purchase Rights		(NASDAQ Global Select Market)

 

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act.

 

Not Applicable

(Title of Class)

 

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Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act.

 

Not Applicable

(Title of Class)

 

As of December 31, 2013, there were 66,022,379 shares of the registrant’s ordinary shares outstanding, $0.133 par value.

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

x Yes    o No

 

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

o Yes    x No

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

x Yes    o No

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 229.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).

x Yes    o No

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

 

Large accelerated filer x	Accelerated filer o	Non-accelerated filer o	Smaller reporting company o
(Do not check if a smaller reporting company)

 

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

 

 

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.

o Item 17    o Item 18

 

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

o Yes    x No

 

(APPLICABLE ONLY TO ISSUERS INVOLVED IN BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS)

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed all documents and reports required to be filed by Sections 12, 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 subsequent to the distribution of securities under a plan confirmed by a court.

 

o Yes    o No

 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

INTRODUCTION				1
INFORMATION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS				2
PART I				3
Item 1.	Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers			3
Item 2.	Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable			3
Item 3.	Key Information			3
Item 4.	Information on the Company			38
Item 4A.	Unresolved Staff Comments			68
Item 5.	Operating and Financial Review and Prospects			69
Item 6.	Directors, Senior Management and Employees			91
Item 7.	Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions			102
Item 8.	Financial Information			109
Item 9.	The Offer and Listing			110
Item 10.	Additional Information			111
Item 11.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk			116
Item 12.	Description of Securities Other than Equity Securities			118
PART II				118
Item 13.	Defaults, Dividend Arrearages and Delinquencies			118
Item 14.	Material Modifications to the Rights of Security Holders and Use of Proceeds			118
Item 15.	Controls and Procedures			118
Item 16A.	Audit Committee Financial Expert			119
Item 16B.	Code of Ethics			119
Item 16C.	Principal Accountant Fees and Services			119
Item 16D.	Exemptions from the Listing Standards for Audit Committees			119
Item 16E.	Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers			119
Item 16F.	Change in Registrant’s Certifying Accountant			119
Item 16G.	Corporate Governance			120
Item 16H.	Mine Safety Disclosure			120
PART III				120
Item 17.	Financial Statements			120
Item 18.	Financial Statements			120
Item 19.	Exhibits			120
SIGNATURES				125

 

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INTRODUCTION

 

In this annual report, except where the context otherwise requires and for purposes of this annual report only:

 

·                   “we,” “us,” “our company,” “the Company,” “our” and “SINA” refer to SINA Corporation, its subsidiaries, and, in the context of describing our operations and consolidated financial information, include our consolidated variable interest entities (“VIEs”) in China;

 

·                   “China” or “PRC” refers to the People’s Republic of China and, solely for the purpose of this annual report, do not include the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macau Special Administrative Region or Taiwan;

 

·                   “GAAP” refers to generally accepted accounting principles in the United States; “PRC GAAP” refers to generally accepted accounting principles in the PRC;

 

·                   “monthly active users” or “MAUs” refer to monthly active users, which are Weibo users who logged in and accessed Weibo through Weibo’s website, mobile website, desktop or mobile applications, SMS or connections via platform partners’ websites or applications that are integrated with Weibo, during a given calendar month. The numbers of MAUs are calculated using internal company data that has not been independently verified, and we treat each account as a separate user for purposes of calculating MAUs, although it is possible that some people and organizations may have set up more than one account and some accounts used by organizations are used by many people within the organization;

 

·                   “average daily active users”or “DAUs” refer to daily active users, which are Weibo users who logged in and accessed Weibo through Weibo’s website, mobile website, desktop or mobile applications, SMS or connections via platform partners’ websites or applications that are integrated with Weibo, on a given day, and “average DAUs” for a month refers to the average of the DAUs for each day during the month. The numbers of DAUs are calculated using internal company data that has not been independently verified, and we treat each account as a separate user for purposes of calculating DAUs, although it is possible that some people and organizations may have set up more than one account and some accounts used by organizations are used by many people within the organization;

 

·                   “shares” or “common shares” refer to our ordinary shares;

 

·                   all references to “RMB” or “renminbi” are to the legal currency of China, and all references to “$,” “dollars,” “US$” and “U.S. dollars” are to the legal currency of the United States. RMB amounts that are not included in our financial statements in this annual report are made at a rate of RMB6.0537 to US$1.00, the exchange rate on December 31, 2013 as set forth in the H.10 statistical release published by the Federal Reserve Board; and

 

·                   all discrepancies in any table between the amounts identified as total amounts and the sum of the amounts listed therein are due to rounding.

 

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INFORMATION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

 

This Annual Report on Form 20-F contains forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or our future financial performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or “continue,” and the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions. Actual events or results may differ materially.

 

Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Moreover, neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements. We undertake no duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this report to conform such statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations.

 

Readers are also urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by us which attempt to advise interested parties of the factors which affect our business, including without limitation the disclosures made under the caption “Risk Factors” included herein.

 

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PART I

 

Item 1.                                  Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers

 

Not applicable.

 

Item 2.                                  Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable

 

Not applicable.

 

Item 3.                                  Key Information

 

A.                                     Selected Financial Data

 

The selected consolidated financial data present the results for the five fiscal periods ended and as of December 31, 2013. The Company’s historical results do not necessarily indicate results expected for any future periods. The selected consolidated financial data below should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” below, and the other information contained in this Form 20-F.

 

		Years Ended December 31,
		20 13 (1)			201 2 (2)			2011 (3)			201 0 (4)			20 09 (5)
		(In thousands, except per share data)
Operations:
Net revenues		$	665,106		$	529,329		$	482,829		$	402,617		$	358,567
Gross profit		394,042			281,397			267,481			234,207			200,275
Income (loss) from operations		22,572			(8,548		)	(33,662		)	96,243			37,202
Income (loss) before income tax expense		58,432			34,585			(297,417		)	(10,903		)	420,628
Net income (loss)		43,830			31,855			(302,418		)	(19,339		)	412,305
Net income (loss) attributable to SINA		45,132			31,738			(302,092		)	(19,094		)	411,895
Net income (loss) per share attributable to SINA
Basic		$	0.68		$	0.48		$	(4.64	)	$	(0.31	)	$	7.53
Diluted		$	0.6 6		$	0.47		$	(4.64	)	$	(0.31	)	$	6.95
Shares used in computing basic net income (loss) per share attributable to SINA		66,741			66,401			65,121			61,216			54,722
Shares used in computing diluted net income (loss) per share attributable to SINA		67,087			66,849			65,121			61,216			59,259

 

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(1)          Fiscal year 201 3 results included a dilution loss of $10.2 million in the investment in E-House (China) Holdings Limited (“E-House”), which was related to the issuance of incremental shares by E - House to its management in March 2013, whose issuance price per share was less than our average carrying value per share. We also recognized a $6.1 million of other- than-temporary impairment loss on our investments under the cost method and a $21.1 million gain from change in fair value of investor option liability.

 

(2)          Fiscal year 2012 results included $18.5 million in impairment charges of equity investments, including other-than-temporary impairment of $8.4 million related to our equity investment in Mecox Lane Limited (“MCOX”). In 2012, China Real Estate Information Corporation (“CRIC”) merged into and became a 100% subsidiary of E-House.  As a result, our interest in CRIC was converted into 29.3 million ordinary shares of E-House, equivalent to a 24.9% interest of E-House, and $85.5 million cash. We recognized an amount of $45.3 million one-time gain as a result of the merger. We also recognized a gain of $10.2 million resulting from sale of shares of Tudou Holdings Limited (“Tudou”) in March 2012 and the gain from Tudou’s merger with Youku Inc. (“Youku”) in August 2012.

 

(3)          Fiscal year 2011 results included $350.1 million in impairment charges, including other-than-temporary impairment of $230.3 million related to our equity investment in CRIC, other-than-temporary impairment of $50.9 million related to our equity investment in MCOX and goodwill impairment of $68.9 million related to our mobile value added service (“MVAS”) business.

 

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(4)          Fiscal year 2010 results included an other-than-temporary impairment of $128.6 million related to our equity investment in CRIC.

 

(5)          In 2009, we spun off China Online Housing Technology Corporation (“COHT”) and merged it with CRIC, a real estate information and consulting services subsidiary of E-House, following CRIC’s initial public offering. We recorded a one-time gain of $376.6 million resulting from the sale of its 66% equity interest in COHT in exchange for CRIC’s ordinary shares. Beginning October 1, 2009, we no longer consolidate the financial results of COHT and instead accounts for its interest in CRIC using the equity method of accounting.

 

		Years Ended December 31,
		20 13			201 2			2011			201 0			20 09
		(In thousands)
Financial position:
Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments		$	1,868,239		$	713,598		$	673,475		$	882,835		$	821,518
Working capital		1,790,696			658,318			627,167			760,635			694,484
Total assets		2,897,843			1,482,906			1,391,447			1,636,090			1,613,842
Long-term liabilities		894,119			110,004			128,355			147,540			166,729
Total liabilities		1,222,225			337,033			329,098			395,564			391,143
Total SINA shareholders’ equity		1,191,210			1,136,670			1,055,670			1,239,308			1,221,727
Total shareholders’ equity		1,675,618			1,145,873			1,062,349			1,240,526			1,222,699

 

B.                                     Capitalization and Indebtedness

 

Not applicable.

 

C.                                     Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds

 

Not applicable.

 

D.                                     Risk Factors

 

Risks Related to Our Business

 

Due to the rapidly evolving market in which we operate, we cannot predict whether we will meet internal or external expectations of future performance.

 

Our primary market is in China, where the i nternet industry is rapidly evolving and new products, new business models and new players emerge from time to time. In addition, regulatory changes can have an unexpected and significant impact on many aspects of our business. We believe our future success depends on our ability to significantly grow our revenues from new and existing products, business models and sales channels. However, market data on our business, especially on new products, business models and sales channels, are often limited, unreliable or nonexistent. Accordingly, our prospects must be considered in light of the risks, expenses and difficulties frequently encountered by companies in a fast changing market where there are abundant private and public capital to support competing new product developments, new business models and new companies. These risks include our ability to:

 

·                   offer new and innovative products;

 

·                   attract and retain users and advertisers;

 

·                   react quickly and effectively to regulatory changes;

 

·                   generate revenues from our users from fee-based and other i nternet services, including our social media platform Weibo;

 

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·                   respond effectively to competitive pressures and address the effects of strategic relationships or corporate combinations among our competitors;

 

·                   attract buyers for our mobile value-added services;

 

·                   maintain our current, and develop new, strategic relationships;

 

·                   increase awareness of our brand and continue to build user loyalty;

 

·                   attract and retain qualified managerial and other talented employees;

 

·                   upgrade our technology to support increased traffic and expanded services;

 

·                   expand the content and services on our network, secure premium content and increase network bandwidth in a cost-effective manner; and

 

·                   develop a sufficiently large customer and user base and monetization models for our Weibo services to recover its development costs, network expenditures and marketing expenses and eventually achieve profitability.

 

Due to the rapidly evolving market in which we operate, our historical year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter trends may not provide a good indication of our future performance. For certain business lines, we have experienced high growth rates in the past and there may be expectations that these growth rates will continue. For other business lines, we have experienced declining trends. In the past, we have relied on the growth of our online advertising business to derive profitability, which we have used to fund new initiatives such as Weibo. Our online advertising business may suffer from price competition from other online advertising companies. We may have to lower our profitability or operate at a loss in order to adequately fund critical initiatives that we believe will create value for our company and strengthen our market position over the long run. Our operating results have in the past fallen below the expectations of industry analysts and investors and may fall again in the future and our share price may decline significantly as a result of our failure to meet such expectations.

 

You should not place undue reliance on our financial guidance, nor should you rely on our quarterly operating results as an indication of our future performance, because our results of operations are subject to significant fluctuations.

 

We may experience significant fluctuations in our quarterly operating results due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside our control. Significant fluctuations in our quarterly operating results could be caused by various factors, including but not limited to, our ability to retain existing users and user activity levels, attract new users at a steady rate and maintain user satisfaction; the announcement or introduction of new or enhanced services, content and products by us or our competitors; lack of significant news events in the current period, resulting in lower website traffic; technical difficulties, system downtime or i nternet failures; changes in demand for advertising space, new advertising formats or new advertising products from advertisers; seasonality of the advertising market; the amount and timing of operating costs and capital expenditures relating to the expansion of our business, operations and infrastructure; mobile operators’ policies; governmental regulation and potentially sudden changes in policies affecting our businesses; seasonal trends in internet use; a shortfall in our revenues relative to our forecasts and a decline in our operating results due to our inability to adjust our spending quickly; decreases in earnings from equity investments; impairment of our equity investments; lower interest income resulting from decrease in interest yield and cash balance; and general economic conditions and economic conditions specific to the internet, wireless, e-commerce, media/advertising industry and the Greater China market. As a result of these and other factors, you should not place undue reliance on our financial guidance, nor should you rely on quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our operating results as indicators of likely future performance. Our quarterly revenue guidance is our best estimate at the time we provide guidance. Our operating results may be below our expectations or the expectations of public market analysts and investors in one or more future quarters. If that occurs, the price of our ordinary shares could decline and you could lose part or all of your investment.

 

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We are relying on advertising and marketing as a significant part of our future revenues, but the online advertising and marketing industry is subject to many uncertainties, which could cause our advertising and marketing revenues to decline.

 

The online advertising and marketing industry is rapidly evolving in China. Many of our current and potential advertisers have limited experience with the internet as an advertising and marketing medium, have not traditionally devoted a significant portion of their advertising and marketing expenditures or other available funds to web-based advertising and marketing, and may not find the internet to be effective for promoting their products and services relative to traditional print and broadcast media. We may not be successful in attracting new advertisers, convincing our current and potential advertisers to increase their budgets for online advertising and marketing or securing a significant share of those budgets. If the internet does not become more widely accepted as a medium for advertising and marketing, our ability to generate additional revenues could be negatively affected. Our ability to generate significant advertising and marketing revenues will depend on a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, including but not limited to:

 

·                   the development and retention of a large base of users possessing demographic characteristics attractive to advertisers;

 

·                   the maintenance and enhancement of our brands in a cost-effective manner;

 

·                   increased competition and potential downward pressure on online advertising and marketing prices and limitations on web page space;

 

·                   changes in government policy that curtail or restrict our online advertising and marketing services or content offerings or increase our costs associated with policy compliance;

 

·                   the acceptance of online advertising and marketing as an effective way for advertisers to market their businesses;

 

·                   advertisers’ preferences for new online advertising and marketing formats, products or business models offered by other competitors and our ability to provide similar or competing new formats, products and solutions;

 

·                   the development of independent and reliable means of verifying levels of online advertising and traffic; and

 

·                   the effectiveness of our advertising delivery, tracking and reporting systems.

 

In 2013, approximately 72% of our advertising and marketing revenues in China were derived from the automobile, fast-moving consumer goods, internet and financial services, IT and telecommunication sectors. If there is a downturn in advertising and marketing spending, especially in these sectors, our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition and our share price could suffer. Our growth in advertising and marketing revenues will also depend on our ability to increase the advertising and marketing space on our network and develop new advertising and marketing inventory offerings, such as those tied to video content, mobile environment and user-generated content in social media environments, as well as performance-based inventories. If we fail to increase our advertising and marketing space at a sufficient rate or fail to develop new advertising and marketing inventory offerings that achieve market acceptance, our growth in advertising and marketing revenues could be hampered and our share price may drop significantly. Further, the increasing usage of online advertising blocking software may result in a decrease of our advertising and marketing revenues as the advertisers may choose not to advertise on the internet if such software is widely used. Our advertising and marketing revenues may also be materially adversely impacted if we are unable to develop effective advertising and marketing offerings for our mobile traffic, as internet users in China more and more rely on mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets, to access the internet.

 

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If our social media platform Weibo fails to achieve expansion and retention of user base and generate sustainable revenue growth and profit, our share price could suffer significantly.

 

We only started to monetize Weibo traffic in the first half of 2012 through advertising and marketing services and value-added services such as game related services and VIP membership.  Weibo is a form of social media featuring microblogging services and social networking services and, thus, is subject to intense competition from providers of both types of services and potential new types of online networking services.  The major Chinese portals, including Tencent Holdings Ltd. (“Tencent”), Sohu.com Inc. (“Sohu”) and NetEase.com Inc. (“Netease”), offer similar products that compete with us for users and traffic, as well as content, talent and marketing resources. In addition, there are many websites, including Kaixin001.com, Renren.com, 51.com (Giant Interactive Group Inc., or Giant Interactive) and 139.com (China Mobile) and mobile applications, including Line, Kakao Talk, WhatsApp, WeChat (Tencent), QQ Mobile (Tencent), Yixin (China Telecom/Netease), Laiwang (Alibaba) and Momo, that specialize in providing microblogging services and/or social networking services. We may be unable to compete successfully against these competitors or new market entrants, which may adversely affect our financial performance.

 

Monetization has been a challenge to other microblogging services and social networking services, and it has been a challenge to us as well. We cannot guarantee that the monetization methods adopted by other microblogging and social networking services will work with Weibo or the current Weibo monetization methods can generate sustainable revenue growth and profit. In our efforts to build scale and increase user base and user stickiness, we have significantly increased and expect to further increase investments in Weibo in areas such as technology, infrastructure and marketing, which have caused our profitability to significantly decline and may result in further declines. In addition, we cannot assure you that the investments we make will result in increased Weibo users and traffic. If our monetization efforts are not successful, then our investments in Weibo could significantly depress our profitability, and if we are unsuccessful in growing and monetizing Weibo’s user base and traffic, our share performance could be materially adversely affected, the price of our ordinary shares could decline.

 

Weibo monetization may require users to accept “ promoted ” advertising in their feeds or private messages , which may affect user experience and cause decline in user traffic and delay in Weibo monetization.

 

Weibo users typically can log into their personal accounts to view user-generated feeds and private messages from accounts that they have selected to follow.  Social media companies have been subject to negative comments (and in the case of Facebook, a lawsuit) for introducing promoted advertising into their users’ content stream.  We started to test promoted advertising products in Weibo at the end of December 2012 and have received user complaints.  If we are unable to address user complaints to an acceptable level, Weibo’s monetization may be delayed and usage activities may decline, which may adversely impact our revenues and profitability.

 

We expect to generate a significant portion of our advertising revenues from our strategic alliance with Alibaba; if we fail to earn these revenues as expected, our results of operations and growth prospect may be adversely affected.

 

In April 2013, we formed a strategic alliance with Alibaba and its affiliated entities to jointly explore social commerce and develop innovative marketing solutions to enable merchants on Alibaba e-commerce platforms to better connect and build relationships with our Weibo users. As part of the strategic alliance, Alibaba has committed to purchase approximately RMB 2.3 billion ($380 million) in advertising and social commerce services from Weibo and us.  Assuming the successful development of new products, business models and growth of effective traffic, we expect to generate such amount in revenues in aggregate for Weibo and us from 2013 to 2015, with non-Weibo portion not exceeding 15% of such revenues. As a result of these arrangements, we anticipate that a significant percentage of our revenues through 2015 will be attributable to our collaboration with Alibaba. If we are unable to maintain our strategic alliance with Alibaba, enhance relationship with Alibaba, establish new relationships with additional strategic partners or recognize such purchase commitment as revenue, our results of operations and growth prospects would be adversely affected.

 

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Our MVAS revenues have experienced an overall decline and may decrease further in the future.

 

In 2013, 2012 and 2011, MVAS revenues accounted for 9%, 13% and 18% of our total net revenues, respectively. Our MVAS revenues declined year over year for the past three years, and may further decline in the future. If users do not adopt our MVAS at a sufficient rate, our overall MVAS revenue could be negatively affected. Factors that may prevent us from maintaining or growing our MVAS revenues include:

 

·                   our ability to launch new popular services;

 

·                   our ability to retain existing customers of our subscription services;

 

·                   our ability to attract new subscribers in a cost-effective manner;

 

·                   our ability to provide satisfactory services to customers;

 

·                   competitors, including mobile operators, may launch competing or better products;

 

·                   changes in policy, process and/or system by China Mobile Communications Corporation (“China Mobile”), China United Network Communications Group Co., Ltd. (“China Unicom”) or other mobile operators, on whom we rely for service delivery, billing and payment collection. Examples include limiting the service offerings and partnerships allowed for each Short Messaging Service (“SMS”) service code; requiring additional notices and customer confirmations in the MVAS ordering process; complicating the product launch approval process; and shifting our products to more costly platforms. In the past, the mobile operators have made sudden changes that have significantly impacted our revenues and may do so again in the future;

 

·                   changes in government regulations, which could restrict our MVAS offerings, curtail our ability to market our services or change user adoption or usage patterns in a negative way. For example, in August 2007, the Ministry of Information Industry (“MII”) (superseded by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (“MIIT”) established in March 2008) tightened the regulations over direct advertising in China, which reduced the effectiveness of our direct advertising on MVAS and increased the difficulties of new user recruitment. In December 2007, the MII unified the dialing codes of each service provider (“SP”), which increased the number of digits a user must input to subscribe to an SP’s MVAS, thereby making the purchasing process more complicated.  Effective as of September 1, 2013, the MIIT has required mobile users to register their real names. Implementation of these types of changes has led to in the past and may lead to in the future fewer subscriptions of MVAS and a decrease in new customers; and

 

·                   changes in mobile subscriber base from 2G and 2.5G, from whom we derive most of our MVAS revenues, to 3G and soon 4G, where mobile applications are more popular.

 

In light of the changing operating environment and evolving, uncertain policies and regulations, our new MVAS offerings may not continue to be accepted by the market or meet mobile operators’ requirements and government regulations. Neither can we assure that our new MVAS will provide meaningful margin contribution in the current competitive landscape when other MVAS providers are willing to accept lower revenue sharing to acquire marketing channels and MVAS content and mobile operators are demanding higher revenue sharing for new MVAS offerings and MVAS offerings using their newer platforms. If revenues from our MVAS services do not grow significantly or generate profits, our financial position, results of operations and cash flows may be materially and adversely affected.

 

With respect to MVAS, we rely on China Mobile, China Unicom and other mobile operators for marketing, service delivery, billing and payment collection, and we may be adversely affected by changes that they may make suddenly and unilaterally.

 

Our MVAS offerings depend mainly on cooperation arrangements with China Mobile and China Unicom and, to a lesser extent, China Telecommunications Corporation (“China Telecom”). We rely on these mobile operators in the following ways: utilizing their network and gateway to recruit and provide MVAS to subscribers; utilizing their billing systems to charge the fees to our subscribers through the subscribers’ mobile phone bills; utilizing their collection services to collect payments from subscribers; and relying on their infrastructure development to further develop our new products and services. As of December 31, 2013, we offered our MVAS through 30 provincial and local subsidiaries of China Mobile; additionally, we also had contracts with China Unicom and one of its provincial subsidiaries. As we have limited bargaining power over the mobile operators, we may be required to enter into cooperation agreements on terms that are unfavorable to us. The mobile operators may also unilaterally terminate or amend the agreements at any time. If China Mobile, China Unicom or other mobile operators choose not to continue the cooperation arrangements with us or if they unilaterally amend the cooperation arrangements with terms significantly unfavorable to us, our MVAS revenues and operating profitability could be materially and negatively affected.

 

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In the past, mobile operators have made sudden and unexpected changes in their policies, processes and systems, which have harmed, and may continue to harm, our business. For example:

 

·                   In December 2010, under the MIIT’s policy directives, China Mobile began requiring a subscription reminder to be sent for monthly MVAS subscriptions after receiving double confirmation of the subscription. Subscribers can cancel MVAS subscriptions by replying to the reminder notice. This has complicated the subscription process and reduced our ability to acquire new monthly subscribers in a cost-effective manner.

 

·                   In January 2011, China Mobile implemented a series of measures that included limiting the service offerings and partnerships allowed for each SMS service code, preventing the television and radio promotion of certain interactive voice response (“IVR”) products and requiring additional notices and customer confirmations in the MVAS ordering process. These measures have had a negative impact to our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

 

·                   In September 2012, China Unicom implemented a series of measures that limited the promotion of certain MVAS.  A MVAS provider may be penalized if the number of complaints against the provider related to non-compliance of MVAS subscriptions with China Unicom’s standard procedure exceeds a given threshold.  Our MVAS revenues were significantly affected by such measures.

 

Our mobile operators have made other policy changes in the past and may make further changes at any time, including, but not limited to, requiring us to use the mobile operators’ customer service and/or marketing service and charging for these services; requiring us to migrate our MVAS to an operator’s platform and increase the fees charged for using the mobile operator’s platform; changing their fee structure or billing method in a way that would require us to delay the recognition of MVAS revenues from an accrual basis to when actual payments are received; implementing new billing rules, such as reducing MVAS fees that can be charged to users; disallowing us to bill certain inactive users and limiting the amount of MVAS fees that can be billed; requiring us to absorb end customer bad debts; issuing new rules on how wireless application protocol (“WAP”) services are ranked on mobile operator browsers, which significantly determines WAP revenues; refusing to pay us for services delivered; limiting the product offerings of service providers by working directly with content providers to launch competing services or giving exclusive rights to certain service providers to offer certain MVAS; complicating our product launch procedures by requiring approval at the provincial level of the mobile operator; and prolonging the product launch review period from monthly to quarterly. Any change in policy, process or system by the mobile operators could result in a material reduction of our MVAS revenues.

 

China Mobile, China Unicom and other mobile operators have in the past increased the fees charged for providing their services and may do so again in the future. If they choose to increase such fees, our gross margin for MVAS and our operating profitability may be negatively impacted. These mobile operators have generally retained a certain percentage of the fees for MVAS we provided to our users via their platform for fee collection. In addition, they charge transmission fees for some products such as SMS and Multimedia Message Service (“MMS”) on a per message basis, and the rates of such transmission fees vary for different products and message volume. For 2013, we received on average 75% and 66% of the amount we charged to our users via the China Mobile platform and the China Unicom platform, respectively, after they deducted the fees for collection and transmission.

 

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Our MVAS revenues could be negatively impacted if China Mobile, China Unicom or other mobile operators restrict MVAS to be charged on a monthly subscription basis or disallow us to charge monthly fees for users who do not use our service in a particular month. For 2013, approximately 4% of our MVAS revenues were derived from monthly subscription products, which mainly consist of SMS and MMS.

 

In the past, China Mobile and China Unicom imposed penalties on MVAS providers for violating certain of their operating policies relating to MVAS. In some cases, they stopped making payments to certain service providers for serious violations. In the past three years, the total penalties we were subject to were insignificant in dollar amounts, but it is difficult to determine the specific conduct that might be interpreted as violating their operating policies. Additionally, mobile operators may unilaterally revise their arrangements with us at any time, which could result in us breaching the new terms and being subject to fines. If China Mobile, China Unicom or other mobile operators impose more severe penalties on us for policy violations, our MVAS revenues and operating results may be negatively impacted.

 

We are potentially subject to liability and penalty for delivering inappropriate content through our MVAS. One of the violations cited in the notice for temporary termination of our IVR service at the end of July 2004 was that we had provided inappropriate content to our mobile subscribers through our IVR service. The definition and interpretation of inappropriate content in many cases are vague and subjective. We are not sure whether mobile operators, including China Mobile and China Unicom, or the Chinese government will find our mobile content inappropriate and therefore prevent us from operating the MVAS relating to such content in the future. If they prevent us from offering such services, our MVAS revenues may suffer significantly.

 

A portion of our MVAS revenues is currently estimated based on our internal records of billings and transmissions for the month, adjusted for prior period confirmation rates from mobile operators and prior period discrepancies between internal estimates and confirmed amounts from operators. Historically, there have been no significant true-up adjustments to our estimates. If there was no consistent trend of confirmation rates or if there were continuous significant true-up adjustments to our estimates under the new billing platforms, we will need to rely on the billing statements from the operators to record revenues. Due to the time lag of receiving the billing statements, our MVAS revenues may fluctuate with the collection of billing statements if we were to record our MVAS revenues when we receive the billing statements. For example, if an mobile operator switches payment to service providers from estimated collection from users to actual collection, such policy change may cause us to delay the recognition of these revenues until we receive the actual billings and/or until we have reliable information to make such revenue estimates. For 2013, approximately 4% of our MVAS revenues were estimated at period end.

 

In the past, China Mobile has requested resettlement of billings that were settled in previous periods on which payments had been made to us. We have had to accrue for such credits against revenues based on a rolling history, and the true-ups between the accrued amounts and actual credit memos issued by China Mobile have not been significant.  However, if China Mobile or other mobile operators request resettlement of billings for a previous period at amounts significantly larger than the credits we accrued based on historical patterns, our operating results, financial position and cash flow may be severely impacted.

 

If China Mobile’s, China Unicom’s or other mobile operators’ systems encounter technical problems, if they refuse to cooperate with us or if they do not provide adequate services, our MVAS offerings may cease or be severely disrupted, which could have a significant and adverse impact on our operating results.

 

The markets for internet and social media and social networking services are highly competitive, and we may be unable to compete successfully against established industry competitors and new entrants, which could reduce our market share and adversely affect our financial performance.

 

We provide online content and services for the global Chinese community, including but not limited to informational features, microblogging and social networking services as well as other fee-based services. This industry can be characterized as highly competitive and rapidly changing due to the fast growing market demand. Barriers to entry are relatively low, and current and new competitors can launch new websites or services at a relatively low cost. Many companies offer various content and services targeting this community and compete with our offerings.

 

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In terms of informational features, we compete with existing or emerging PRC internet portals such as Baidu Inc. (“Baidu”), Tencent, Netease, TOM Online, Inc. (“TOM Online”), Sohu and Phoenix New Media Limited (“iFeng.com”). In addition, we also face competition from vertical websites, which may have better focus and more resources dedicated to a specific topical area, such as automobile, finance and IT information.  Our competitors in this area include Hexun, East Money, China Finance Online, PCAuto, Autohome and Bitauto, Xcar, ZOL Online, PCpop.com and PConline.

 

As we expand our product and services offerings into social media and social networking services, online video, WAP (mobile portal), blog, light blog and messaging services, we face competition from companies that are focused in the same space. Major Chinese internet companies, including Sohu, NetEase, Tencent and iFeng.com, as well as other microblogging services and new players in China who offer online media, including content aggregation and distribution services, compete directly with us for user traffic and user engagement, content, talent and marketing resources. In addition, as a form of social media featuring social networking services and messaging services, we are subject to intense competition from providers of similar services as well as potential new types of online services, including interest-based social products. These services include mobile applications, such as WhatsApp, Line, Ozone, WeChat, QQ Mobile, Kakao Talk, Yixin, Laiwang, Douban and Momo, and websites, such as renren.com. We also compete with both offline and online games for the time and money of gamers. We have begun to offer social commerce solutions to our customers that enable them to conduct e-commerce on our platform. Consequently, our offerings compete with e-commerce platforms that enable merchants to conduct e-commerce, including location-based services and online-to-offline services.  In addition, we may also face increasing competition from global social media and social networking services, such as Twitter and Facebook.

 

On MVAS, we compete with other service providers such as Kongzhong and Linktone that specialize in MVAS as well as other players such as Sohu, iFeng.com and TOM Online. In addition, the major mobile operators in China, including China Mobile and China Unicom, have entered the business of content development.

 

In addition, we compete with companies who sponsor or maintain high traffic volume websites or provide an initial point of entry for internet users, including but not limited to, providers of search services, navigation pages, desktop applications, mobile applications and operating systems. Search providers include internet search companies, such as Baidu, Sogou (Sohu and Tencent), Qihoo, Yahoo!/Alibaba, Microsoft (Bing), Netease (Youdao) and Google, Inc. (“Google”), as well as vertical search companies, such as Youku Tudou (video search), Gougou (video search), Qunar (travel search) and Kuxun.cn (travel search).  Navigation page providers include Qihoo (hao.360.cn) and Baidu (hao123.com). Companies that offer desktop and/or mobile applications, such as messenger, pinyin, web browser, app download store, security software and mobile browser, include Tencent, Sogou (Sohu/Tencent), Baidu, Qihoo, Kingsoft, NQ, Microsoft (MSN), China Telecom/Netease (Yixin), Yahoo!/Alibaba (Yahoo Messenger), Alibaba (Laiwang) and UC Mobile Ltd (UC Browser) and 91 Wireless (app download store). Smart phone operating system providers such as Apple Inc. (iOS), Google (Android) and Microsoft (Windows) are also becoming a threat as mobile internet users are increasingly using the application stores as an initial entry point to various internet products and services. Online companies who can aggregate significant traffic may have the ability to direct traffic to their other internet offerings and provide competing advertising and fee-based services.

 

We also compete for advertisers with traditional media companies, such as newspapers, magazines and television networks that have a longer history of operation and greater acceptance among advertisers. Although outdoor media companies more directly compete with traditional media such as television, they also indirectly compete with us to convert advertisers from traditional media to their own formats. These competitors include Focus Media, Air Media Group Inc., Vision China Media Inc. and other China-based private or public outdoor media advertising companies.

 

Many of our competitors have greater financial resources, a longer history of providing online services, a larger and more active user base, more established brand names and currently offer a greater breadth of products that may be more popular than our online offerings. Many of our competitors are focused solely on one area of our business and are able to devote all of their resources to that business line and can more quickly adapt to changing technology and market conditions.  As internet usage in Greater China increases and the Greater China market becomes more attractive to advertisers and for conducting fee-based services, large global competitors, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, Twitter, Line, Kakao and WhatsApp, may increasingly focus their resources on the Greater China market.  We cannot assure you that we will succeed in competing against the established and emerging competitors in the market. The increased competition could result in reduced traffic, loss of market share and revenues, and lower profit margins.

 

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Our business is highly sensitive to the strength of our brands in the marketplace, and we may not be able to maintain current or attract new users, customers and strategic partners for our products and offerings if we do not continue to increase the strength of our brands and develop new brands successfully in the marketplace.

 

Our operational and financial performance is highly dependent on our strong brands in the marketplace. Such dependency will increase further as the number of internet and mobile users as well as the number of market entrants in China grows. In order to retain existing and attract new internet users, advertisers, mobile customers and strategic partners, we may need to substantially increase our expenditures to create and maintain brand awareness and brand loyalty. Consequently, we will need to grow our revenues at least in the same proportion as any increase in brand spending to maintain our current levels of profitability.

 

There has in the past been various negative press coverage about our company based on untrue or unsubstantiated rumors and, as a result, the price of our ordinary shares has at times been negatively affected. We have in some cases taken affirmative steps to address such coverage. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to diffuse negative press coverage about our company to the satisfaction of our investors, users, advertisers, customers and strategic partners. If we are unable to diffuse negative press coverage about our company, our brands may suffer in the marketplace, our operational and financial performance may be negatively impacted and the price of our ordinary shares may decline.

 

Our financial results could be adversely affected by our long-term investments.

 

We periodically review our long-term investments in publicly traded companies, privately held companies and limited partnerships for impairment. If we conclude that any of these investments are impaired and that such impairment is other-than-temporary, we will write down the asset to its fair value and take a corresponding charge to our consolidated statements of comprehensive income. As of December 31, 2013, our long-term investments included $211.7 million in privately held companies and limited partnerships, which may not have the resources nor level of controls in place like public companies to timely and accurately provide updates about their company to us. Furthermore, many of our investments are at an early, pre-revenue stage of development, and their impairment may be difficult to assess as market information on internet-related startups is not readily available. Determination of estimated fair value of these investments require complex and subjective judgments due to their limited financial and operating history, unique business risks and limited public information. Consequently, we may not receive information about our investments on a timely basis to properly account for them. We are unable to control these factors and an impairment charge recognized by us, especially untimely recorded, may adversely impact our financial results and share price. In 2011, we recognized impairment charges of $230.3 million and $50.9 million on our investments in CRIC and MCOX, respectively. In 2012, we recognized an impairment charge of $18.5 million on our long-term investments, including $8.4 million on our investment in MCOX.  In 2013, we recognized an impairment charge of $6.1 million on our long-term investments.  We may continue to incur impairment charges, which could depress our profitability or subject us to incur a net loss.

 

We reported our ownership in CRIC using the equity method of accounting starting from October 1, 2009 and, as such, our net income was impacted by CRIC’s performance. For 2011, we recorded $2.6 million in income from equity investment in CRIC. CRIC merged into and became a 100% subsidiary of E-House on April 20, 2012 and, as a result, each ordinary share of CRIC held by us was converted into 0.6 ordinary share of E-House, together with the right to receive cash consideration of $1.75 per ordinary share. Our earnings from equity investments have declined since the merger of CRIC with E-House. For 2012, we recorded $16.7 million in loss from equity investment in E-House/CRIC. For 2013, we recorded a gain of $2.3 million from our equity investment in E-house due to the recovery of real estate market in China. However, we may incur loss from such investment again in the future.

 

Our future financial results may be also adversely affected by the performance of E-House and other equity investments accounted for under the equity method. If the financial results of E-House and other equity investments accounted for under the equity method decline, it will negatively impact our financial results. Furthermore, we will not be able to report our quarterly and annual results until we have obtained  the result of the E-House and other equity investments accounted for under the equity method, which we have reported a quarter in arrears. A delay in the reporting by E-House and other equity investments accounted for under the equity method could adversely affect our reporting schedule and cause the market to react negatively to our share price. E-House’s business (including CRIC’s business) is subject to risks that may be different than those that affect our business. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to:

 

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·                   E-House may not be able to successfully execute its strategy of expanding into new geographical markets in China;

 

·                   E-House may not be able to successfully execute its growth strategy to maintain and enhance its brands and image;

 

·                   E-House’s business is susceptible to fluctuations in the real estate market in China;

 

·                   E-House’s business may be materially and adversely affected by government measures aimed at China’s real estate industry; and

 

·                   a severe or prolonged downturn in the global or Chinese economy could materially and adversely affect E-House’s business and its financial condition.

 

Further information regarding these and other risks can be found in E-House’s filings with the SEC. SINA assumes no obligation to update E-House’s risks factors.

 

If we cannot obtain sufficient cash when we need it, we may not be able to meet our payment obligations under our convertible notes.

 

In November 2013 we issued $800,000,000 principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2018. The notes will bear interest at a rate of 1.00% per year, payable semiannually in arrears on June 1 and December 1 of each year, beginning on June 1, 2014.  On December 1, 2016, holders may require us to repurchase their notes at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the notes plus accrued and unpaid interest to but excluding the repurchase date.  The notes will mature on December 1, 2018.  We may not have sufficient funds to pay the interest or repurchase price or fulfill other obligations under the notes.

 

We derive most of our revenues from, and hold most of our assets through, our subsidiaries. As a result, we may rely in part upon distributions and advances from our subsidiaries in order to help us meet our payment obligations under the notes and our other obligations. Our subsidiaries are distinct legal entities and do not have any obligation (legal or otherwise) to provide us with distributions or advances. We may face tax or other adverse consequences, or legal limitations, on our ability to obtain funds from these entities. In addition, our ability to obtain external financing in the future is subject to a variety of uncertainties, including:

 

·                   our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows;

 

·                   general market conditions for financing activities by internet companies; and

 

·                   economic, political and other conditions in the PRC and elsewhere.

 

If we are unable to obtain funding in a timely manner or on commercially acceptable terms, we may not be able to meet our payment obligations under our convertible notes. If we fail to pay interest on the notes, we will be in default under the indenture governing the notes, which in turn may constitute a default under existing and future agreements governing our indebtedness.

 

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If we are unable to keep up with the rapid technological changes of the internet industry, our business may suffer.

 

The internet industry is experiencing rapid technological changes. For example, with the advances of search engines, internet users may choose to access information through search engines instead of our web portal and other web properties. With the advent of Web 2.0, the interests and preferences of internet users may shift to user-generated content, such as social media services, social networking services and other online communities. As broadband becomes more accessible, internet users may demand content in pictorial, audio-rich and video-rich formats. With the development of 2.5G, 3G and 4G networks in China and the growing availability of Wi-Fi connections, mobile users have been shifting from the predominant text messaging services to newer applications, such as social networking, location-based services, messengers with free texting, voicemail and internet conferencing, mobile commerce, music, photo and video download sites, applications and sharing platforms, and mobile games. In addition, with the proportion of internet usage shifting from personal computers to mobile phones, handheld computers and other mobile devices in China, mobile operating systems, browsers and application-based platforms may redefine the way internet companies operate, impacting our competitiveness and hindering our ability to shift our personal-computer-based offerings into the mobile environment. Our future success will depend on our ability to anticipate, adapt and support new technologies and industry standards. If we fail to anticipate and adapt to these and other technological changes, our market share, profitability and share price could suffer.

 

If we fail to successfully develop and introduce new products and services, our competitive position and ability to generate revenues could be harmed.

 

We continuously develop new products and services. The planned timing or introduction of new products and services is subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual timing may differ materially from original plans. Unexpected technical, operational, distribution or other problems could delay or prevent the introduction of one or more of our new products or services. Moreover, we cannot be sure that any of our new products and services will achieve widespread market acceptance or generate incremental revenue. If our efforts to develop, market and sell new products and services to the market are not successful, our financial position, results of operations and cash flows could be materially adversely affected, the price of our ordinary shares could decline and you could lose part or all of your investment.

 

Traffic growth and user engagement depend upon effective interoperation with operating systems, networks , devices , web browsers and standards that we do not control.

 

We make our products and services available across a variety of operating systems and through websites. We are dependent on the interoperability of our products and services with popular devices, desktop and mobile operating systems and web browsers that we do not control, such as Windows, Mac OS, Android, iOS, and others. Any changes in such systems, devices or web browsers that degrade the functionality of our products and services or give preferential treatment to competitive products or services could adversely affect usage of our products and services. Further, if the number of platforms for which we develop our products increases, it will result in an increase in our costs and expenses. In order to deliver high quality products and services, it is important that our products and services work well with a range of operating systems, networks, devices, web browsers and standards that we do not control. In addition, because a large number of our users access our products and services through mobile devices, we are particularly dependent on the interoperability of our products and services with mobile devices and operating systems. We may not be successful in developing relationships with key participants in the mobile industry or in developing products or services that operate effectively with these operating systems, networks, devices, web browsers and standards. In the event that it is difficult for our users to access and use our products and services, particularly on their mobile devices, our user growth and user engagement could be harmed, and our business and operating results could be adversely affected.

 

New technologies could block our advertisements, desktop clients and mobile applications and may enable technical measures that could limit our traffic growth and new monetization opportunities.

 

Technologies have been developed that can disable the display of our advertisements and that provide tools to users to opt out of our advertising products. Most of our revenues are derived from fees paid to us by advertisers in connection with the display of advertisements on webpages to our users. In addition, our traffic growth is significantly dependent on content viewing via mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets. Technologies and tools for PCs and mobile devices, such as operating systems, internet browsers, anti-virus software and other applications, as well as mobile application download stores could set up technical measures to direct away internet traffic,  require a fee for the download of our products or block our products all together, which could adversely affect our overall traffic and ability to monetize our services.

 

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Our business and growth could suffer if we are unable to hire and retain key personnel.

 

We depend on the continued contributions of our senior management and other key employees, many of whom are difficult to replace. The loss of the services of any of our executive officers or other key employees could harm our business. Competition for qualified talent in China is intense. Our future success is dependent on our ability to attract a significant number of qualified employees and retain existing key employees. If we are unable to do so, our business and growth, including that of Weibo, may be materially and adversely affected and our share price could suffer. Our need to significantly increase the number of our qualified employees and retain key employees may cause us to materially increase compensation-related costs, including stock-based compensation.

 

We may not be able to manage our expanding operations effectively, which could harm our business.

 

We have expanded rapidly by acquiring companies, entering into joint ventures and forming strategic partnerships. These new businesses, joint ventures and strategic partnerships provide various services, such as instant messaging and application development. We anticipate continuous expansion in our business, both through further acquisitions and internal growth. In addition, the geographic dispersion of our operations as a result of acquisitions and internal growth requires significant management resources that our locally based competitors do not need to devote to their operations. In order to manage the planned growth of our operations and personnel, we will be required to improve and implement operational and financial systems, procedures and controls, and expand, train and manage our growing employee base. Further, our management will be required to maintain and expand our relationships with various other websites, internet and other online service providers and other third parties necessary to our business. We cannot assure you that our current and planned personnel, systems, procedures and controls will be adequate to support our future operations. If we are not successful in establishing, maintaining and managing our personnel, systems, procedures and controls, our business will be materially and adversely affected.

 

Our strategy of acquiring complementary assets, technologies and businesses may fail and may result in equity or earnings dilution.

 

As part of our business strategy, we have acquired and intend to continue to identify and acquire assets, technologies and businesses that are complementary to our existing business. Acquired businesses or assets may not yield the results we expect. In addition, acquisitions could result in the use of substantial amounts of cash, potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, significant amortization expenses related to intangible assets and exposure to potential unknown liabilities of the acquired business. Moreover, the cost of identifying and consummating acquisitions, and integrating the acquired businesses into ours, may be significant, and the integration of acquired businesses may be disruptive to our existing business operations. In addition, we may have to obtain approval from the relevant PRC governmental authorities for the acquisitions and comply with any applicable PRC rules and regulations, which may be costly. The PRC government recently established additional procedures and requirements that could make merger and acquisition activities by us more time-consuming and complex. For instance, as of September 1, 2011, the PRC Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) adopted a national security review rule which requires acquisitions by foreign investors of PRC companies engaged in military-related or certain other industries that are crucial to national security to be subject to security review before consummation of any such acquisition. In the event that our acquisitions are not successful, our financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

 

We may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual properties, which could cause us to be less competitive.

 

We rely on a combination of copyright, trademark and trade secret laws and restrictions on disclosure to protect our intellectual property rights. Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, unauthorized parties may attempt to copy or otherwise obtain and use our intellectual properties. Monitoring unauthorized use of our products is difficult and costly, and we cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will prevent misappropriation of our intellectual properties, particularly in countries where the laws may not protect our proprietary rights as fully as in the United States. From time to time, we may have to resort to litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights, which could result in substantial costs and diversion of our resources.

 

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We may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims or other allegations by third parties for services we provide or for information or content displayed on, retrieved from or linked to our websites, or distributed to our users, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and prospects.

 

Companies in the internet, technology, and media industries are frequently involved in litigation based on allegations of infringement of intellectual property rights, unfair competition, invasion of privacy, defamation and other violations of other parties’ rights. The validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property rights in internet-related industries, particularly in China, are uncertain and still evolving. As we face increasing competition and as litigation becomes more common in China in resolving commercial disputes, we face a higher risk of being the subject of intellectual property infringement claims.

 

We allow users to upload written materials, images, pictures and other content on our platform and download, share, link to and otherwise access games and applications (some of which are developed by third parties) as well as audio, video and other content either on our platform or from other websites through our platform. We have procedures designed to reduce the likelihood that content might be used without proper licenses or third-party consents. However, these procedures may not be effective in preventing the unauthorized posting of copyrighted content.

 

With respect to games and applications developed by third parties displayed on our platform, we have procedures designed to reduce the likelihood of infringement. However, such procedures might not be effective in preventing third-party games and applications from infringing other parties’ rights. We may face liability for copyright or trademark infringement, defamation, unfair competition, libel, negligence, and other claims based on the nature and content of the materials that are delivered, shared or otherwise accessed through our services or published on our websites.

 

Defending patent and other intellectual property litigation is costly and can impose a significant burden on management and employees, and there can be no assurances that favorable final outcomes will be obtained in all cases. Such claims, even if they do not result in liability, may harm our reputation. Any resulting liability or expenses, or changes required to our websites to reduce the risk of future liability, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and prospects.

 

Our business and operations results may be harmed by service disruptions, or by our failure to timely and effectively scale and adapt our existing technology and infrastructure.

 

The continual accessibility of our websites and the performance and reliability of our network infrastructure are critical to our reputation and our ability to attract and retain users, advertisers and merchants. Any system failure or performance inadequacy that causes interruptions in the availability of our services or increases the response time of our services could reduce our appeal to users and consumers. Factors that could significantly disrupt our operations include system failures and outages caused by fire, floods, earthquakes, power loss, telecommunications failures and similar events; software errors; computer viruses, break-ins and similar disruptions from unauthorized tampering with our computer systems; and security breaches related to the storage and transmission of proprietary information, such as credit card numbers or other personal information.

 

As the number of our users increases and our users generate more content, including photos and videos on our platform, we may be required to expand and adapt our technology and infrastructure to continue to reliably store and analyze this content. It may become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve the performance of our products and services, especially during peak usage times, as our products and services become more complex and our user traffic increases. We have limited backup systems and redundancy. In the past, we experienced an unauthorized tampering of the mail server of our China websites which briefly disrupted our operations. Future disruptions or any of the foregoing factors could damage our reputation, require us to expend significant capital and other resources and expose us to a risk of loss or litigation and possible liability. We do not carry sufficient business interruption insurance to compensate for losses that may occur as a result of any of these events. Accordingly, our revenues and results of operations may be adversely affected if any of the above disruptions should occur.

 

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We have contracted with third parties to provide content and services for our portal network and MVAS and we may lose users and revenues if these arrangements are terminated.

 

We have arrangements with a number of third parties to provide content and services to our websites. In the area of content, we have relied and will continue to rely on third parties for the majority of the content that we publish under the SINA brand. Although no single third-party content provider is critical to our operations, if these parties fail to develop and maintain high-quality and successful media properties, or if a large number of our existing relationships are terminated, we could lose users and advertisers and our brand could be harmed.

 

In addition, the PRC government has the ability to restrict or prevent state-owned media from cooperating with us in providing certain content to us, which will result in a significant decrease of the amount of content we can publish on our websites. We may lose users if the PRC government chooses to restrict or prevent state-owned media from cooperating with us, in which case our revenues will be impacted negatively. Certain state-owned media companies, from whom we currently procure content, have built their own portal websites and may decide to not cooperate with us in the future.

 

In the area of web-based services, we have contracted with various third-party providers for our principal internet connections. If we experience significant interruptions or delays in service, or if these agreements terminate or expire, we may incur additional costs to develop or secure replacement services and our relationship with our users could be harmed.

 

A substantial part of our non-advertising revenues is generated through MVAS where we depend on mobile network operators for services delivery and payment collection. If we are unable to continue these arrangements, our MVAS could be severely disrupted or discontinued. Furthermore, we are highly dependent on these mobile service providers for our profitability in that they can choose to increase their service fees at will.

 

We depend on a third party’s proprietary and licensed advertising serving technology to deliver advertisements to our network. If the third party fails to continue to support its technology or if its services fail to meet the advertising needs of our customers and we cannot find an alternative solution on a timely basis, our advertising revenues could decline.

 

Increases in competition and market prices for professionally produced content may have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

 

We have recently experienced significant fee increases from some of our content providers in the areas of video content and other premium content. Competition for quality content for online advertising is intense in China. Our competitors include well-capitalized companies, both private and newly listed companies, many of whom operate on a net-loss basis, as well as well-established companies that have user traffic greater than ours. If we are unable to secure a large portfolio of professionally produced quality content due to prohibitive cost, or if we are unable to manage our content acquisition costs effectively and generate sufficient revenues to outpace the increase in content spending, our website traffic, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

 

Concerns about the security of transactions and communications on the internet may reduce our user traffic and impede our growth.

 

A significant barrier to transactions and communications over the internet in general has been a public concern over security and privacy, especially the transmission of confidential information. If these concerns are not adequately addressed, they may inhibit the growth of the internet and other online services generally, especially as a means of conducting commercial transactions. If a well-publicized internet breach of security were to occur, general internet usage could decline, which could harm our brand, reduce our user traffic and adversely impact our growth and results of operations.

 

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Security breaches or computer virus attacks could have a material adverse effect on our business prospects and results of operations.

 

Any significant breach of security of our products could significantly harm our business, reputation and results of operations and could expose us to lawsuits brought by our users and partners and to sanctions by governmental authorities in the jurisdictions in which we operate. We have in the past experienced security breaches by third parties, including hacking into our user accounts and redirecting our user traffic to other websites, and we were able to rectify the security breaches without significant impact to our operations. However, we cannot assure you that our IT systems will be completely secure from future security breaches or computer virus attacks. Anyone who is able to circumvent our security measures could misappropriate proprietary information, including the personal information of our users, obtaining users’ names and passwords and enabling the hackers to access users’ other online accounts, if those users use identical user names and passwords. They could also misappropriate other information, including financial information, uploaded by our users in a secure environment, such as Weibo, Weibo Wallet, SINA email, weiDisk and other applications requiring user log-in that were internally developed or developed by third parties for use on Weibo’s open application platform. Functions that facilitate interactivity with other websites, such as our Weibo Connect, that allows users to log onto partner websites using their Weibo identity, could increase the scope of access of hackers to other user accounts. These circumventions may cause interruptions in our operations or damage our brand image and reputation. Our servers may be vulnerable to computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins and similar disruptions, which could cause system interruptions, website slowdown or unavailability, delays in communication or transactions, or loss of data. We may be required to incur significant additional costs to protect against security breaches or to alleviate problems caused by such breaches. In addition, a significant security breach or virus attack on our system could result in a material adverse impact on our business and results of operations.

 

Spam could diminish the user experience on Weibo platform, which could damage our reputation and deter our users from using Weibo.

 

“Spam” on Weibo refers to a range of abusive activities that are prohibited by Weibo’s terms of service and is generally defined as unsolicited, repeated actions that negatively impact other users with the general goal of drawing user attention to a given account, site, product or idea. This includes posting large numbers of unsolicited mentions of a user, duplicate feeds, misleading links (e.g., to malware or click-jacking pages) or other false or misleading content, and aggressively following and un-following accounts, sending invitations and feeds to inappropriately attract attention. Although we continue to invest resources to reduce spam on Weibo, we expect spammers will continue to seek ways to act inappropriately on Weibo. In addition, we expect that increased number of users on Weibo will result in increased efforts by spammers to misuse the platform. We continuously combat spam, including by suspending or terminating accounts we believe to be spammers and launching algorithmic changes focused on curbing abusive activities. Our actions to combat spam require the diversion of significant time and focus of our engineering team for improving our products and services. If spam increases on Weibo, this could hurt our reputation for delivering relevant content or reduce user growth and user engagement, which may deter our existing and potential users from using our products and services.

 

We prioritize product innovation and user experience over short-term operating results, which may harm our revenue and operating results.

 

We encourage employees to quickly develop and help us launch new and innovative features. We focus on improving the user experience for our products and services and on developing new and improved products and services for the advertisers on our platform. We prioritize innovation and the experience for users and advertisers on Weibo over short-term operating results. We frequently make product and service decisions that may reduce our short-term operating results if we believe that the decisions are consistent with our goals to improve the user experience and performance for advertisers, which we believe will improve our operating results over the long term. These decisions may not be consistent with the short-term expectations of investors and may not produce the long-term benefits that we expect, in which cause our user growth and user engagement, our relationships with advertisers and our business and operating results could be harmed. In addition, our focus on the user experience may negatively impact our relationships with our existing or prospective customers. This could result in a loss of customers and platform partners, which would harm our revenue and operating results.

 

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We rely on assumptions and estimates to calculate certain of our key operating metrics, and real or perceived inaccuracies in such metrics may harm our reputation and negatively affect our business.

 

The number of Weibo active users is calculated using internal company data that has not been independently verified. While this number is based on what we believe to be reasonable calculations for the applicable period of measurement, there are inherent challenges in measuring usage and user engagement across Weibo’s large user base of Chinese communities around the world. For example, there are a number of false or spam accounts in existence on Weibo. Although we continuously combat spam by suspending or terminating these accounts, our active user number may include a number of false or spam accounts and may not accurately represent the actual number of active accounts. We treat multiple accounts held by a single person or organization as multiple users for purposes of calculating our active users, because we permit people and organizations to have more than one account. Additionally, some accounts used by organizations are used by many people within the organization. As such, the calculations of Weibo active users may not accurately reflect the actual number of people or organizations using Weibo.

 

We regularly review and may adjust our processes for calculating Weibo internal metrics to improve their accuracy. Weibo’s measures of user growth and user engagement may differ from estimates published by third parties or from similarly-titled metrics of our competitors due to differences in methodology. If advertisers, platform partners or investors do not perceive our user metrics to be accurate representations of our user base or user engagement, or if we discover material inaccuracies in Weibo’s user metrics, our reputation may be harmed and advertisers and platform partners may be less willing to allocate their budgets or resources to Weibo, which could negatively affect our business and operating results.

 

The law of the internet remains largely unsettled, which subjects our business to legal uncertainties that could harm our business.

 

Due to the increasing popularity and use of the internet and other online services, it is possible that a number of laws and regulations may be adopted with respect to the internet or other online services covering issues such as user privacy, pricing, content, copyrights, distribution, antitrust and characteristics and quality of products and services. Furthermore, the growth and development of the market for e-commerce may prompt calls for more stringent consumer protection laws that may impose additional burdens on companies conducting business online. The adoption of additional laws or regulations may decrease the growth of the internet or other online services, which could, in turn, decrease the demand for our products and services and increase our cost of doing business.

 

Moreover, the applicability to the internet and other online services of existing laws in various jurisdictions governing issues such as property ownership, sales and other taxes, libel and personal privacy is uncertain and may take years to resolve. For example, new tax regulations may subject us or our customers to additional sales and income taxes. Any new legislation or regulation, the application of laws and regulations from jurisdictions whose laws do not currently apply to our business, or the application of existing laws and regulations to the internet and other online services could significantly disrupt our operations or subject us to penalties.

 

We may be subject to claims based on the content we provide over our websites and platforms and the products and services sold on our websites and platforms, which, if successful, could cause us to pay significant damage awards.

 

As a publisher and distributor of content and a provider of services over the internet, we face potential liability for defamation, negligence, copyright, patent or trademark infringement and other claims based on the nature and content of the materials that we publish or distribute; the selection of listings that are accessible through our branded products and media properties, or through content and materials that may be posted by users in our classifieds, message boards, chat room services, social media, light blog, blog, online video and other areas on our websites; losses incurred in reliance on any erroneous information published by us, such as stock quotes, analyst estimates or other trading information; unsolicited emails, lost or misdirected messages, illegal or fraudulent use of email or interruptions or delays in email service; and product liability, warranty and similar claims to be asserted against us by end users who purchase goods and services through SINA Mall and any future e-commerce services we may offer.

 

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We may incur significant costs in investigating and defending any potential claims, even if they do not result in liability. Although we carry general liability insurance, our insurance may not cover potential claims of this type and may not be adequate to indemnify us against all potential liabilities.

 

We may be subject to litigation for user-generated content provided on our websites and platforms, which may be time-consuming to defend.

 

User-generated content, or UGC, has become an important source of content to draw traffic to our website and platforms. Our UGC websites and platforms, including social media, light blog, blog, online video, audio streaming and photo gallery, are open to the public for posting. Although we have required our users to post only decent and unobtrusive materials and have set up screening procedures, our screening procedures may fail to screen out all potentially offensive or non-compliant UGC and, even if properly screened, a third party may still find UGC postings on our website offensive and take action against us in connection with the posting of such information. As with other companies who provide UGC on their websites, we have had to deal with such claims in the past and anticipate that such claims will increase as UGC becomes more popular in China. Any such claim, with or without merit, could be time-consuming and costly to defend, and may result in litigation and divert management’s attention and resources.

 

Privacy concerns may prevent us from selling demographically targeted advertising in the future and make us less attractive to advertisers.

 

We collect personal data from our user base in order to better understand our users and their needs and to help our advertisers target specific demographic groups. If privacy concerns or regulatory restrictions prevent us from selling demographically targeted advertising, we may become less attractive to advertisers. For example, as part of our future advertisement delivery system, we may integrate user information such as advertisement response rate, name, address, age or email address, with third-party databases to generate comprehensive demographic profiles for individual users. In Hong Kong, however, the Hong Kong Personal Data Ordinance provides that an internet company may not collect information about its users, analyze the information for a profile of the user’s interests and sell or transmit the profiles to third parties for direct marketing purposes without the user’s consent. If we are unable to construct demographic profiles of internet users because they refuse to give consent, we will be less attractive to advertisers and our business could suffer.

 

Our board members or executive officers may have conflicts of interest.

 

One executive officer and one director of our company are also directors of Weibo. In addition, Weibo may continue to grant share incentive compensation to our directors, officers, employees and consultants from time to time. These relationships could create, or appear to create, conflicts of interest when these persons are faced with decisions with potentially different implications for Weibo and us. Should such conflicts of interest arise, we cannot assure you that our directors and officers will act in the best interest of the our company.

 

Future outbreaks of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (“SARS”), H1N1 flu, H7N9 flu, Avian flu or other widespread public health problems could adversely affect our business.

 

Future outbreaks of SARS, H1N1 flu, H7N9 flu, Avian flu or other widespread public health problems in China and surrounding areas, where most of our employees work, could negatively impact our business in ways that are hard to predict. Prior experience with the SARS virus suggests that a future outbreak of SARS, H1N1 flu, H7N9 flu, Avian flu or other widespread public health problems may lead public health authorities to enforce quarantines, which could result in closures of some of our offices and other disruptions of our operations. A future outbreak of SARS, H1N1 flu, H7N9 flu, Avian flu or other widespread public health problems could result in the reduction of our advertising and fee-based revenues.

 

We have limited business insurance coverage.

 

The insurance industry in China is still developing and the business insurance products offered in China are limited. We do not have any business liability or disruption insurance coverage for our operations. Any business disruption, litigation or natural disaster may cause us to incur substantial costs and divert our resources.

 

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Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure

 

In order to comply with PRC regulatory requirements, we operate our main businesses through companies with which we have contractual relationships but in which we do not have controlling ownership. If the PRC government determines that our agreements with these companies are not in compliance with applicable regulations, our business in the PRC could be adversely affected.

 

The Chinese government restricts foreign investment in internet-related and MVAS businesses, including internet access, distribution of content over the internet and MVAS. Accordingly, we operate our internet-related and MVAS businesses in China through several VIEs that are PRC domestic companies owned principally or completely by certain of our PRC employees or PRC employees of our directly-owned subsidiaries. We control these companies and operate these businesses through contractual arrangements with the respective companies and their individual owners, but we have no equity control over these companies. Such restrictions and arrangements also apply to some of the China-based companies we have acquired or in which we have invested.

 

We cannot be sure that the PRC government would view our contractual arrangements to be in compliance with PRC licensing, registration or other regulatory requirements, including the requirements under the MII Circular 2006, with existing policies or with requirements or policies that may be adopted in the future. On September 28, 2009, the General Administration of Press and Publication (“GAPP,” formerly the State Press and Publications Administration (“SPPA”)), the National Copyright Administration and the National Office of Combating Pornography and Illegal Publications jointly published a notice prohibiting foreign investors from participating in the operation of online games via wholly owned, equity joint venture or cooperative joint venture investments in China, and from controlling and participating in such businesses directly or indirectly through contractual or technical support arrangements (“Circular 13”). It is not clear yet as to whether other PRC government authorities, such as the MOFCOM and the MIIT, will support GAPP to enforce the prohibition of the VIE model that Circular 13 contemplates.

 

If we are deemed to be in violation of any existing laws or regulations, the PRC government could levy fines, revoke our business and operating licenses, require us to discontinue or restrict our operations, restrict our ability to collect payments, block our website, require us to restructure our business, corporate structure or operations, impose restrictions on our business operations or on our customers, impose additional conditions or requirements with which we may not be able to comply, or take other regulatory or enforcement actions against us. The imposition of any of these penalties could result in a material and adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business and on our results of operations. If any of these penalties results in our inability to direct the activities of our VIEs that most significantly impact their economic performance, and/or our failure to receive the economic benefits from our VIEs, we may not be able to consolidate the VIEs in our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

 

We may also encounter difficulties in obtaining performance under or enforcement of related contracts. For example, as part of the contractual arrangements described above, our relevant subsidiaries and the employee shareholders of the VIEs entered into equity pledge agreements pursuant to which the employee shareholders of the VIEs pledged their respective equity interests in the VIEs to our respective subsidiaries. We believe that the equity pledge agreements between our subsidiaries and the shareholders of the relevant VIEs as contracts between the parties thereto became effective and valid on the date when the agreements were duly executed. Therefore, lack of registration does not limit the ability of our subsidiaries to enforce their contractual rights against the equity holders of the VIEs under the equity pledge agreements, such as the rights to ask the equity holders to register the equity pledge and demand the equity holders to transfer the equity interests being pledged in the event of default under contracts secured by the equity pledge. However, according to the PRC Property Rights Law, such pledges can only be perfected upon their registration with the relevant local office for the administration for industry and commerce. Before a successful registration of the equity pledges, we cannot assure you that our subsidiaries’ interests as pledgee will prevail over those of third parties who acquired the equities in the VIEs in good faith. As of the date of this annual report, we have registered the equity pledge on the shares of Beijing Weimeng Technology Co., Ltd., and we are in the process of obtaining the relevant registrations for our other VIEs.

 

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We rely on contractual arrangements with our VIEs for our China operations, which may not be as effective in providing control over these entities as direct ownership. Any failure by our VIEs or their respective shareholders to perform their obligations under the contractual arrangements could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

 

Because PRC regulations restrict our ability to provide internet content and MVAS directly in China, we are dependent on our VIEs, in which we have little or no equity ownership interest, and must rely on contractual arrangements to control and operate these businesses. These contractual arrangements may not be as effective in providing control over these entities as direct ownership. If our VIEs or their respective shareholders fail to perform their respective obligations under the contractual arrangements of which they are a party, we may have to incur substantial costs and resources to enforce our rights under the contracts, and rely on legal remedies under PRC law, including seeking specific performance or injunctive relief and claiming damages, which may not be effective. In addition, we cannot be certain that the individual equity owners of the VIEs will always act in the best interests of our company, especially after they have left our company. For example, if the shareholders of our VIEs were to refuse to transfer their equity interests in our consolidated affiliated entities to us or our designee when we exercise the option to purchase their equity interests pursuant to these contractual arrangements, or if they were otherwise to act in bad faith toward us, then we may have to take legal actions to compel them to perform their respective contractual obligations.

 

All of these contractual arrangements are governed by PRC law and provide for the resolution of disputes through arbitration in the PRC. Accordingly, these contracts would be interpreted in accordance with PRC law and any disputes would be resolved in accordance with PRC legal procedures. The legal system in the PRC is not as developed as in other jurisdictions, such as the United States. As a result, uncertainties in the PRC legal system could limit our ability to enforce these contractual arrangements. Under PRC law, rulings by arbitrators are final, parties cannot appeal the arbitration results in courts, and the prevailing parties may only enforce the arbitration awards in PRC courts through arbitration award recognition proceedings, which would incur additional expenses and delay. In the event we are unable to enforce these contractual arrangements, we may not be able to exert effective control over our affiliated entities, and our ability to conduct our business may be negatively affected.

 

Substantially all economic benefits generated from our VIEs are paid to our subsidiaries in China through related party transactions under contractual agreements. We believe that the terms of these contractual agreements are in compliance with the laws in China. Due to the uncertainties surrounding the interpretation of the transfer pricing rules relating to related party transactions in China, it is possible that in the future tax authorities in China may challenge the prices that we have used for related party transactions among our entities in China. In that case, we may be forced to restructure our business operation, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

 

If the chops of our subsidiaries in China and VIEs are not kept safely, are stolen or are used by unauthorized persons or for unauthorized purposes, the corporate governance of those entities could be severely and adversely compromised.

 

In China, a company chop or seal serves as the legal representation of the company towards third parties even when unaccompanied by a signature. Each legally registered company in China is required to have a company chop, which must be registered with the local Public Security Bureau. In addition to this mandatory chop, companies may have several other chops which can be used for specific purposes. The chops of our subsidiaries in China and VIEs are generally held securely by personnel designated or approved by us in accordance with our internal control procedures. To the extent those chops are not kept safely, are stolen or are used by unauthorized persons or for unauthorized purposes, the corporate governance of these entities could be severely and adversely compromised and those corporate entities may be bound to abide by the terms of any documents so chopped, even if they were chopped by an individual who lacked the requisite power and authority to do so. In addition, if the holders of such chops at our VIEs failed to employ them in accordance with the terms of the various VIE-related agreements or removed them from the premises, the operation of the VIEs could be significantly and adversely impacted.

 

The Chinese legal system has inherent uncertainties that could limit the legal protections available to you.

 

Our contractual arrangements with our VIEs in China are governed by the laws of the PRC. China’s legal system is based upon written statutes. Unlike the common law system, prior court decisions may be cited for reference but are not binding on subsequent cases and have limited value as precedents. Since 1979, the PRC legislative bodies have promulgated laws and regulations dealing with economic matters such as foreign investment, corporate organization and governance, commerce, taxation and trade. The overall effect of legislation over the past three decades has significantly enhanced the protections afforded to various forms of foreign investments in China. However, China has not developed a fully integrated legal system, and recently enacted laws and regulations may not sufficiently cover all aspects of economic activities in China. In particular, the interpretation and enforcement of these laws and regulations involve uncertainties. Since PRC administrative and court authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory and contractual terms, it may be difficult to evaluate the outcome of administrative and court proceedings and the level of legal protection available to you and us.

 

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Furthermore, the PRC legal system is based in part on government policies and internal rules, some of which are not published on a timely basis or at all, and which may have a retroactive effect. As a result, we may not be aware of our violation of any of these policies and rules until sometime after the violation. Such uncertainties, including uncertainty over the scope and effect of our contractual, property (including intellectual property) and procedural rights, and any failure to respond to changes in the regulatory environment in China could materially and adversely affect our business and impede our ability to continue our operations.

 

Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and our shareholder rights plan may discourage our acquisition by a third party, which could limit our shareholders’ opportunity to sell their shares at a premium.

 

Our Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association include provisions that could limit the ability of others to acquire control of us, modify our structure or cause us to engage in change in control transactions. These provisions could have the effect of depriving shareholders of an opportunity to sell their shares at a premium over prevailing market prices by discouraging third parties from seeking to obtain control of us in a tender offer or from otherwise engaging in a merger or similar transaction with us.

 

For example, our board of directors has the authority, without further action by our shareholders, to issue up to 3,750,000 preference shares in one or more series and to fix the powers and rights of these shares, including dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption and liquidation preferences, any or all of which may be greater than the rights associated with our ordinary shares. Preference shares could thus be issued quickly with terms calculated to delay or prevent a change in control or make removal of management more difficult. In addition, if the board of directors issues preference shares, the market price of our ordinary shares may fall and the voting and other rights of the holders of our ordinary shares may be adversely affected. Similarly, the board of directors may approve the issuance of debentures convertible into voting shares, which may limit the ability of others to acquire control of us.

 

In addition, we have adopted a shareholder rights plan pursuant to which our existing shareholders would have the right to purchase ordinary shares from us at half the market price then prevailing in the event a person or group acquires more than 10% of our outstanding ordinary shares on terms our board of directors does not approve. As a result, such rights could cause substantial dilution to the holdings of the person or group which acquires more than 10%. Accordingly, the shareholder rights plan may inhibit a change in control or acquisition and could adversely affect a shareholder’s ability to realize a premium over the then prevailing market price for our ordinary shares in connection with such a transaction.

 

Risks Related to Doing Business in China

 

We may be adversely affected by the complexity, uncertainties and changes in PRC regulation of internet business and companies, including limitations on our ability to own key assets, such as our website.

 

The PRC government heavily regulates the internet sector, including the legality of foreign investment in this sector, the existence and enforcement of content restrictions on the internet and the licensing and permit requirements for companies in the internet industry. Because some of the laws, regulations and legal requirements with regard to the internet sector are relatively new and evolving, their interpretation and enforcement involve significant uncertainties. In addition, the PRC legal system is based on written statutes and prior court decisions have limited precedential value. As a result, in many cases it is difficult to determine what actions or omissions may result in liability. Issues, risks and uncertainties relating to the PRC government’s regulation of the Chinese internet sector include the following:

 

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·                   We only have contractual control over our website www.sina.com.cn in China. We do not own it due to the restriction of foreign investment in businesses providing value-added telecommunication services, including computer information services, MVAS or email services.

 

·                   Uncertainties relating to the regulation of the internet industry in China, including evolving licensing practices, give rise to the risk that permits, licenses or operations at some of our companies may be subject to challenge, which may be disruptive to our business, or subject us to sanctions, requirements to increase capital or other conditions or enforcement, compromise enforceability of related contractual arrangements, or have other harmful effects on us. For example, on July 13, 2006, the MII issued The Circular of the Ministry of Information Industry on Strengthening the Administration of Foreign Investment in Value-added Telecommunication Services (the “MII Circular 2006”). The MII Circular 2006 provides that (i) any domain name used by a value-added telecom carrier shall be legally owned by such carrier or its shareholder(s); (ii) any trademark used by a value-added telecom carrier shall be legally owned by the carrier or its shareholder(s); (iii) the operation site and facilities of a value-added telecom carrier shall be installed within the scope of the operating licenses obtained by the carrier and shall correspond to the value-added telecom services that the carrier has been approved to provide; and (iv) a value-added telecom carrier shall establish and improve measures to ensuring safety of network information. The trademark “SINA” and domain name “www.sina.com.cn” were transferred from Beijing SINA Information Technology Co., Ltd. (formerly known as Beijing Stone Rich Sight Information Technology Co., Ltd. (“BSIT”)), one of our wholly owned subsidiaries to Beijing SINA internet Information Service Co., Ltd., a PRC company controlled by us through contractual arrangements (the “ICP Company”).

 

·                   The numerous and often vague restrictions on acceptable content in China subject us to potential civil and criminal liabilities, temporary blockage of our website or complete shutdown of our website. For example, the amended Law on Preservation of State Secrets which became effective on October 1, 2010 provides that whenever an internet service provider detects any leak of state secrets in the distribution of online information, it should stop the distribution of such information and report to the state secrecy and public security authorities. Failure to do so on a timely and adequate basis may subject us to liabilities and penalties and may even result in the temporary blockage or complete shutdown of our website. In addition, the Judicial Interpretation on the Application of Law in Trial of Online Defamation and Other Online Crimes jointly promulgated by the PRC Supreme People’s Court and Supreme People’s Procuratorate, which became effective on September 10, 2013, imposes up to three-year prison on internet users who fabricate or knowingly share defamatory false information online, which leads to serious consequence. The implementation of this newly promulgated judicial interpretation may have a significant and adverse effect on the traffic of our websites, particularly those with user generated contents, and in turn may impact the results of our operations and ultimately the valuation of our stock.

 

·                   Because the definition and interpretation of prohibited content are in many cases vague and subjective, it is not always possible to determine or predict what content might be prohibited under existing restrictions or restrictions that might be imposed in the future or how such restrictions will apply. The General Administration of Press and Publication, Radio, Film and Television (the “GAPPRFT,” formerly known as the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, or SARFT) or other Chinese governmental authorities may prohibit the marketing of other MVAS via a channel we depend on to generate revenues, which could also have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

 

·                   New laws and regulations may be promulgated to regulate internet activities, including , without limitation, online advertising, online news reporting, online publishing, online education, online gaming, online transmission of audio-visual programs, online health diagnosis and treatment, and the provision of industry-specific information over the internet. If these new laws and regulations are promulgated, additional licenses may be required for our operations. If our operations do not comply with these new regulations when they become effective, or if we fail to obtain any licenses required under these new laws and regulations, we could be subject to penalties. Our operations may not be consistent with these new regulations when they are put into effect. As a result, we could be subject to severe penalties, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows. For example, effective as of January 31, 2008, the Administrative Provisions on internet Audio-visual Program Service, jointly promulgated by the GAPPRFT and the MII (the “Audio-visual Program Provisions”) require any entity engaged in providing internet audio-visual program services to obtain a license or register with the GAPPRFT; an applicant engaging in internet audio-visual program service must be a state-owned entity or a state-controlled entity with full corporate capacity; and the business to be carried out by the applicant must satisfy the overall planning and guidance catalogue issued by the GAPPRFT. The GAPPRFT and the MII later clarified that websites that existed before the promulgation of the Audio-visual Program Provisions may, once they are registered with the GAPPRFT, continue operating audio-visual services so long as those websites have not been in violation of the laws and regulations.

 

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·                   Our VIEs in China are not state-owned or state-controlled companies, but our mainland China destination websites were launched before the promulgation of the Audio-visual Program Provisions and have been registered with the GAPPRFT. The ICP Company currently holds a License for Online Transmission of Audio-visual Programs issued by the GAPPRFT valid through April 28, 2015. Considering the requirements set out in the Audio-visual Program Provisions, it is uncertain whether the ICP Company will be able to successfully procure the renewal of the License for Online Transmission of Audio-visual Programs upon its expiration. Should any official explanations or implementation rules of the Audio-visual Program Provisions forbid any non-state-controlled entities from engaging in internet audio-visual program service such that the GAPPRFT rejects our renewal application, we may be disqualified from operating online transmission of audio-visual programs.

 

·                   In 2013, the GAPPRFT released a Supplemental Notice on Improving the Administration of Online Audio/Video Content Including Internet Dramas and Micro Films, which requires that (i) all the internet content,  such as internet dramas and micro films, must obtain a permit for radio and television program production and operation, (ii) online audio/video service providers transmitting internet dramas or micro films produced and uploaded by individual users will be deemed responsible as producers for such content, (iii) under this notice, online audio/video service providers may only transmit content uploaded by individuals whose identity has been verified and which content complies with the relevant content management rules and (iv) online audio/video content, include internet dramas and micro films, must be filed with the relevant authorities before release. This supplementary notice is very new, and thus far no relevant implementation rules or interpretations have been issued. Thus, it remains unclear what, if any, potential liabilities our ICP Company could face in respect of the online audio/video content available on our website. See also “— Our Internet Publication License and License for Online Transmission of Audio-Visual Programs could be revoked due to certain content on our website.”

 

·                   The governing bodies of China’s mobile industry from time to time issue policies that regulate the business practices relating to MVAS. We cannot predict the timing or substance of such new regulations, which may have a negative impact on our business.

 

The interpretation and application of existing Chinese laws, regulations and policies, the stated positions of relevant PRC authorities and possible new laws, regulations or policies have created substantial uncertainties regarding the legality of existing and future foreign investments in, and the businesses and activities of, internet businesses in China, including our business.

 

Our Internet Publication License and License for Online Transmission of Audio-Visual Programs could be revoked due to certain content on our website.

 

We received three notices from the Beijing Municipal Cultural Market Administrative Law Enforcement Unit concerning alleged violations of PRC regulations on our website in April 2014. These alleged violations relate to the distribution of certain literary and video content on our reading channel, book.sina.com.cn, and our video sharing service channel, video.sina.com.cn, that the authorities deemed to be in violation of the restrictions against “unhealthy and indecent” content under PRC law.  We have been informed that as an administrative penalty for these violations, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television has proposed revoking our Internet Publication License and License for Online Transmission of Audio-Visual Programs.  In addition, the Beijing Municipal Cultural Market Administrative Law Enforcement Unit has proposed imposing an administrative fine.  The authority also determined that the revenues derived from the alleged violation relating to the reading channel was RMB508,581 ($82,029), and we may be subject to an administrative fine ranging from five to ten times of such revenues pursuant to the Provisional Rules for the Administration of Internet Publishing. It is our understanding that these administrative penalties are part of the PRC government’s campaign to clean up unhealthy and indecent content on the internet.

 

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We intend to fully cooperate with the relevant government authorities and take appropriate actions as necessary to address their concerns.  Nevertheless, if the two licenses referred above are revoked such occurrance may have a material adverse impact on, our results of operations.  If we lose these two licenses, we may have to cease offering online reading services or video services altogether or find business partners with the proper licenses to offer such services through cooperation arrangements. Our online game services may also be affected as the Internet Publication License governs the application for standard publication codes for the publishing of self-developed games.   There is no assurance that we will be able to find suitable third parties under commercially reasonable terms to continue these services, and even if we do enter into such cooperation arrangements to continue the services, the arrangements will increase our operational costs for delivering these services.  In addition, the revocation of the relevant licenses may harm our ability to obtain licenses and permits or similar permits in the near future and harm our reputation, which may have a material adverse impact on our ability to attract business partners and customers and on our revenues and results of operations.

 

We are required to, but have not, verified the identities of all of our users who post on Weibo, and our noncompliance exposes us to potentially severe penalty by the Chinese government.

 

On December 16, 2011, the Beijing Municipal Government issued the Rules on the Administration of Microblog Development, or the “Microblog Rules,” which became effective on the same day. Under the Microblog Rules, users who post publicly on microblogs are required to disclose their real identity information to the microblogging service provider and may still use pen names to reflect their account names on the front end. Microblogging service providers are required to verify the identities of their users. In addition, microblogging service providers based in Beijing are required to verify the identities of all of their users by March 16, 2012, including existing users who post publicly on their websites. The user identity verification requirements have deterred new users from completing their registrations on Weibo, and a significant portion of registrations with user identity information provided were rejected because they do not match the Chinese government database.

 

We have made significant efforts to comply with the verification requirements. However, for reasons including existing user behaviors, the nature of the microblogging product and the lack of clarity on specific implementation procedures, we have not been able to verify the identities of all of the users who post content publicly on Weibo. While the Microblog Rules are not clear regarding the type and extent of penalty that may be imposed on non-compliant microblogging service providers, we are potentially liable for our noncompliance and may be subject to penalties including the deactivation of certain features on Weibo, termination of Weibo operations or other penalties imposed by the Chinese government. Any of the above actions may have a material and adverse impact on our share price.

 

The Chinese government may prevent us from advertising or distributing content that it believes is inappropriate and we may be liable for such content or we may have to stop profiting from such content.

 

The Chinese government has enacted regulations governing internet access and the distribution of news and other information. In the past, the Chinese government has stopped the distribution of information over the internet or through MVAS that it believes to violate Chinese law, including content that it believes is obscene, incites violence, endangers national security, is contrary to the national interest or is defamatory. In addition, we may not publish certain news items, such as news relating to national security, without permission from the Chinese government. Furthermore, the Ministry of Public Security has the authority to cause any local internet service provider to block any websites maintained outside China at its sole discretion. Even if we are in compliance with PRC governmental regulations relating to licensing and foreign investment prohibitions, if the Chinese government were to take any action to limit or prohibit the distribution of information through our network, via our MVAS or over the other platforms we use, or to limit or regulate any current or future content or services available to users on our network, our business could be significantly harmed.

 

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Because the definition and interpretation of prohibited content is in many cases vague and subjective, it is not always possible to determine or predict what content might be prohibited under existing restrictions or restrictions that might be imposed in the future or how such restrictions will apply. In July 2004, our IVR service was temporarily terminated by China Mobile, citing that we had provided inappropriate content to our mobile subscribers through our IVR service. In January 2005, the GAPPRFT, which regulates radio and television stations in China, issued a notice prohibiting commercials for MVAS related to “fortune-telling” from airing on radio and television stations. The GAPPRFT and other Chinese government authorities may prohibit the marketing of other MVAS via a channel we depend on to generate revenues, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. We are not sure whether mobile operators, including China Mobile and China Unicom, or the Chinese government will find our other mobile content inappropriate and therefore prevent us from operating the MVAS relating to such content in the future. If they prevent us from offering such services, our profit from MVAS will suffer.

 

In addition, the MIIT has published regulations that subject website operators to potential liability for content displayed on their websites and for the actions of users and others using their systems, including liability for violations of PRC laws prohibiting the dissemination of content deemed to be socially destabilizing. The Ministry of Public Security has the authority to order any local internet service provider to block any internet website at its sole discretion. From time to time, the Ministry of Public Security has stopped the dissemination over the internet of information which it believes to be socially destabilizing. The State Administration for the Protection of State Secrets is also authorized to block any website it deems to be leaking state secrets or failing to meet the relevant regulations relating to the protection of state secrets in the dissemination of online information.

 

We are also subject to potential liability for user generated content on our websites that is deemed inappropriate or unlawful. Although we attempt to monitor the user generated content on our online properties including Weibo, we may not always be able to effectively control or restrict the content generated or placed by our users. On March 31, 2012, we had to disable the comment feature of Weibo for three days to clean up Weibo postings related to certain rumors. The Chinese government may choose to tighten its internet censorship. If the Chinese government decides to restrict the dissemination of information via microblogging services or online postings in general, Weibo and our other online products could be impaired or even ordered to shut down, which may adversely impact our website traffic, our ability to monetize our services and our brand equity.

 

Furthermore, we may be required to delete content that violates Chinese law and report content that we suspect may violate Chinese law. It is difficult to determine the type of content that may result in liability for us, and if we are wrong, we may be prevented from operating our websites, which may adversely impact our website traffic, brand and financial condition and results of operations.

 

Changes in political and economic conditions in Greater China and the rest of the Asia may disrupt our operations if the changes result in unfavorable political and economic conditions to our business.

 

We expect to continue to derive a substantial percentage of our revenues from the Greater China market. Changes in political or economic conditions in the region are difficult to predict and could adversely affect our operations or cause the Greater China market to become less attractive to advertisers, which could reduce our revenues. We maintain a strong local identity and presence in each of the regions in the Greater China market and we cannot be sure that we will be able to effectively maintain this local identity if political conditions were to change. Economic reforms in the region could also affect our business in ways that are difficult to predict. For example, since the late 1970s, the PRC government has been reforming the Chinese economic system to emphasize enterprise autonomy and the utilization of market mechanisms. Although we believe that these reform measures have had a positive effect on the economic development in China, we cannot be sure that they will continue to be effective and benefit our business.

 

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Our operations depend on the performance of the internet infrastructure and fixed telecommunications networks in China.

 

Almost all access to the internet in China is maintained through state-owned telecommunication operators under the administrative control and regulatory supervision of the MIIT. Moreover, we primarily rely on a limited number of telecommunication service providers to provide us with data communications capacity through local telecommunications lines and internet data centers to host our servers. We have limited access to alternative networks or services in the event of disruptions, failures or other problems with China’s internet infrastructure or the fixed telecommunications networks provided by telecommunication service providers. The web traffic in China has experienced significant growth during the past few years. Effective bandwidth and server storage at internet data centers in large cities such as Beijing are scarce. With the expansion of our business, we may be required to upgrade our technology and infrastructure to keep up with the increasing traffic on our websites. We cannot assure you that the internet infrastructure and the fixed telecommunications networks in China will be able to support the demands associated with the continued growth in internet usage. If we were unable to increase our online content and service delivering capacity accordingly, we may not be able to continuously grow our website traffic and the adoption of our products and services may be hindered, which could adversely impact our business and our share price.

 

In addition, we have no control over the costs of the services provided by telecommunication service providers. If the prices we pay for telecommunications and internet services rise significantly, our results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, if internet access fees or other charges to internet users increase, some users may be prevented from accessing the internet and thus cause the growth of internet users to decelerate. Such deceleration may adversely affect our ability to continue to expand our user base and increase our attractiveness to online advertisers.

 

Our significant amount of deposits in certain banks in China may be at risk if these banks go bankrupt or otherwise do not have the liquidity to pay us during our deposit period.

 

As of December 31, 2013, we had approximately $1,844.5 million in cash and bank deposits, such as time deposits with large domestic banks in China. The remaining cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments were held by financial institutions in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and the United States. The terms of these deposits are, in general, up to twelve months. Historically, deposits in Chinese banks are secure due to the state policy on protecting depositors’ interests. However, China promulgated a new Bankruptcy Law in August 2006, which came into effect on June 1, 2007 and contains a separate article expressly stating that the State Council may promulgate implementation measures for the bankruptcy of Chinese banks based on the Bankruptcy Law. Under the new Bankruptcy Law, a Chinese bank may go bankrupt. In addition, since China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (“WTO”), foreign banks have been gradually permitted to operate in China and have been strong competitors against Chinese banks in many aspects, especially since the opening of RMB business to foreign banks in late 2006. Therefore, the risk of bankruptcy or illiquidity of those Chinese banks in which we have deposits has increased. In the event of bankruptcy or illiquidity of any one of the banks which holds our deposits, we are unlikely to claim our deposits back in full since we are unlikely to be classified as a secured creditor based on PRC laws.

 

Discontinuation of preferential tax treatment or imposition of any additional taxes could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

 

The Enterprise Income Tax Law and its implementing rules have adopted a uniform statutory enterprise income tax rate of 25% to all enterprises in China. The Enterprise Income Tax Law and its implementing rules also permit qualified “software enterprises” to enjoy a two-year income tax exemption starting from the first profit making year, followed by a reduced tax rate of 12.5% for the subsequent three years. SINA (Shanghai) Management Co., Ltd., was qualified a software enterprise in 2010 and is exempted from income tax for the first two years and is entitled to a preferential tax rate of 12.5% for the three years from thereafter.  Weibo Internet Technology (China) Co., Ltd. ( Weibo Technology ) , our PRC subsidiary, was qualified as a “software enterprise” on December 19, 2011, and will be eligible for the relevant preferential tax treatment upon filing with the relevant tax authorities. Weibo Technology has not applied for any preferential tax treatments yet due to its cumulative loss, and it may apply for preferential tax treatment as a “software enterprise” when it begins to generate profits. Its qualification as a “software enterprise” is subject to annual evaluation and a two-year review by the relevant authorities in China. If Weibo Technology fails to maintain its “software enterprise” qualification, its applicable corporate income tax rate would increase to 25%, which could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

 

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Due to our operation and tax structures in China, our PRC subsidiaries have entered into technical and other service agreements with our VIEs. We incur a value added tax of up to 6% when our subsidiaries receive services fees from the VIEs pursuant to such service agreements, which we include in our operating expenses as the cost of transferring economic benefit generated from these VIEs. The Enterprise Income Tax Law and its implementing rules emphasize the arm’s length basis for transactions between related entities. If PRC tax authorities were to determine that our transfer pricing structure was not on an arm’s length basis and therefore constitutes a favorable transfer pricing, they could request our VIEs to adjust their taxable income upward for PRC tax purposes. Such a pricing adjustment could adversely affect us by increasing our VIEs’ tax expenses, which could subject our VIEs to late payment fees and other penalties for underpayment of taxes, and/or could result in the loss of tax benefits available to our subsidiaries in China.

 

The Enterprise Income Tax Law treats a foreign enterprise whose “de facto management body” is located in China as a resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes and subjects such enterprise to the PRC income tax at the rate of 25% for its global income. The Implementing Rules of the Enterprise Income Tax Law merely define the location of the “de facto management body” as “the place where the exercising, in substance, of the overall management and control of the production and business operation, personnel, accounting, properties, etc., of a non-PRC company is located.” Based on a review of surrounding facts and circumstances, we do not believe that our operations outside the PRC are likely to be considered a resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes. However, due to limited guidance and implementation history of the Enterprise Income Tax Law, if we are treated as a resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes, we will be subject to PRC tax on worldwide income at a uniform tax rate of 25%.

 

Dividends payable to us by our PRC subsidiaries may be subject to PRC withholding taxes and interest payments on the notes, dividends distributed to our non-PRC investors and gains realized by our non-PRC noteholders and shareholders from the transfer of our notes or shares may be subject to PRC withholding taxes under the EIT Law.

 

The EIT Law imposes a 10% withholding income tax on dividends generated on or after January 1, 2008 and distributed by a resident enterprise to its foreign investors, if such foreign investors are considered as non-resident enterprises without any establishment or place of business within China or if the received dividends have no connection with such foreign investors’ establishment or place of business within China, unless such foreign investors’ jurisdiction of incorporation has a tax treaty with China that provides for a different withholding arrangement. The Cayman Islands, where we are incorporated, does not have such tax treaty with China. According to the Arrangement between Mainland of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income in August 2006, dividends paid by a foreign invested enterprise, or FIE, to its foreign investors in Hong Kong will be subject to withholding tax at a preferential rate of no more than 5% (if the foreign investor owns directly at least 25% of the shares of the FIE). The State Administration of Taxation further promulgated a circular, or Circular 601, on October 27, 2009, which provides that tax treaty benefits will be denied to “conduit” or shell companies without business substance and that a beneficial ownership analysis will be used based on a “substance-over-form” principle to determine whether or not to grant the tax treaty benefits. A majority of our subsidiaries in China are directly invested in and held by Hong Kong registered entities. If we are regarded as a non-resident enterprise and our Hong Kong entities are regarded as resident enterprises, then our Hong Kong entities may be required to pay a 10% withholding tax on any dividends payable to us. If our Hong Kong entities are regarded as non-resident enterprises, then our subsidiaries in China will be required to pay a 5% withholding tax for any dividends payable to our Hong Kong entities provided that specific conditions are met. However, it is still unclear at this stage whether Circular 601 applies to dividends from our PRC subsidiaries paid to our Hong Kong subsidiaries and if our Hong Kong subsidiaries were not considered as “beneficial owners” of any dividends from their PRC subsidiaries, the dividends payable to our Hong Kong subsidiaries would be subject to withholding tax at a rate of 10%. In either case, the amount of funds available to us, including the payment of dividends to our shareholders, could be materially reduced. In addition, because there remains uncertainty regarding the concept of “the place of de facto management body,” if we are regarded as a resident enterprise, under the EIT Law, interest payments on the notes and any dividends to be distributed by us to our non-PRC shareholders will be subject to PRC withholding tax. We also cannot guarantee that any gains realized by such non-PRC noteholders or shareholders from the transfer of our notes or shares will not be subject to PRC withholding tax. If we are required under the EIT Law to withhold PRC income tax on interest payments on the notes payable to our non-PRC noteholders, our dividends payable to our non-PRC shareholders or any gains realized by our non-PRC noteholders and shareholders from transfer of our notes or shares, their investment in our notes or shares may be materially and adversely affected. The current policy approved by our board of directors allows us to distribute PRC earnings offshore only if we do not have to pay a dividend tax. Such policy may require us to reinvest all earnings made since 2008 onshore indefinitely or be subject to a significant withholding tax should our policy change to allow for earnings distribution offshore.

 

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We may be subject to a significant withholding tax should equity transfers by our non-resident enterprises be determined to have been done without a reasonable business purpose.

 

In December 2009, the State Administration of Tax in China issued a circular on strengthening the management of proceeds from equity transfers by non-resident enterprises and requires foreign entities to report indirect sales of resident enterprises. If the existence of the overseas intermediary holding company is disregarded due to lack of reasonable business purpose or substance, gains on such sale are subject to PRC withholding tax. Due to limited guidance and implementation history of the circular, significant judgment is required in determining the existence of a reasonable business purpose by considering multiple factors, such as the form and substance of the arrangement, time of establishment of the foreign entity, relationship between each step of the arrangement, relationship between each component of the arrangement, implementation of the arrangement and the changes in the financial position of all parties involved in the transaction. Although we believe that our transactions during all the periods presented would be determined to have reasonable business purposes, should this not be the case, the Company would be subject to a significant withholding tax that could materially and adversely impact its financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

 

Uncertainty in the interpretation of PRC tax regulations may have a negative impact on our business operations, our acquisition or restructuring strategy or the value of your investment in us.

 

Pursuant to the Notice on Strengthening Administration of Enterprise Income Tax for Share Transfers by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises, or SAT Circular 698, issued by the State Administration of Taxation in December 2009, with retroactive effect from January 1, 2008, where a non-resident enterprise transfers the equity interests of a PRC resident enterprise indirectly by disposition of the equity interests of an overseas non-public holding company, or an Indirect Transfer, and such overseas holding company is located in a tax jurisdiction that: (i) has an effective tax rate of less than 12.5% or (ii) does not impose income tax on foreign income of its residents, the non-resident enterprise, being the transferor, must report to the competent tax authority of the PRC resident enterprise this Indirect Transfer. Using a “substance over form” principle, the PRC tax authority may disregard the existence of the overseas holding company if it lacks a reasonable commercial purpose and was established for the purpose of reducing, avoiding or deferring PRC tax. As a result, gains derived from such Indirect Transfer may be subject to PRC withholding tax at a rate of up to 10%. SAT Circular 698 also provides that, where a non-PRC resident enterprise transfers its equity interests in a PRC resident enterprise to its related parties at a price lower than fair market value, the relevant tax authority has the power to make a reasonable adjustment to the taxable income of the transaction.

 

On March 28, 2011, the State Administration of Taxation released SAT Public Notice (2011) No. 24, or SAT Public Notice 24, to clarify several issues related to Circular 698. SAT Public Notice 24 became effective on April 1, 2011. According to SAT Public Notice 24, the term “effective tax rate” refers to the effective tax rate on the gain derived from disposition of the equity interests of an overseas holding company; and the term “does not impose income tax” refers to the cases where the gain derived from disposition of the equity interests of an overseas holding company is not subject to income tax in the country/region where the overseas holding company is a resident.

 

There is uncertainty as to the application of SAT Circular 698. For example, while the term “Indirect Transfer” is not clearly defined, it is understood that the relevant PRC tax authorities have jurisdiction regarding requests for information over a wide range of foreign entities having no direct contact with China. Moreover, the relevant authority has not yet promulgated any formal provisions or made any formal declaration as to the process and format for reporting an Indirect Transfer to the competent tax authority of the relevant PRC resident enterprise. In addition, there are no formal declarations with regard to how to determine whether a foreign investor has adopted an abusive arrangement in order to reduce, avoid or defer PRC tax. SAT Circular 698 may be determined by the tax authorities to be applicable to previous investments by non-resident investors in our company, if any of such transactions were determined by the tax authorities to lack reasonable commercial purpose. As a result, we and our existing non-resident investors may be at risk of being taxed under SAT Circular 698 and may be required to expend valuable resources to comply with SAT Circular 698 or to establish that we should not be taxed under SAT Circular 698, which may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations or such non-resident investors’ investments in us. We have conducted and may conduct transactions involving our corporate structure. We cannot assure you that the PRC tax authorities will not, at their discretion, adjust any capital gains and impose tax return filing obligations on us or require us to provide assistance for the investigation of PRC tax authorities with respect thereto. Any PRC tax imposed on a transfer of our shares or any adjustment of such gains would cause us to incur additional costs and may have a negative impact on the value of your investment in us.

 

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PRC regulation of loans and direct investment by offshore holding companies to PRC entities may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds from the offerings of any securities to make loans or additional capital contributions to our PRC operating subsidiaries.

 

As an offshore holding company, our ability to make loans or additional capital contributions to our PRC operating subsidiaries is subject to PRC regulations and approvals. These regulations and approvals may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds we received in the past or will receive in the future from the offerings of securities to make loans or additional capital contributions to our PRC operating subsidiaries, and impair our ability to fund and expand our business which may adversely affect our business, financial condition and result of operations.

 

For example, the SAFE promulgated the Circular on the Relevant Operating Issues concerning Administration Improvement of Payment and Settlement of Foreign Currency Capital of Foreign-Invested Enterprises, or Circular 142, on August 29, 2008. Under Circular 142, registered capital of a foreign-invested company settled in RMB converted from foreign currencies may only be used within the business scope approved by the applicable governmental authority and may not be used for equity investments in the PRC. In addition, foreign-invested companies may not change how they use such capital without the SAFE’s approval, and may not in any case use such capital to repay RMB loans if they have not used the proceeds of such loans. Furthermore, the SAFE promulgated a circular on November 9, 2010, or Circular 59, which requires the authenticity of settlement of net proceeds from offshore offerings to be closely examined and the net proceeds to be settled in the manner described in the offering documents. In addition, to strengthen

 

Circular 142, on November 9, 2011 the SAFE promulgated the Circular on Further Clarifying and Regulating Relevant Issues Concerning the Administration of Foreign Exchange under Capital Account, or Circular 45, which prohibits a foreign invested company from converting its registered capital in foreign exchange currency into RMB for the purpose of making domestic equity investments, granting entrusted loans, repaying inter-company loans, and repaying bank loans that have been transferred to a third party. Circular 142, Circular 59 and Circular 45 may significantly limit our ability to transfer the net proceeds from offerings of our securities or any future offering to our PRC subsidiaries and convert the net proceeds into RMB, which may adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business in the PRC

 

Restrictions on paying dividends or making other payments to us bind our subsidiaries and VIEs in China.

 

We are a holding company and do not have any assets or conduct any business operations in China other than our investments in our subsidiaries in China and our VIEs. As a result, if our non-China operations require cash from China, we would depend on dividend payments from our subsidiaries in China after they receive payments from our VIEs in China under various services and other arrangements. We cannot make any assurance that our subsidiaries in China can continue to receive the payments as arranged under our contracts with those VIEs. In addition, under Chinese law, our subsidiaries are only allowed to pay dividends to us out of their distributable earnings, if any, as determined in accordance with Chinese accounting standards and regulations. Moreover, our Chinese subsidiaries are required to set aside at least 10% of their respective after-tax profit each year, if any, to fund certain mandated reserve funds, unless these reserves have reached 50% of their registered capital. These reserve funds are not payable or distributable as cash dividends. For Chinese subsidiaries with after-tax profits for the periods presented, the difference between after-tax profits as calculated under PRC accounting standards and U.S. GAAP relates primarily to share-based compensation expenses and intangible assets amortization expenses, which are not pushed down to our subsidiaries and VIEs under PRC accounting standards. In addition, under the EIT Law and its implementing Rules, dividends generated from our PRC subsidiaries after January 1, 2008 and payable to their immediate holding company incorporated in Hong Kong generally will be subject to a withholding tax rate of 10% (unless the PRC tax authorities determine that our Hong Kong subsidiary is a resident enterprise). If certain conditions and requirements under the Arrangement between the Mainland of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income entered into between Hong Kong and the PRC and other related PRC laws and regulations are met, the withholding rate could be reduced to 5%.

 

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The Chinese government also imposes controls on the convertibility of RMB into foreign currencies and the remittance of currency out of China in certain cases. We have experienced and may continue to experience difficulties in completing the administrative procedures necessary to obtain and remit foreign currency. See “— Currency fluctuations and restrictions on currency exchange may adversely affect our business, including limiting our ability to convert RMB into foreign currencies and, if RMB were to decline in value, reducing our revenues and profits in U.S. dollar terms.” If we or any of our subsidiaries are unable to receive substantially all of the economic benefits from our operations through these contractual or dividend arrangements, we may be unable to effectively finance our operations or pay dividends on our ordinary shares.

 

Regulations on virtual currency may adversely affect our game operations revenues.

 

We have provided Weibo Credit as an online virtual currency for users to purchase in-game virtual items or other types of fee-based services on Weibo. The Notice on the Strengthening of Administration on Online Game Virtual Currency, jointly issued by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Commerce in 2009, broadly defined virtual currency as a type of virtual exchange instrument issued by internet game operation enterprises, purchased directly or indirectly by the game users by exchanging legal currency at a certain exchange rate, saved outside the game programs, stored in servers provided by the internet game operation enterprises in electronic record format and represented by specific numeric units. Virtual currency is used to exchange internet game services provided by the issuing enterprise for a designated extent and time, and is represented by several forms, such as online prepaid game cards, prepaid amounts or internet game points, and does not include game props obtained from playing online games. In 2009, the Ministry of Culture further promulgated the Filing Guidelines on Online Game Virtual Currency Issuing Enterprises and Online Game Virtual Currency Trading Enterprises, which specifically defines “issuing enterprise” and “trading enterprise” and stipulates that a single enterprise may not operate both types of business. Although we believe we do not offer online game virtual currency trading services, we cannot assure you that the PRC regulatory authorities will not take a view contrary to ours, in which case these regulations could have an adverse effect on our game-related revenues.

 

We may have to register our encryption software with Chinese regulatory authorities, and if they request that we change our encryption software, our business operations could be disrupted as we develop or license replacement software.

 

Pursuant to the Regulations for the Administration of Commercial Encryption promulgated at the end of 1999, foreign and domestic companies operating in China are required to seek approval from the Office of the State for Cipher Code Administration (“OSCCA”), the Chinese encryption regulatory authority, for the commercial encryption products they use. Companies operating in China are allowed to use only commercial cipher code products approved by OSCCA and are prohibited to use self-developed or imported cipher code products without approval. In addition, all cipher code products shall be produced by those producers appointed and approved by OSCCA. In December 2005, OSCCA further released a series of rules, effective January 1, 2006, regulating many aspects of commercial cipher code products in detail, including development, production and sales.

 

Because these regulations do not specify what constitutes a cipher code product, we are unsure as to whether or how they apply to us and the encryption software we utilize. We may be required to register, or apply for permits with OSCCA for, our current or future encryption software. If PRC regulatory authorities request that we register our encryption software or change our current encryption software to an approved cipher code product produced by an appointed producer, it could disrupt our business operations.

 

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Currency fluctuations and restrictions on currency exchange may adversely affect our business, including limiting our ability to convert RMB into foreign currencies and, if RMB were to decline in value, reducing our revenues and profits in U.S. dollar terms.

 

Our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar and our operations in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan use their respective local currencies as their functional currencies. The majority of our revenues derived and expenses incurred are in Chinese RMB with a relatively small amount in New Taiwan dollars, Hong Kong dollars and U.S. dollars. We are subject to the effects of exchange rate fluctuations with respect to any of these currencies. For example, the value of the RMB depends to a large extent on Chinese government policies and China’s domestic and international economic and political developments, as well as supply and demand in the local market. Starting July 2005, the Chinese government changed its policy of pegging the value of the RMB to the U.S. dollar. Under the new policy, the RMB has fluctuated within a narrow and managed band against a basket of certain foreign currencies.  It is possible that the Chinese government will adopt a more flexible currency policy, which could result in more significant fluctuations of the RMB against the U.S. dollar.

 

The income statements of our China, Hong Kong and Taiwan operations are translated into U.S. dollars at the average exchange rates in each applicable period. To the extent the U.S. dollar strengthens against foreign currencies, the translation of these foreign currency -denominated transactions results in reduced revenues, operating expenses and net income for our non-U.S. operations. Similarly, to the extent the U.S. dollar weakens against foreign currencies, the translation of RMB, Hong Kong dollar and New Taiwan dollar-denominated transactions results in increased revenues, operating expenses and net income for our non-U.S. operations. We are also exposed to foreign exchange rate fluctuations as we convert the financial statements of our non-U.S. subsidiaries into U.S. dollars in consolidation. If there is a change in foreign currency exchange rates, the conversion of the non-U.S. subsidiaries’ financial statements into U.S. dollars will lead to a translation gain or loss which is recorded as a component of other comprehensive income. In addition, we have certain assets and liabilities that are denominated in currencies other than the relevant entity’s functional currency. Changes in the functional currency value of these assets and liabilities create fluctuations that will lead to a transaction gain or loss. We have not entered into agreements or purchased instruments to hedge our exchange rate risks, although we may do so in the future. The availability and effectiveness of any hedging transaction may be limited and we may not be able to successfully hedge our exchange rate risks.

 

Although Chinese governmental policies were introduced in 1996 to allow the convertibility of RMB into foreign currency for current account items, conversion of RMB into foreign exchange for most of the capital items, such as foreign direct investment, loans or securities, requires the approval of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE. These approvals, however, do not guarantee the availability of foreign currency. We cannot be sure that we will be able to obtain all required conversion approvals for our operations or that Chinese regulatory authorities will not impose greater restrictions on the convertibility of RMB in the future. Because a significant amount of our future revenues may be in the form of RMB, our inability to obtain the requisite approvals or any future restrictions on currency exchanges could limit our ability to utilize revenue generated in RMB to fund our business activities outside China, or to repay non-RMB-denominated obligations, including our debt obligations, which would have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

 

PRC laws and regulations establish more complex procedures for some acquisitions of Chinese companies by foreign investors, which could make it more difficult for us to pursue growth through acquisitions in China.

 

A number of PRC laws and regulations, including the Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors adopted by six PRC regulatory agencies in 2006, or the M&A Rules, the Antimonopoly Law, and the Rules of Ministry of Commerce on Implementation of Security Review System of Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors promulgated by the Ministry of Commerce in August 2011, or the Security Review Rules, have established procedures and requirements that are expected to make merger and acquisition activities in China by foreign investors more time consuming and complex. These include requirements in some instances that the Ministry of Commerce be notified in advance of any change of control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a PRC domestic enterprise, or that the approval from the Ministry of Commerce be obtained in circumstances where overseas companies established or controlled by PRC enterprises or residents acquire affiliated domestic companies. PRC laws and regulations also require certain merger and acquisition transactions to be subject to merger control review or security review.

 

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The Security Review Rules were formulated to implement the Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Establishing the Security Review System for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, also known as Circular 6, which was promulgated in 2011. Under these rules, a security review is required for mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors having “national defense and security” concerns and mergers and acquisitions by which foreign investors may acquire the “de facto control” of domestic enterprises have “national security” concerns. In addition, when deciding whether a specific merger or acquisition of a domestic enterprise by foreign investors is subject to the security review, the Ministry of Commerce will look into the substance and actual impact of the transaction. The Security Review Rules further prohibits foreign investors from bypassing the security review requirement by structuring transactions through proxies, trusts, indirect investments, leases, loans, control through contractual arrangements or offshore transactions.

 

There is no requirement for foreign investors in those mergers and acquisitions transactions already completed prior to the promulgation of Circular 6 to submit such transactions to the Ministry of Commerce for security review. As we have already obtained the “de facto control” over our affiliated PRC entities prior to the effectiveness of these rules, we do not believe we are required to submit our existing contractual arrangements to the Ministry of Commerce for security review.

 

However, as these rules are relatively new and there is a lack of clear statutory interpretation on the implementation of the same, there is no assurance that the Ministry of Commerce will not apply these national security review-related rules to the acquisition of equity interest in our PRC subsidiaries. If we are found to be in violation of the Security Review Rules and other PRC laws and regulations with respect to the merger and acquisition activities in China, or fail to obtain any of the required approvals, the relevant regulatory authorities would have broad discretion in dealing with such violation, including levying fines, confiscating our income, revoking our PRC subsidiaries’ business or operating licenses, requiring us to restructure or unwind the relevant ownership structure or operations. Any of these actions could cause significant disruption to our business operations and may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Further, if the business of any target company that we plan to acquire falls into the ambit of security review, we may not be able to successfully acquire such company either by equity or asset acquisition, capital contribution or through any contractual arrangement. We may grow our business in part by acquiring other companies operating in our industry. Complying with the requirements of the relevant regulations to complete such transactions could be time consuming, and any required approval processes, including approval from the Ministry of Commerce, may delay or inhibit our ability to complete such transactions, which could affect our ability to expand our business or maintain our market share.

 

We face certain risks relating to the real properties that we lease.

 

We primarily lease office space from third parties for our operations in China. Any defects in lessors’ title to the leased properties may disrupt our use of our offices, which may in turn adversely affect our business operations. For example, certain buildings and the underlying land are not allowed to be used for industrial or commercial purposes without relevant authorities’ approval, and the lease of such buildings to companies like us may subject the lessor to pay premium fees to the PRC government. We cannot assure you that the lessor has obtained all or any of approvals from the relevant governmental authorities. In addition, some of our lessors have not provided us with documentation evidencing their title to the relevant leased properties. We cannot assure you that title to these properties we currently lease will not be challenged. In addition, we have not registered any of our lease agreements with relevant PRC governmental authorities as required by PRC law, and although failure to do so does not in itself invalidate the leases, we may not be able to defend these leases against bona fide third parties.

 

As of the date of this annual report, we are not aware of any actions, claims or investigations being contemplated by government authorities with respect to the defects in our leased real properties or any challenges by third parties to our use of these properties. However, if third parties who purport to be property owners or beneficiaries of the mortgaged properties challenge our right to use the leased properties, we may not be able to protect our leasehold interest and may be ordered to vacate the affected premises, which could in turn materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.

 

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The PRC Labor Contract Law and its implementing rules may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

 

The PRC Labor Contract Law became effective and was implemented on January 1, 2008. The PRC Labor Contract Law has reinforced the protection for employees who, under the PRC Labor Contract Law, have the right, among others, to have written labor contracts, to enter into labor contracts with no fixed terms under certain circumstances, to receive overtime wages and to terminate or alter terms in labor contracts. Furthermore, the PRC Labor Contract Law establishes additional restrictions and increases the costs involved with dismissing employees. As the PRC Labor Contract Law is relatively new, there remains significant uncertainty as to its interpretation and application by the PRC Government. In the event that we decide to significantly reduce our workforce, the PRC Labor Contract Law could adversely affect our ability to do so in a timely and cost effective manner, and our results of operations could be adversely affected. In addition, for employees whose contracts include non-competition terms, the Labor Contract Law requires us to pay monthly compensation after such employment is terminated, which will increase our operating expenses.

 

Our auditor, like other independent registered public accounting firms operating in China, is not permitted to be subject to inspection by Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and consequently investors may be deprived of the benefits of such inspection.

 

Our auditor, the independent registered public accounting firm that issued the audit reports included elsewhere in this annual report, as an auditor of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or PCAOB, is required by the laws of the United States to undergo regular inspections by the PCAOB to assess its compliance with the laws of the United States and applicable professional standards. Our auditor is located in China and the PCAOB is currently unable to conduct inspections on auditors in China without the approval of the PRC authorities. Therefore, our auditor, like other independent registered public accounting firms operating in China, is currently not inspected by the PCAOB.

 

Inspections of other firms that the PCAOB has conducted outside of China have identified deficiencies in those firms’ audit procedures and quality control procedures, and such deficiencies may be addressed as part of the inspection process to improve future audit quality. The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of independent registered public accounting firms operating in China makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our auditor’s audit procedures or quality control procedures, and to the extent that such inspections might have facilitated improvements in our auditor’s audit procedures and quality control procedures, investors may be deprived of such benefits.

 

We may be adversely affected by the outcome of the administrative proceedings brought by the SEC against the Big 4 PRC-based accounting firms.

 

In December 2012, the SEC brought administrative proceedings against the Big 4 accounting firms in China, including our independent registered public accounting firm, alleging that these accounting firms had violated U.S. securities laws and the SEC’s rules and regulations thereunder by failing to provide to the SEC the firms’ audit papers and other documents related to certain PRC-based companies that are publicly traded in the United States.

 

On January 22, 2014, the Administrative Law Judge presiding over the matter reached an initial decision that the firms had each violated the SEC’s rules of practice by failing to produce the audit work papers and related documents directly to the SEC. The initial decision further determined that each of the firms should be censured and barred from practicing before the SEC for a period of six months. The Big 4 PRC-based accounting firms have appealed the initial administrative law decision to the SEC. The initial administrative law decision will not become effective until and unless it is endorsed by the full SEC. The accounting firms can then further appeal the final decision of the SEC through the federal appellate courts.

 

While we cannot predict the outcome of the SEC’s review, nor that of any subsequent appeal process, if the Big 4 PRC-based accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, are ultimately temporarily barred from practicing before the SEC, we may not be able to meet the reporting requirements under the Exchange Act following the listing of our shares in the U.S., which may ultimately result in our deregistration by the SEC and delisting from the NASDAQ Global Select Market, in which case our market capitalization may decline sharply and the value of your investment in our shares may be materially and adversely affected.

 

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Changes to accounting pronouncements or taxation rules or practices may adversely affect our reported results of operations or how we conduct our business.

 

A change in accounting pronouncements or taxation rules or practices can have a significant effect on our reported results and may even affect our reporting of transactions completed before the change is effective. For example, we adopted accounting guidance on stock-based compensation starting January 1, 2006. This guidance requires us to measure compensation costs for all stock-based compensation at fair value and take compensation charges equal to that value. The method that we use to determine the fair value of share options is based upon, among other things, the volatility of our ordinary shares. The method that we use to determine the fair value of restricted share units is based upon the market price of our ordinary shares on the date of the grant. The price of our ordinary shares has historically been volatile. Therefore, the requirement to measure compensation costs for all stock-based compensation under this guidance could negatively affect our profitability and the trading price of our ordinary shares. This guidance and the impact of expensing on our reported results could also limit our ability to continue to use stock options or other stock-based instruments as an incentive and retention tool, which could, in turn, hurt our ability to recruit employees and retain existing employees. Other new accounting pronouncements or taxation rules, such as accounting guidance on uncertain tax positions, the EIT Law in China which was effective January 1, 2008, and various interpretations of accounting pronouncement or taxation practice have been adopted and may be adopted in the future. These accounting standard and tax regulation changes, future changes and the uncertainties surrounding current practices and implementation procedures may adversely affect our reported financial results or the way we conduct our business.

 

We may be required to record a significant charge to earnings if we are required to reassess our goodwill or other amortizable intangible assets arising from acquisitions.

 

We are required under U.S. GAAP to review our amortizable intangible assets for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. Goodwill is required to be tested for impairment annually, or more frequently, if facts and circumstances warrant a review. Factors that may be considered a change in circumstances indicating that the carrying value of our amortizable intangible assets may not be recoverable include a decline in share price and market capitalization and slower or declining growth rates in our industry. In 2011, we recorded a goodwill impairment charge of $68.9 million related to our MVAS business. We may be required to record a significant charge to earnings in our financial statements during the period in which any additional impairment of our goodwill or amortizable intangible assets is determined.

 

While we believe that we currently have adequate internal control procedures in place, we are still exposed to potential risks from legislation requiring companies to evaluate controls under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

 

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, we have evaluated our internal controls systems in order to allow management to report on, and our registered independent public accounting firm to attest to, our internal controls, as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We have performed the system and process evaluation and testing required in an effort to comply with the management certification and auditor attestation requirements of Section 404. As a result, we have incurred additional expenses and a diversion of management’s time.

 

If we fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting in the future, a material misstatement of our financial statements may not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. In addition, we may not be able to conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404. This could in turn result in the loss of investor confidence in the reliability of our financial statements and negatively impact the trading price of our shares. Furthermore, If we are not able to continue to meet the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner or with adequate compliance, we might be subject to sanctions or investigation by regulatory authorities, such as the SEC or the NASDAQ. Any such action could adversely affect our financial results and the market price of our ordinary shares.

 

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Risks Related to Our Shares

 

Our share price has been historically volatile and may continue to be volatile, which may make it more difficult for you to resell shares when you want at prices you find attractive.

 

The trading price of our ordinary shares has been and may continue to be subject to considerable daily fluctuations. During the year ended December 31, 2013, the closing sale prices of our ordinary shares on the NASDAQ Global Select Market ranged from $46.26 to $91.07 per share. Our share price may fluctuate in response to a number of events and factors, such as quarterly variations in operating results, our ability to meet expectations on the progress of our key business initiatives, such as Weibo development, growth in traffic and monetization, announcements of technological innovations or new products and services by us or our competitors, changes in financial estimates and recommendations by securities analysts, the operating and stock price performance of other companies that investors may deem comparable, new governmental restrictions, regulations or practice, news reports relating to trends in our markets and market rumors regarding our company. In January 2014, CNNIC released a report in Chinese stating that the number of microblog users in China had declined by 9.2% from 2012 to 2013. Because weibo is the Chinese word for “microblog” and Chinese characters do not distinguish between proper nouns (“Weibo” meaning Weibo Corporation) and common nouns (“weibo” meaning microblog), various media sources, including a number of prominent international media, reported that the number of Weibo’s users had declined by 9.2% from 2012 to 2013. Our share price fell substantially in the weeks following the CNNIC report. Media reports about our company in the future, whether due to this kind of misunderstanding or for any other reason, could have a material adverse effect on the trading price of our ADSs. In addition, the stock market in general, and the market prices for China-related and internet-related companies in particular, have experienced extreme volatility that often has been unrelated to the operating performance of such companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect the price of our ordinary shares, regardless of our operating performance.

 

We may be classified as a passive foreign investment company for United States federal income tax purposes, which could result in adverse United States federal income tax consequences to U.S. Holders.

 

Based on the market price of our ordinary shares, the value of our assets, and the composition of our assets and income, we do not believe that we were a passive foreign investment company (a “PFIC”) for United States federal income tax purposes for our taxable year ended December 31, 2013 and we do not expect to be one for our taxable year ending December 31, 2014 or become one in the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, the application of the PFIC rules is subject to ambiguity in several respects and, in addition, we must make a separate determination each year as to whether we are a PFIC (after the close of each taxable year). Accordingly, we cannot assure you that we will not be a PFIC for the current or any other taxable year.

 

A non-United States corporation, such as our company, will be classified as a PFIC for United States federal income tax purposes for any taxable year, if either (1) 75% or more of its gross income for such year consists of certain types of “passive” income, or (2) 50% or more of its average quarterly assets as determined on the basis of fair market value during such year produce or are held for the production of passive income. Because there are uncertainties in the application of the relevant rules and PFIC status is a fact-intensive determination made on an annual basis, no assurance can be given with respect to our PFIC status for the current or any other taxable year.

 

If we are characterized as a PFIC for any year, a U.S. Holder (as defined below under “Taxation—Certain United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—Passive Foreign Investment Company Considerations”) may incur significantly increased United States income tax on gain recognized on the sale or other disposition of our ordinary shares and on the receipt of distributions on our notes or ordinary shares to the extent such gain or distribution is treated as an “excess distribution” under the United States federal income tax rules.  For more information, see “Taxation—Certain United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—Passive Foreign Investment Company.”

 

Conversion of our convertible notes may dilute the ownership interest of existing shareholders.

 

The conversion of some or all of the notes may dilute the ownership interests of existing shareholders. Any sales in the public market of the ordinary shares issuable upon such conversion could adversely affect prevailing market prices of our ordinary shares. In addition, the existence of the notes may encourage short selling by market participants because the conversion of the notes could depress the market price of our ordinary shares.

 

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Item 4.           Information on the Company

 

A.                                    History and Development of the Company

 

SINA Corporation was founded in March 1999 through the merger of Beijing SINA Information Technology Co., Ltd. and California-based SINANET.com. In April 2000, our company completed the initial public offering and was listed on the NASDAQ market. Our company was incorporated under the law of the Cayman Islands and is headquartered in Shanghai, China. With offices throughout mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the U.S., our principal place of operations is located at 20/F Beijing Ideal International Plaza, No. 58 North 4th Ring Road West, Haidian District, Beijing, 100080, People’s Republic of China. The telephone number of SINA at this address is (86)10-8262-8888.

 

The primary focus of SINA’s operations is in China, where the majority of the Company’s revenues are derived. SINA’s business operations in China are conducted primarily through wholly owned subsidiaries, including SINA.com Technology (China) Co., Ltd., SINA Technology (China) Co., Ltd., Beijing New Media Information Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing SINA Advertising Co., Ltd., SINA (Shanghai) Management Co., Ltd., Shanghai SINA Advertising Co., Ltd., Beijing SINA payment Technology Co., Ltd,  Weibo Internet Technology (China) Co., Ltd. (Weibo Technology) and significant VIEs and VIE subsidiary , including Beijing SINA Internet Information Service Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Media Message Technologies, Inc., Beijing Star-Village Online Cultural Development Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Wang Xing Technology Co., Ltd., Jinzhuo Hengbang Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. , Beijing Weimeng Technology Co., Ltd and Weibo Interactive Internet Technology Co., Ltd .

 

From 1999 to 2001, SINA’s growth was mainly driven by the online advertising business, which generated the majority of the Company’s revenues. In late 2001, SINA began offering MVAS under arrangements with third-party mobile operators in the PRC and had experienced significant growth in MVAS revenues up until 2004. Starting in 2005, the MVAS business has been repeatedly disrupted by changes in operator policies. On the advertising side, the Company has experienced growth in recent years, except for 2009, when China was impacted by the global financial crisis.

 

The Company has grown organically and through acquisitions, partnerships and investments in recent years. For example, SINA acquired Memestar Limited, an MVAS company, in 2003, Crillion Corporation, an MVAS company, in 2004 and Davidhill Capital Inc., an instant messaging company, in 2004. In 2008, SINA spun off its real estate and home decoration channels into its subsidiary COHT and sold a 34% interest to E-House. In October 2009, SINA injected its online real estate advertising business into a majority-owned subsidiary and exchanged its interest in COHT for a 33% interest in CRIC upon CRIC’s listing on the NASDAQ Global Select Market. CRIC merged into and became a 100% subsidiary of E-House on April 20, 2012 and, as a result, each ordinary share of CRIC held by us was converted into 0.6 ordinary share of E-House, together with the right to receive cash consideration of $1.75.

 

SINA has made investments in certain internet sectors that it has chosen to participate through investments rather than organic development as well as in areas that it believes are strategic to extend its online ecosystem. For example, in August 2011, SINA purchased 9% of the issued and outstanding shares of Tudou, an online video company in China, which was merged into a wholly owned subsidiary of Youku in August 2012. The Company’s Tudou shares were converted into shares of the combined company, Youku Tudou Inc. In October 2011, SINA invested $50.0 million in Yunfeng Funds for the sole purpose of investment in Alibaba Group.

 

In November 2013 we issued $800,000,000 principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2018. The notes will bear interest at a rate of 1.00% per year, payable semiannually in arrears on June 1 and December 1 of each year, beginning on June 1, 2014. On December 1, 2016, holders may require us to repurchase their notes at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the notes plus accrued and unpaid interest to but excluding the repurchase date. The notes will mature on December 1, 2018. The notes will be convertible into our ordinary shares, at the option of the holders, based on an initial conversion rate of 8.0841 of ordinary shares per $1,000 principal amount of notes.

 

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On April 17, 2014, our subsidiary, Weibo listed its American depositary shares, each representing one Class A ordinary share of Weibo (the “Weibo ADSs”), on the NASDAQ Global Select Market in connection with an initial public offering of Weibo. Weibo offered a total of 19,320,000 Weibo ADSs, representing 19,320,000 Class A ordinary shares, in connection with its initial public offering, of which 6,000,000 ADSs were allotted to Ali WB Investment Holding Ltd., or Ali WB, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alibaba.  Concurrently with the initial public offering, Ali WB acquired an additional 2,923,478 Class A ordinary shares of Weibo in a private placement and 21,067,300 Class A ordinary shares from us. Subsequent to its initial public offering , Weibo repurchased 2,923,478 ordinary shares from our company with the proceeds from the issuance of ordinary shares to Ali WB in the private placement. Following these transactions, we remained the majority shareholder of Weibo, holding approximately 58% of Weibo’s total outstanding shares, and Ali WB remained the second largest shareholder holding approximately 32% of Weibo’s total outstanding shares.

 

B.                                     Business Overview

 

Overview

 

We are an online media company serving China and the global Chinese communities. Our digital media network of SINA.com (portal), SINA mobile (mobile portal and mobile apps) and Weibo (social media) enables Internet users to access professional media and user generated content (“UGC”) in multi-media formats from desktop personal computers and mobile devices and share their interests with friends and acquaintances.

 

SINA.com . SINA.com offers distinct and targeted professional content on each of its region-specific websites and a full range of complementary offerings. Over the years, we have built a broad content network with thousands of professional media partners and accumulated a large mainstream user base, including well-educated, white-collar professionals.

 

SINA mobile . Our mobile portal, SINA.cn, provides news information and entertainment content from SINA.com customized for mobile users in WAP (mobile browser) and mobile application format, such as SINA News, SINA Sports, SINA Finance, SINA Entertainment and SINA Blog.

 

Weibo . Weibo is a leading social media platform for people to create, distribute and discover Chinese-language content. Based on an open platform architecture, Weibo allows users to create and post feeds up to 140 Chinese characters and attach multi-media content, as well as access a wide range of organically and third-party developed applications, such as online games.

 

Through these properties and other product lines, we offer an array of online media and social media services to our users to create a rich canvas for businesses and advertisers to effectively connect and engage with their targeted audiences.

 

Market Opportunities

 

Our primary focus is on the Chinese market. The success of our business is tied to the size and vitality of China’s economy. In a study published by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, China’s gross domestic product (“GDP”) in 2013 grew 7.7% year over year to RMB56.9 trillion ($9.2 trillion) and China is the second largest economy in the world. The same study showed that China’s annual disposable income per capita for urban households climbed from RMB13,786 ($2,184) in 2007 to RMB26,995 ($4,358) in 2013, representing a compound annual growth rate (“CAGR”) of 12%. During the same period, China’s retail sales of consumer goods grew from RMB9.3 trillion ($1.5 trillion) to RMB23.8 trillion ($3.8 trillion), representing a CAGR of 17%. According to the survey by China Internet Network Information Center (“CNNIC”), the number of Internet users in China grew by 54 million in 2013 to reach 618 million as of December 31, 2013. The large user base makes China an attractive market for our company to expand our product offerings and to grow our revenue streams.

 

In January 2014, the MIIT reported that the number of mobile phone users in China has achieved 1.2 billion in December 2013. Mobile users with 3G capabilities reached 402 million at the end of December 2013, an increase of 169 million from the end of 2012. In a press release issued in September 2013,  Internet Data Center ( “IDC” ) estimated that China’s smartphone shipments will exceed 450 million in 2014. Many Internet users in China today do not have 24/7 access to the Internet, as their access is limited to computers at work and Internet cafes. The increasing adoption of smart phones and tablets with 3G and Wi-Fi capabilities in China could further shift media consumption from offline onto the Internet, particular on mobile devices.

 

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Properties and Product Offerings

 

We generate the majority of our revenues from online advertising and marketing services and, to a lesser degree, from fee-based services. We offer both brand advertising services in display ad formats on SINA portal and Weibo, as well as performance-based online marketing solutions on Weibo, such as promoted feeds. Non-advertising revenues include revenues from MVAS, Weibo value-added services (“Weibo VAS”), online games and other fee-based services.

 

SINA.com

 

SINA.com is an online brand advertising property. Our advertising product offerings consist of banner, button, text-link and in-stream video advertisements that appear on pages within the SINA network, channel and promotional sponsorships, and advertising campaign design and management services. Our primary advertising and sponsorship client base for advertising and sponsorships includes Fortune 1000 companies that employ a global approach to their branding, marketing and communications programs, regional companies of medium to large scale that focus on specific geographic and demographic markets and smaller companies whose markets are within a local territory.

 

SINA.com’s network consists of four destination websites dedicated to the Chinese communities across the globe: Mainland China (www.sina.com.cn), Taiwan (www.sina.com.tw), Hong Kong (www.sina.com.hk), and overseas Chinese in North America (www.sina.com). Each destination site consists of Chinese-language news and content organized into interest-based channels. The sites offer extensive community and communication services and sophisticated web navigation capability through website search and directory services.

 

SINA.com offers a variety of free interest-based channels that provide region-focused format and content. The most popular channels include:

 

SINA Sports. SINA Sports offers multimedia news and information on a wide range of sporting events from home and abroad. SINA Sports features domestic and international soccer matches, National Basketball Association (“NBA”) games, general sports as well as coverage of world-famous sports stars and teams.

 

SINA Auto.  SINA Auto offers the latest automobile-related news and service information to provide car buyers and automobile enthusiasts with current information on automotive pricing, reviews and featured guides.

 

SINA Finance. SINA Finance provides business news coverage and personal finance columns. SINA Finance also offers stock quotes from the major exchanges around the world, including U.S., Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges, as well as breaking news from individual listed companies and market trend analysis.

 

SINA Entertainment. SINA Entertainment contains extensive coverage of local and international entertainment news and events, including dining, movies, television programs, plays, operas, as well as popular and classical music.

 

SINA News. SINA News aggregates feeds from news providers, bringing together content from media companies, such as CCTV, Beijing TV Station (“BTV”), China News, Agence France-Presse (“AFP”), Associated Press, Reuters, Getty Images, China Daily, Nanfang Daily Group, Beijing News, Xinhua Net and Xinhua News Agency. Through SINA News, users have an easy access to breaking news coverage from multiple sources and points of view.

 

SINA Technology.  SINA Technology provides updates on recent activities of high-tech corporations as well as industry trends in China and worldwide.

 

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SINA Digital. SINA Digital offers in-depth reviews of digital products, including mobile phones, desktops, notebook computers, tablets, digital cameras and other consumer electronics such as televisions . Product search function is also provided on this channel.

 

SINA eLadies. SINA eLadies serves as an interactive platform for fashion-conscious users to share comments and ideas on a range of topics, such as health, cosmetics and beauty. This channel also provides real-time coverage of major world fashion events, bringing users the latest styles and trends.

 

SINA Luxury. SINA Luxury caters to the increasing demand for luxury goods and high-end services in China. SINA Luxury covers a variety of luxurious topics including dining and wines, fashion and designer products, upscale lifestyles as well as services aimed at high net worth individuals.

 

SINA Collectibles. Launched in November 2010, SINA Collectibles provides information and updates on antiques and other collectibles such as arts, coins and stamps. It also offers information on investment ideas, exhibitions and auctions and features interviews with antique connoisseurs and famous art critics.

 

SINA Video. SINA Video is an online video vertical portal that provides high-quality, easy-to-use interactive video products. This channel is divided into various vertical categories, including News, Sports, Entertainment, Music, Financial, Documentaries, and Movie Premieres. SINA Video also allows users to upload, publish and manage user generated videos. For the risks concerning the revocation of our License for Online Transmission of Audio-Visual Programs, see “Item 3. Key Information — D. Risk Factors — Risks Related to Doing Business in China — Our Internet Publication License and License for Online Transmission of Audio-Visual Programs could be revoked due to certain content on our website.”

 

SINA Mobile

 

SINA mobile portal, SINA.cn delivers the latest information and entertainment content from SINA.com to mobile users via WAP. Key channels on SINA.cn include news, sports, finance and video. Users may also access SINA blog from this mobile portal. SINA also offers the latest information and entertainment content in mobile application formats, including SINA News, SINA Sports, SINA Finance, SINA Entertainment and SINA Blog.

 

Weibo

 

Based on an open platform architecture to host organically developed and third party applications, Weibo is a social media platform for people to create, distribute and discover Chinese-language content. Weibo’s product development approach is centered on building simple and useful tools to enable its users to access Weibo to interact with others on the Weibo platform in real time, particularly leveraging its robust mobile functionalities. Weibo platform is compatible with all major mobile operating systems, including Android, iOS, Symbian, Windows and Blackberry, and is accessible through mobile apps, mobile websites, personal computer apps and personal computer websites. Weibo users range from ordinary people to celebrities, businesses, government agencies and other organizations.

 

Products for Users

 

Self-Expression Products . Weibo offers the following products to enable users to express themselves on Weibo platform:

 

·       Feeds . Weibo enables users to express and share their ideas, opinions and stories in the form of text and attach multimedia, including photos, music, short videos and long-form content. The text in a feed is limited to 140 Chinese characters.

 

·       Pages . Each user has a Page that displays the user’s profile and feeds. Basic information about a user, including the username, Weibo account number, geography and a short biography, is available on the user’s Page. Users with verified authentic identity information will have a “V” mark on their profile picture. Users can personalize their Pages by selecting and changing their cover photo and profile picture at any time.

 

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·       Professional Pages . Businesses and other organizations with verified identities can apply for enterprise accounts, which entitle them to enterprise services through the download of Page apps on our platform. Page apps enable organizations to customize their Weibo Pages and to perform marketing events, ad campaigns and payment processing on Weibo.

 

Social Products. Weibo offers the following mechanisms to promote social interaction between users on Weibo platform:

 

·       Follow. Users can establish relationships with other users by electing to follow them. Feeds that are posted or reposted by a user will automatically appear in the information feed of the user’s follower. Relationships may be asymmetrical. The user being followed does not need to approve the follower’s decision to follow them, although a user can choose to limit access to certain feeds or to blacklist a certain follower.

 

·       Repost, Comment, Favorite, Like. By clicking on the Repost button, users can repost feeds from other users. When a feed is reposted, the original author is able to virally reach and influence users beyond that author’s own circle of followers, leveraging the network of the followers of the author’s followers, sometimes many degrees away. Users can add their own comments when they repost and share their view on the original feed with their followers. Users can also leave comments on a feed by clicking on the Comment button. If they like a feed, they can click on the Like button to express their support for the feed. At the bottom of each feed, users can see how many people have Reposted, Commented on or Liked the feed. Users can also save feeds into their favorites by clicking on the Favorite button.

 

·       @Mention. Users can view their history of interactions with other users by going to the @Mention Page, which allows users to access all the feeds in which they are mentioned by other users. In addition, users can see a list of comments from other users on their own feeds, as well as the Likes on their feeds.

 

·       Messaging. Users can send private messages in the form of text or voice recordings and can attach photos, short videos or other files.

 

Discovery Products. Weibo offers the following products to help users discover content on Weibo platform:

 

·       Information Feeds .  The information feed resides on the user’s home page. Each user’s information feed displays a regularly updating flow of feeds posted by that user and by other users he or she has decided to follow.

 

·       Search. Our search function allows users to search our platform for feeds, users, apps and pictures by keyword and hashtag.

 

·       Object Pages . We work with companies with large online content libraries of videos, songs, mobile applications, books and points of interest (such as restaurants, hotels and movie theaters) and create Weibo Pages for their objects, otherwise known as object Pages. Users can visit these object Pages to find rich content on these objects and interact with other users of similar interest.

 

·       Trends. Trends are lists of hot topics on Weibo. A user can start a topic discussion by adding hashtags (#) around a word or phrase in a feed. The key word or phrase then becomes searchable with a single click. Users may view feeds under each trending topic and participate in the discussion.

 

Notifications. Users can choose to be notified of Weibo account activities through SMS or push notification on their device.

 

Weibo Games. We offer third-party online games, including role playing games, card games, strategy games and real life simulation games. Weibo games allow players to interact with each other and send feeds to their followers while playing. Most Weibo games are offered for free and some games allow users to purchase virtual currency, known as Weibo Credit, to redeem virtual items. Weibo receives part of the revenues from such purchases through arrangements with the game developers.

 

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VIP Membership. Weibo VIP membership offers our users certain services and functions that are not available to regular users. With these additional functions, VIP members can follow more users, have more ways to personalize their Pages, can send voice feeds, enjoy more cloud storage, receive additional options to manage information flow and followers, receive SMS notification of Weibo account activity and have access to premium games. VIP membership is available through monthly or annual subscriptions.

 

Weibo Apps. We have developed mobile apps to further enrich the service offerings of Weibo. For example, we recently released Weibo Headlines, which aggregates news and information from Weibo and delivers them in an information feed format based on the level of popularity on Weibo as well as a user’s social interest graph. Other apps include Weibo Weather, a leading weather app in China that features photos from cities where the users choose to keep track of weather as well as other interesting information from Weibo, and WeiDisk, a cloud-based app for both mobile devices and personal computers that allows users to store and share documents, photos and other large files within Weibo’s virtual storage space and set access restriction based on Weibo relationships.

 

Products for Advertising and Marketing Customers

 

We seek to provide advertising and marketing solutions to enable our customers to promote their brands and conduct effective marketing activities. We provide our customers with analytical tools to enable them to track and improve the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns on our platform. Our advertising and marketing customers include both large companies and SMEs that seek a full spectrum of online advertising and marketing services ranging from brand awareness to interest generation, sales conversion and loyalty marketing.

 

Social Display Ads. Social display ads appear on a user’s home page and other pages. When users click on the social ad, they may be redirected to the advertiser’s Weibo Page for further engagement.

 

Promoted Marketing . Weibo’s promoted marketing products include the following:

 

·       Promoted Feeds. Promoted feeds appear in the user’s information feed alongside organic feeds. We encourage our customers to produce feeds that have relevant information value similar to that of the users’ organic feeds. Customers may use our social interest graph recommendation engine to improve the relevance of the ad to the users. As with other feeds, users can Repost, Comment on and Like promoted feeds, amplifying the visibility and reach of the original promoted feed and producing earned media value to our customers. Targeting different customer segments, we offer various tailored promoted feeds solutions to SMEs, key account customers as well as individual users.

 

·       Promoted Accounts. Promoted accounts appear mainly in a column next to the information feed. Promoted accounts are labeled but otherwise appear in the same format as other accounts that we recommend to our users. Promoted accounts provide customers a way to grow their followers, with whom they can then drive engagement using their Weibo Pages.

 

·       Promoted Trends. Promoted trends, which are labeled as “promoted,” appear at the top of the list of trending topics. When a user clicks on a promoted trend, he will be redirected to the sponsor’s landing page.

 

We provide our advertising and marketing customers with analytical tools to enable them to track and improve the effectiveness of their campaigns on our platform.

 

Products for Platform Partners

 

We seek to provide our platform partners with tools and APIs that they can use to share their content to our platform, distribute Weibo content across their properties and enhance their websites and applications with Weibo content, and to build social apps on Weibo or integrate their products with Weibo. Our platform partners include traditional and online media outlets as well as developers of games and other applications. We also offer Weibo Credit, which is a virtual currency that allows our users to purchase in-game virtual items and other types of fee-based services on Weibo and for our platform partners to receive payment in an easy-to-use, secure and trusted environment.

 

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Social Interest Graph Recommendation Engine

 

We have developed and are continuously refining our social interest graph recommendation engine, which is based on user actions such as Post, Repost, Comment, Like and Follow, social relationships, and demographic data such as age, gender and geography. Our social interest graph recommendation engine allows us and our customers to push content to Weibo users that they are more likely to find interesting and relevant.

 

Other Businesses and Products

 

MVAS . SINA’s MVAS allows users to receive news and information, download ring tones, mobile games and pictures, customize caller ring back tones, and participate in dating and friendship communities. MVAS is sold on a monthly subscription or pay-per-message basis and can be ordered via SINA.com or through mobile phones. MVAS is promoted on SINA’s portal and traditional media, including television and radio, as well as joint promotions through provincial operators. SINA relies on mobile operator systems, such as China Mobile’s Monternet platform and China Unicom’s UNI-Info platform, to deliver its MVAS and bill end users.

 

Game Portal. SINA’s game portal provides users with downloads and gateway access to popular online games, information and updates on popular online and PC games and value-added application tools, all aimed at enhancing the overall multimedia community experiences of China’s online game players.

 

eReading. eReading is a one-stop shop for book reviews as well as complimentary and fee-based online book reading. It also features information and updates on hot social and cultural topics and interviews with writers and famous opinion leaders. For the risks concerning the revocation of our Internet Publication License, see “Item 3. Key Information — D. Risk Factors — Risks Related to Doing Business in China — Our Internet Publication License and License for Online Transmission of Audio-Visual Programs could be revoked due to certain content on our website.”

 

Email. SINA’s Email services include Free Email, VIP Mail and Corporate Email for enterprise users. SINA Email supports both POP3 and SMTP access and provides users with year-round anti-spam and anti-virus protection.

 

Blog. S INA Blog is a popular website in China for bloggers to publish and read original writings.

 

Strategic Relationships

 

In April 2013, we entered into an agreement to form a strategic alliance between several of our affiliated entities, including PRC subsidiaries of Weibo, and several entities affiliated with Alibaba, including Taobao (China) Software Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Tmall.com Technology Co., Ltd., to jointly explore social commerce and develop innovative marketing solutions to enable merchants on Alibaba e-commerce platforms to better connect and build relationships with Weibo users. As part of the strategic alliance, Alibaba has committed to purchase approximately RMB2.3 billion ($380 million) in advertising and social commerce services from Weibo and us.  Assuming the successful development of new products, business models and growth of effective traffic, we expect to generate such amount in revenues in aggregate for Weibo and us from 2013 to 2015, with non-Weibo portion not exceeding 15% of such revenues.

 

In addition, we have developed strategic relationships with a range of content, service, application and distribution partners in order to serve users more effectively and to extend its brand and services to a broader audience.

 

Content Partnerships. The goal of SINA’s content partnerships is to provide its users with an extensive offering of Chinese-language content. SINA contracts with content partners to display their content on one or more of its websites free of charge or in exchange for a share of revenue, a licensing fee, and access to SINA-generated content or a combination of these arrangements. Some of SINA’s leading content providers include the International Olympic Committee, NBA, English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, La Liga, Chinese Football Association Super League, China Open, National Football League, PGA Tour, Women’s Tennis Association, CCTV, JSTV, BTV, Xinhua News Agency, People’s Daily Online, China News, AFP, Associated Press, Reuters, Getty Images, China Daily, Nanfang Daily Group, Beijing News, Nasdaq OMX, Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange. For its mobile content, SINA has established content partnerships with certain international record companies to provide image and music downloads.

 

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Technology Infrastructure

 

SINA’s infrastructure allows users to access its products and services, regardless of their geographical location. SINA’s infrastructure is also designed to provide high-speed access by forwarding queries to its web hosting sites with greater resources or lower loads. The Company’s web pages are generated, served and cached by servers hosted at various co-location web hosting sites in mainland China, the U.S., Taiwan and Hong Kong. SINA’s servers run on Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris and Windows platforms using Apache, Squid, Nginx, and Lighttpd servers. These servers are primarily maintained at China Telecom and China Unicom branches in cities across China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Tianjin, TNN in Taipei, Taiwan, AT&T in San Jose, California, as well as NTT in Hong Kong.

 

The Company believes that these hosting partners provide operating advantages, including an enhanced ability to protect their systems from power loss, break-ins and other potential external causes of service interruption. They provide continuous customer service, multiple connections to the internet and a continuous power supply to their systems. In addition, SINA conducts online monitoring of its systems for accessibility, load, system resources, traffic, network-server intrusion and timeliness of content. SINA’s mobile applications in China leverage the aforementioned web operation resources by utilizing the wireless infrastructure of China Mobile and China Unicom to provide MVAS to SINA’s users. Nevertheless, the Company has experienced slower response time and suffered outages in the past due to equipment and software downtime as well as bandwidth issues with operators. Although these instances have not had a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, similar instances may have a material impact on its business in the future.

 

Seasonality

 

SINA has experienced seasonality in its online advertising business. Historically, the first calendar quarter has been the worst season for its advertising business due to the Lunar New Year holidays. Past performance may not be indicative of future trends, as the mix of advertising industry sectors, which may have different seasonality factors, may shift from quarter to quarter. Seasonality in our MVAS and other businesses is less apparent.

 

Competition

 

We provide online content and services for the global Chinese community, including but not limited to informational features, social media and social networking services as well as other fee-based services. This industry can be characterized as highly competitive and rapidly changing due to the fast growing market demand. Barriers to entry are relatively low, and current and new competitors can launch new websites or services at a relatively low cost. Many companies offer various content and services targeting this community that compete with our offerings.

 

See “Item 3. Key Information — D. Risk Factors — The markets for internet and MVAS services are highly competitive, and we may be unable to compete successfully against established industry competitors and new entrants, which could reduce our market share and adversely affect our financial performance.”

 

Intellectual Property and Proprietary Rights

 

We rely on a combination of copyright, trademark and trade secret laws and restrictions on disclosure to protect our intellectual property rights. Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, unauthorized parties may attempt to copy or otherwise obtain and use our technology. Monitoring unauthorized use of our products is difficult and costly, and we cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will prevent misappropriation of our technology, particularly in foreign countries where the laws may not protect our proprietary rights as fully as in the United States. From time to time, we may have to resort to litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights, which could result in substantial costs and diversion of our resources.

 

In addition, third parties may initiate litigation against us alleging infringement of their proprietary rights. In the event of a successful claim of infringement and our failure or inability to develop non-infringing technology or license the infringed or similar technology on a timely basis, our business could be harmed. In addition, even if we are able to license the infringed or similar technology, license fees could be substantial and may adversely affect our results of operations. See “Item 3. Key Information — D. Risk Factors — We may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property, which could cause us to be less competitive” and “— We may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims or other allegations by third parties for services we provide or for information or content displayed on, retrieved from or linked to our websites, or distributed to our users, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and prospects”.

 

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Government Regulation and Legal Uncertainties

 

The following description of PRC laws and regulations is based upon the opinion of TransAsia Lawyers, our PRC counsel. For a description of legal risks relating to our ownership structure and business, see “Item 3. Key Information — D. Risk Factors.”

 

Overview

 

The PRC government has enacted an extensive regulatory scheme governing the operation of business with respect to the internet, such as telecommunications, internet information services, international connections to computer information networks, information security and censorship and administrative protection of copyright. Besides the MIIT, the various services of the PRC internet industry are also regulated by various other governmental authorities, such as SAIC, the State Council Information Office (“SCIO”), the GAPP , the SARFT (GAPPRFT was formed when the GAPP was combined with the SARFT in March 2013 ) ,, the Ministry of Education (“MOE”), the MOC, the Ministry of Health (“MOH”), and the Ministry of Public Security.

 

Among all the regulations, the Telecommunications Regulations of the People’s Republic of China, or the Telecom Regulations, promulgated on September 25, 2000, is the primary governing law. The Telecom Regulations set out the general framework under which domestic Chinese companies such as our subsidiaries and VIEs may engage in various types of telecommunications services in the PRC. They reiterate the long-standing principle that telecommunications service providers need to obtain operating licenses as a mandatory precondition to begin operation. The Telecom Regulations categorize telecommunications services into basic telecommunications services and value-added telecommunications services. Value-added telecommunications services are defined as telecommunications and information services provided through public networks. The “Catalogue of Telecommunications Business”, an attachment to the Telecom Regulations and updated by MIIT’s Notice on Adjusting the Catalogue of Telecommunications Business of April 1, 2003, categorizes various types of telecommunications and telecommunications-related activities into basic or value-added services.

 

On December 20, 2001, after China’s formal entry into the WTO, the State Council promulgated the Regulations for the Administration of Foreign-Invested Telecommunications Enterprises, or the FITE Regulations, which became effective on January 1, 2002 and were amended by the State Council on September 10, 2008. The FITE Regulations stipulate that foreign-invested telecommunications enterprises, or FITEs, may undertake operations in basic telecom services and value-added telecom services. Currently, the foreign party to a value-added FITE may hold up to 50% of the equity, with no geographic restrictions on its operations. Before that, foreign investors were prohibited from investing in internet content services. The PRC government has not made any further commitment to loosen the regulation on FITEs, except for qualified Hong Kong Service Providers under the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement.

 

According to the Measures for the Administration of internet Information Services described below, an enterprise must obtain a license for operating value-added telecommunication services to conduct internet content service businesses. When the internet content involves areas of news, publishing, audio-visual programs, education, medicine, health, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, which are regulated by MOC, MOE, MOH, GAPPRET and other governmental authorities, respectively, the enterprise must also obtain permission from responsible national authorities.

 

PRC Corporate Structure

 

The PRC government restricts foreign investment in internet-related and MVAS businesses. Accordingly, we operate our internet-related and MVAS businesses in China through our VIEs that are PRC domestic companies owned principally or completely by certain of our PRC employees or PRC employees of our directly-owned subsidiaries. For a list of our material directly owned subsidiaries and VIEs in China, please see “C. Organizational Structure” below.

 

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Classified Regulations

 

Foreign Investment in Value-added Telecom Services

 

The MII Circular 2006 was promulgated by the MII on July 13, 2006. According to the MII Circular 2006, since the FITE Regulation went into effect, some foreign investors have, by means of delegation of domain names and license of trademarks, conspired with domestic value-added telecom enterprises to circumvent the requirements of FITE Regulations and have been engaged in value-added telecom services illegally.

 

In order to further strengthen the administration of FITEs, the MII Circular 2006 provides that (i) any domain name used by a value-added telecom carrier shall be legally owned by such carrier or its shareholder(s); (ii) any trademark used by a value-added telecom carrier shall be legally owned by the carrier or its shareholder(s); (iii) the operation site and facilities of a value-added telecom carrier shall be installed within the scope as prescribed by operating licenses obtained by the carrier and shall correspond to the value-added telecom services that the carrier has been approved to provide; and (iv) a value-added telecom carrier shall establish or improve the measures of ensuring safety of network information. If a license holder fails to comply with the requirements in the MII Notice or cure such non-compliance, the MII or its local counterparts have the discretion to take measures against such license holders, including revoking their value-added telecommunications business operating licenses. As to the companies which have obtained the operating licenses for value-added telecom services, they are required to conduct self-examination and self-correction according to these requirements and report the result of such self-examination and self-correction to the MII.

 

Accordingly, the ICP Company submitted the self-correction scheme to the MII on November 17, 2006. Under the self-correction scheme, (i) the domain name “www.sina.com.cn” mainly used by the ICP Company should be transferred from BSIT to the ICP Company, and (ii) the trademark “SINA” (“ 新浪 ”) used by the ICP Company should be transferred from BSIT to the ICP Company. According to the Certificate for Approval of Trademark Transfer issued by the Trademark Office of State Administration for Industry and Commerce (“SAIC”) on September 28, 2008, the trademark “SINA” has already been transferred to the ICP Company. The domain name “www.sina.com.cn” has been transferred to the ICP Company as well.

 

Internet Information Services

 

The Measures for the Administration of internet Information Services, or the ICP Measures, went into effect on September 25, 2000. Under the ICP Measures, any entity providing information to online internet users must obtain an operating license from the MIIT or its local branch at the provincial level in accordance with the Telecom Regulations described above. The ICP Measures further stipulate that entities providing online information services in areas of news, publishing, education, medicine, health, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment must obtain permission from responsible national and local authorities prior to applying for an operating license from the MIIT or its local branch at the provincial or municipal level. Moreover, ICPs must display their operating license numbers in a conspicuous location on their websites. ICPs must exam their websites to remove categories of harmful content that are broadly defined. This obligation reiterates internet content restrictions set by other ministries over the past few years. In addition, the ICP Measures require ICP operators to obtain specific approvals before providing BBS services, which include electronic bulletin boards, electronic forums, message boards and chat rooms. On July 4, 2010, the approval requirement for providing BBS services was eliminated by the PRC State Council. However, in practice, the government authorities in Beijing still require the relevant ICP operators to obtain such approvals for providing of BBS services.

 

The ICP Company currently holds a Telecommunication and Information Services Operating License, which was issued on October 29, 2010 by the MIIT authorizing the ICP Company to operate bulletin board system or BBS. The license is valid through December 4, 2015 and is subject to annual inspection.

 

Beijing Star-Village Online Cultural Development Co., Ltd. (“StarVI”) currently holds a Telecommunication and Information Services Operating License, which was issued on October 29, 2010 by the MIIT authorizing StarVI to provide information services excluding services in the area of news, publishing, education, medicine, health, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and BBS. The license is valid through December 4, 2015 and is subject to annual inspection.

 

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Shenzhen Wang Xing Technology Co., Ltd. (“Wangxing”) currently holds a Value-Added Telecommunication Services Operating License, which was issued in November 2011 by the MIIT authorizing Wangxing to provide nationwide information services of the second category of the value-added telecommunication services (excluding fixed line phone call information services and internet information services). The license is valid through September 16, 2014 and is subject to annual inspection.

 

Beijing Weimeng Technology Co., Ltd (“Weimeng”) currently holds a Telecommunication and Information Services Operating License, which was issued on August 10, 2010 by Beijing branch of the MIIT authorizing Weimeng to provide internet information services excluding services in the area of news, publishing, education, medicine, health, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. The license is valid through August 10, 2015 and is subject to annual inspection.

 

Microblogging Services

 

On December 16, 2011, the Beijing Municipal Government issued the Microblog Rules, which became effective on the same day. The Microblog Rules, among other things, require users of microblogging services to register their identities with microblogging service providers. The Microblog Rules identify eleven categories of content that are restricted from being disseminated. Microblogging service providers are required to implement systems and procedures to verify user identity and ensure that the information disseminated by users is in compliance with the Microblog Rules.

 

Online News Publishing

 

On November 6, 2000 and September 25, 2005, the Provisional Regulations for the Administration of Website Operation of News Publication Services and the Provisions for the Administration of internet News Information Services, respectively, were jointly promulgated by the SCIO and the MII. The regulations stipulate that general websites set up by non-news organizations may list news released by certain governmental news agencies, if they satisfy the requirements set forth in the foregoing two regulations, but may not publish news items produced by themselves or news sources from elsewhere.

 

Before commencing news-publishing services, the above regulations also require the general websites of non-news organizations to be approved by SCIO after securing permission from SCIO at the provincial level. In addition, the general websites intending to publish the news released by the aforementioned news agencies must enter into agreements with the respective organizations, and file copies of such agreements with the relevant administration department.

 

On December 27, 2000, the Information Office of Beijing People’s Government approved the ICP Company to develop online news publishing services. On June 6, 2006, SCIO issued to the ICP Company the internet News Information Service License, which is subject to annual inspection.

 

Online Transmission of Audio-Visual Programs

 

On July 6, 2004, the SARFT promulgated the Measures for the Administration of Publication of Audio-visual Programs through internet or Other Information Network, which apply to the opening, broadcasting, integration, transmission or download of audio-visual programs via internet. An applicant who is engaged in the business of transmitting audio-visual programs shall apply for a license, which is to be issued by the SARFT in accordance with the categories of business, receiving terminals, transmission networks, and other items. The license is valid for two years and can be renewed upon its expiration. Foreign-invested enterprises are not allowed to engage in the above business. Moreover, the audio-visual programs of the news category published to the public through information network shall be limited to the programs produced and broadcasted by radio stations, television stations, radio television stations and approved news websites within the territory of China.

 

On December 20, 2007, the SARFT and the MII jointly promulgated the Administrative Provisions on internet Audio-visual Program Service, or the Audio-visual Program Provisions, which went effective on January 31, 2008. The Audio-visual Program Provisions stipulates, among others, that any entity engaged in internet audio-visual program service must obtain a License for Online Transmission of Audio-visual Programs issued by the SARFT or register with the SARFT. An applicant for engaging in internet audio-visual program service must be a state-owned entity or a state-controlled entity with full corporate capacity, and the business to be carried out by the applicant must satisfy the overall planning and guidance catalogue for internet audio-visual program service determined by the SARFT. The SARFT and the MII later jointly held a press conference in February 2008 to clarify that websites that existed before the promulgation of the Audio-visual Program Provisions may, once they are registered with SARFT, continue operating the audio-visual services so long as those websites have not been in violation of the laws and regulations. Our VIEs in China are not state-owned or state-controlled companies, but our mainland China destination websites were launched before the promulgation of the Audio-visual Program Provisions and have been registered with the SARFT.

 

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On March 31, 2009, SARFT promulgated the Notice on Strengthening the Administration of the Content of internet Audio Visual Program, which reiterates (i) the requirement to obtain permits for audio-visual programs published to the public through an information network, where applicable and (ii) the prohibition of certain types of internet audio visual programs containing violence, pornography, gambling, terrorism or superstitious factors.

 

On March 17, 2010, the SARFT issued the internet Audio-visual Program Services Categories (Provisional), or the Provisional Categories, which classified internet audio-visual program services into four categories.

 

In 2012, SARFT and the State Internet Information Office of the PRC issued a Notice on Improving the Administration of Online Audio/Video Content Including Internet Drama and Micro Films. In 2013, GAPPRFT released a Supplemental Notice on Improving the Administration of Online Audio/Video Content Including Internet Drama and Micro Films.  This notice stresses that entities producing online audio/video content, such as internet dramas and micro films, must obtain a permit for radio and television program production and operation, and also that online audio/video content service providers should not release any internet dramas or micro films that were produced with any entity lacking such permit. For internet dramas or micro films produced and uploaded by individual users, the online audio/video service providers transmitting such content will be deemed responsible as the producer. Further, under this notice, online audio/video service providers can only transmit content uploaded by individuals whose identity has been verified and which content complies with the relevant content management rules. This notice also requires that online audio/video content, include internet drama and micro films, be filed with the relevant authorities before release.

 

According to the Reply on Approvals for Beijing SINA Internet Information Service Co., Ltd. Engaging in the Business of Information Services Relating to Online Transmission of Audio-visual Programs issued by the SARFT on October 17, 2004, the ICP Company has been approved to carry out the online transmission of audio-visual programs. The ICP Company currently holds a License for Online Transmission of Audio-visual Programs issued by the SARFT valid through April 28, 2015.

 

We received a notice from the Beijing Municipal Cultural Market Administrative Law Enforcement Unit concerning alleged violations of PRC regulations on our website in April 2014. These alleged violations relate to the distribution of certain video content on our video sharing service channel, video.sina.com.cn, that the authorities deemed to be in violation of the restrictions against “unhealthy and indecent” content under PRC law.  We have been informed that as an administrative penalty for these violations, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television has proposed revoking the Company’s Internet Publication License and License for Online Transmission of Audio-Visual Programs.  We intend to fully cooperate with the relevant government authorities and take appropriate actions as necessary to address their concerns.  See “Item 3. Key Information — D. Risk Factors — Risks Related to Doing Business in China — Our Internet Publication License and License for Online Transmission of Audio-Visual Programs could be revoked due to certain content on our website.”

 

Production of Radio and Television Programs

 

On July 19, 2004, the SARFT promulgated the Regulations for Administration on Production of Radio and Television Programs, or the “Radio and TV Programs Regulations,” which went into effect as of August 20, 2004. Under the Radio and TV Programs Regulations, any entities engaged in the production of radio and television programs are required to apply for a license from the SARFT or its provincial branches.

 

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In October 2011, the ICP Company obtained a license for production of radio and television programs issued by Beijing Radio and Television Bureau. The license is valid through September 6, 2015 and is subject to annual inspection.

 

MVAS

 

On March 1, 2009, the MIIT promulgated the Administrative Measures for the Licensing of Telecommunication Business Operations, which superseded the relevant measures published by the MIIT in 2001. These measures require an entity to obtain a business permit, which is divided into two categories — license for basic telecom services and license for value-added telecom services, in order to operate a telecommunication business. Furthermore, a distinction is made as to whether a license for conducting value-added telecommunication services is granted for “intra-provincial” or “trans-regional” (inter-provincial) activities. An appendix to the license will detail the permitted activities to be conducted by the enterprise. An approved telecom service operator must conduct its business (basic or value-added) in accordance with the specifications recorded on its Telecom Service Operating License. However, there are still ambiguities regarding the interpretation and application of the FITE Regulations.

 

The ICP Company currently holds a Value-Added Telecommunication Services Operating License issued on July 7, 2009 by the MIIT authorizing the ICP Company to provide nationwide value-added telecommunications services (excluding fixed line phone call information services and internet information services). The license is valid through July 7, 2014 and is subject to annual inspection. The ICP Company also holds a Value-Added Telecommunication Services Operating License issued by Beijing Communication Administration Bureau on March 10, 2008, authorizing the ICP Company to provide MVAS in Beijing. The license has been renewed and is valid through April 9, 2018 and subject to annual inspection.

 

Guangzhou Media Message Technologies, Inc. (“Xunlong”) currently holds a Value-Added Telecommunication Services Operating License issued on December 9, 2010 by the MIIT authorizing Xunlong to provide nationwide information services (excluding fixed line phone call information services and internet information services). The license is valid through September 16, 2014 and is subject to annual inspection.

 

StarVI currently holds a Value-Added Telecommunications Services Operating License issued on September 16, 2009 by the MIIT authorizing StarVI to provide nationwide information services (excluding fixed line phone call information services and internet information services). The license is valid through September 16, 2014 and is subject to annual inspection.

 

Wangxing currently holds a Value-Added Telecommunication Services Operating License issued on November 11, 2011 by the MIIT authorizing Wangxing to provide nationwide value-added telecommunication services in the second category (excluding fixed line phone call information services and internet information services). The license is valid through September 16, 2014 and is subject to annual inspection.

 

Beijing Western-net Network Technology Co., Ltd. (“Western-net”) currently holds a Value-Added Telecommunication Services Operating License issued on March 1, 2010 by MIIT, authorizing the company to provide nationwide information services (excluding fixed line phone call information services and internet information services). According to the Confirmation Letter issued by Beijing Communication Administration Bureau, Beijing Western-net Network Technology Co., Ltd. has been approved to provide MVAS in Beijing. The license is valid through March 1, 2015 and is subject to annual inspection.

 

Short Messaging Services

 

On April 29, 2004, the MII issued the Notice on Certain Issues Regarding the Regulation of Short Messaging Services, or the SMS Notice. The SMS Notice confirms that all mobile communication companies shall provide SMS in cooperation with information service providers who have obtained relevant operating license for SMS. In addition, all mobile communication companies and information service providers shall highlight the fee standards, payment methods and ways of withdrawal in their advertisements for SMS services. For services based on monthly payment and subscription services, providers shall confirm with the users in advance. Without such confirmation, it should be assumed that the user has withdrawn such requirement for services. The mobile communication companies and information service providers shall strictly comply with the service items as agreed upon with the users. The information service providers shall examine the content of short messages, and no short message may contain content forbidden by law.

 

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Internet Publishing

 

On June 27, 2002, SPPA and the MII jointly released the Provisional Rules for the Administration of internet Publishing, or the internet Publishing Rules, which define “internet publications” as works that are either selected or edited to be published on the internet or transmitted to end-users through the internet for the purposes of browsing, reading, using or downloading by the general public. Such works mainly include content or articles formally published by press media such as: (i) books, newspapers, periodicals, audio-visual products and electronic publications; and (ii) literature, art and articles on natural science, social science, engineering and other topics that have been edited.

 

According to the internet Publishing Rules, web portals like SINA are required to apply to and register with GAPP before distributing internet publications.

 

In accordance with these rules, the ICP Company currently holds an internet Publication License issued by GAPP on December 21, 2010, which is valid through December 31, 2014.

 

We received two notices from the Beijing Municipal Cultural Market Administrative Law Enforcement Unit concerning alleged violations of PRC regulations on our website in April 2014. These alleged violations relate to the distribution of certain literary content on our channel book.sina.com.cn that the authorities have deemed to be in violation of the restrictions against “unhealthy and indecent” content under PRC Law.  We have been informed that as an administrative penalty for these violations, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television has proposed revoking the Company’s Internet Publication License. In addition, the Beijing Municipal Cultural Market Administrative Law Enforcement Unit has proposed imposing an administrative fine.  The authority also determined that the revenues derived from the alleged violation relating to the reading channel was RMB508,581 ($82,029), and we may be subject to an administrative fine ranging from five to ten times of such revenues pursuant to the Provisional Rules for the Administration of Internet Publishing. It is our understanding that these administrative penalties are part of the PRC government’s campaign to clean up unhealthy and indecent content on the internet.  We intend to fully cooperate with the relevant government authorities and take appropriate actions as necessary to address their concerns. See “Item 3. Key Information — D. Risk Factors — Risks Related to Doing Business in China — Our Internet Publication License and License for Online Transmission of Audio-Visual Programs could be revoked due to certain content on our website.”

 

Online Games

 

On May 10, 2003, the Provisional Regulations for the Administration of Online Culture were issued by MOC and went into effect on July 1, 2003 (these regulations were revised by MOC on July 1, 2004 and further revised and re-promulgated on February 17, 2011). According to these regulations, commercial entities are required to apply to the relevant local branch of MOC for an Online Culture Operating Permit to engage in online games services.

 

On December 30, 1997, the GAPP issued the Rules for the Administration of Electronic Publications, or the Electronic Publication Rules, which amended on February 21, 2008 and took effect on April 15, 2008. These rules regulate the production, publishing and importation of electronic publications in the PRC and outline a licensing system for business operations involving electronic publishing. Under these rules and other regulations issued by the GAPP, online games are classified as a type of electronic production and publishing of online games is required to be done by licensed electronic publishing entities with standard publication codes. If a PRC company is contractually authorized to publish foreign electronic publications, it must obtain the approval of, and register the copyright license contract with, the GAPP.

 

According to the Circular of the Ministry of Culture on Strengthening the Examination of Content of Online Games Products issued by MOC on May 14, 2004, the content of any foreign online game products should be examined and approved by MOC before they are operated within China. Entities engaged in developing and operating domestic online games products should register with the MOC.

 

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On November 13, 2009, MOC issued the Circular of the Ministry of Culture on Improving and Strengthening the Examination of Content of Online Games. According to this circular, offensive promotion and advertisement of online games, games propagating eroticism, gambling and violence, and other online games without the approval from MOC, are strictly prohibited.

 

On September 28, 2009, GAPP, the National Copyright Administration and the National Office of Combating Pornography and Illegal Publications jointly published the Notice Regarding the Consistent Implementation of the “Stipulations on ‘Three Provisions’ of the State Council and the Relevant Interpretations of the State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform and the Further Strengthening of the Administration of Pre-examination and Approval of internet Games and the Examination and Approval of Imported internet Games” or Circular 13. Circular 13 expressly prohibits foreign investors from participating in the operation of internet games via wholly owned, equity joint venture or cooperative joint venture investments in China, and from controlling and participating in such businesses directly or indirectly through contractual or technical support arrangements. In addition, according to circular 13, GAPP’s approval is required for publishing any specific imported online games and any imported online game which is not examined and approved by GAPP is not allowed to be published online. It is not clear yet as to whether other PRC government authorities, such as the MOFCOM or the MIIT will support GAPP to enforce the prohibition of the VIE model that Circular 13 contemplates.

 

On June 3, 2010, the MOC promulgated the “Interim Measures for Administration of Online Games,” or the “Online Games Measures,” which became effective on August 1, 2010. The Online Games Measures reiterate that any online games operator should obtain an Online Culture Operating Permit to engage in online game services. In addition, the content of any imported online games should be examined and approved by MOC before they are operated within China, and any domestic online games should be registered with MOC.

 

On February 15, 2007, the MOC, the PBOC and other relevant government authorities jointly issued the Notice on the Reinforcement of the Administration of internet Cafés and Online Games. Under this notice, the PBOC is directed to strengthen the administration of virtual currency in online games to avoid any adverse impact on the real economic and financial systems. This notice provides that the total amount of virtual currency issued by online game operators and the amount purchased by individual users should be strictly limited, with a strict and clear division between virtual transactions and real e-commerce transactions. This notice also provides that virtual currency should only be used to purchase virtual items.

 

On June 4, 2009 the MOC and the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the Notice on the Strengthening of Administration on Online Game Virtual Currency. Virtual currency is broadly defined in the notice as a type of virtual exchange instrument issued by internet game operation enterprises, purchased directly or indirectly by the game user by exchanging legal currency at a certain exchange rate, saved outside the game programs, stored in servers provided by the internet game operation enterprises in electronic record format and represented by specific numeric units. Virtual currency is used to exchange internet game services provided by the issuing enterprise for a designated extent and time, and is represented by several forms, such as online prepaid game cards, prepaid amounts or internet game points, and does not include game props obtained from playing online games. On July 20, 2009, the MOC promulgated the Filing Guidelines on Online Game Virtual Currency Issuing Enterprises and Online Game Virtual Currency Trading Enterprises, which specifically defines “issuing enterprise” and “trading enterprise” and stipulates that a single enterprise may not operate both types of business.

 

On July 1, 2011, the GAPP, the MIIT, the MOE and five other governmental authorities issued a Notice on Initializing the Verification of Real-name Registration for Anti-Fatigue System on internet Games, which took effect on October 1, 2011. This notice’s main focus is to prevent minors from using an adult ID to play internet games and, accordingly, this notice imposes stringent penalty on online game operators that do not implement the required anti-fatigue and real-name registration measures properly and effectively. Options of an online game operator may be terminated if the operator is found to be in violation of this notice.

 

On January 15, 2011, the MOC, the MIIT and six other central government authorities jointly issued a circular entitled Implementation of Online Game Monitoring System of the Guardians of Minors, aiming to provide specific protection measures to monitor the online game activities of minors and curb addictive online game play behaviors of minors. Under the circular, online game operators are required to adopt various measures to maintain a system to communicate with the parents or other guardians of minors playing online games and online game operators are required to monitor the online game activities of minors, and must suspend the account of a minor if so requested by the minor’s parents or guardians. The monitoring system was formally implemented on March 1, 2011.

 

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Star VI and the ICP Company hold Online Culture Operating Permits with a business scope encompassing the “issuance of virtual currency”. They must also make certain filings with the MOC prior to the issuance of virtual currency and conduct their respective businesses in compliance with PRC law.

 

The ICP Company currently holds an internet Publication License issued by GAPP in December 2010, which is valid through December 31, 2014, and an Online Culture Operating Permit with a business scope encompassing the “issuance of virtual currency” issued by MOC in July 2011, which is valid through December 31, 2014. We have adopted our own anti-fatigue and real name registration systems since December 2007.

 

We received two notices from the Beijing Municipal Cultural Market Administrative Law Enforcement Unit concerning alleged violations of PRC regulations on our website in April 2014 These alleged violations relate to the distribution of certain literary content on our channel book.sina.com.cn that the authorities have deemed to be in violation of the restrictions against “unhealthy and indecent” content under PRC Law.  We have been informed that as an administrative penalty for these violations, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television has proposed revoking the Company’s Internet Publication License. In addition, the Beijing Municipal Cultural Market Administrative Law Enforcement Unit has proposed imposing an administrative fine. The authority also determined that the revenues derived from the alleged violation relating to the reading channel was RMB508,581 ($82,029), and we may be subject to an administrative fine ranging from five to ten times of such revenues pursuant to the Provisional Rules for the Administration of Internet Publishing. It is our understanding that these administrative penalties are part of the PRC government’s campaign to clean up unhealthy and indecent content on the internet.  We intend to fully cooperate with the relevant government authorities and take appropriate actions as necessary to address their concerns. See “Item 3. Key Information — D. Risk Factors — Risks Related to Doing Business in China — Our Internet Publication License and License for Online Transmission of Audio-Visual Programs could be revoked due to certain content on our website.”

 

Internet Medical, Health and Drug Information Services

 

On May 1, 2009, MOH promulgated Administrative Measures for internet Medical and Health Information Services, which require an entity that provides internet medical-and-health-related information services to obtain an approval letter from the health administrative departments at the provincial level and strictly prohibit the website from releasing any superstitious, pornographic or false information or publish any medical advertisements without examination and approval or provide on-line diagnosis or treatment services.

 

On August 18, 2010, Beijing Health Bureau issued an approval letter to the ICP Company to approve the ICP Company to provide medical-and-health-related information services for two years.  Upon expiration, the approval letter of medical-and-health-related information services has been renewed with a term valid through June 3, 2014.

 

According to the Measures for the Administration of internet Drug Information Services, issued by the State Drug Administration (“SDA”), on July 8, 2004, websites publishing drug-related information must obtain a license from SDA or its provincial departments.

 

The ICP Company obtained the approval for website publishing of drug-related information from Beijing Drug Administration (“BDA”) and SDA in December 2001 and January 2002, respectively, and has obtained a Qualification Certificate for internet Drug Information Services issued by the BDA in December 2009. The certificate is valid through December 6, 2014.

 

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Online Cultural Products

 

The Provisional Regulations for the Administration of Online Culture described above and the Notice on Implementing the revised Provisional Regulations for the Administration of Online Culture issued by MOC in March 2011 apply to entities engaged in activities related to “online cultural products.” Online cultural products are classified as: (i) online cultural products particularly developed for publishing via internet, which include online music and video files (including video on demand and digital video broadcasting etc.), network games, online performing arts, online artworks, and online animation features and cartoons (including Flash animation); and (ii) online cultural products converted from audio and visual products, games, performing arts, artworks and animation features and cartoons, and published via internet. Pursuant to these legislations, commercial entities are required to apply to MOC for an Online Culture Operating Permit if they intend to engage in any of the following types of activities for the purpose of making profits:

 

·                   production, duplication, import, wholesale, retail, leasing or broadcasting of online cultural products;

 

·                   publishing of online cultural products on the internet or transmission thereof to computers, fixed-line or mobile phones, radios, television sets or gaming consoles for the purpose of browsing, reading, using or downloading such products; or

 

·                   exhibitions or contests related to online cultural products.

 

The ICP Company currently holds an Online Culture Operating Permit issued by MOC in July 2011 and StarVI currently holds an Online Culture Operating Permit issued by MOC in January 2011, both permits are valid through December 31, 2014. Wangxing currently holds an Online Culture Operating Permit issued by MOC in March 2011 which is valid through March 30, 2014. Xunlong currently holds an Online Culture Operating Permit issued by MOC in March 2011 which is valid through March 7, 2014. Weimeng currently holds an Online Culture Operating Permit issued by MOC in July 2011 which is valid through July 25, 2014.

 

Online Advertising

 

Regulations governing online advertising include:

 

·                   Advertisement Law of the People’s Republic of China promulgated by the PRC State Congress on October 27, 1994 and effective on February 1, 1995;

 

·                   Administrative Regulations for Advertising promulgated by the State Council on October 26, 1987 and effective on December 1, 1987;

 

·                   Implementation Rules for the Administrative Regulations for Advertising promulgated by the State Council on January 9, 1988 and amended on December 3, 1998, December 1, 2000 and November 30, 2004; and

 

·                   Provisions on the Administration of Foreign-funded Advertising Enterprises promulgated by SAIC and MOFCOM on March 2, 2004 and amended on August 22, 2008.

 

According to the above regulations, an enterprise engaging in advertising business as specified in its business scope does not need to apply for an Advertising Operation License, provided that such enterprise is not a radio station, television station, newspaper or magazine publisher or any other entity as specified in laws or administrative regulations. As to placing advertisements on the internet, such enterprise shall apply for a business scope of placing online advertisements on particular websites and does not need to apply for the Advertising Operation License.

 

Several of our wholly owned subsidiaries and VIEs have an approved business scope to carry out the design, production, issuance and agency of advertisements. These entity include Beijing SINA Advertising Co., Ltd., Shanghai SINA Advertising Co., Ltd., and Weimeng.

 

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The ICP Company has an approved business scope to issue internet advertisements and carry out the business of placing advertisements on the website “www.sina.com.cn”.

 

International Connections for Computer Information Networks

 

Regulations governing international connections for PRC computer networks include:

 

·                   Measures for the Administration of International Connections to China’s Public Computer Interconnected Networks (1996);

 

·                   Provisional Regulations of the People’s Republic of China for the Administration of International Connections to Computer Information Networks (1997) and their Implementing Measures (1998);

 

·                   Reply Concerning the Verification and Issuance of Operating Permits for Business Relating to International Connections for Computer Information Networks and for Public Multimedia Telecommunications Business (1998); and

 

·                   Administrative Measures for International Communications Gateways Accesses (2002).

 

According to the above regulations, any entity wishing to access international network connections for its computer information networks in the PRC must comply with the following requirements:

 

·                   be a PRC legal person;

 

·                   have the appropriate equipment, facilities and technical and administrative personnel;

 

·                   have implemented and registered a system of information security and censorship; and

 

·                   effect all international connections through an international communications gateway established with the approval of the MII.

 

The companies described in “C. Organizational Structure” below are in proper compliance with these requirements.

 

Internet Mapping Services

 

Under the Surveying and Mapping Law promulgated by the National People’s Congress, entities engaged in surveying and mapping services should obtain a surveying and mapping qualification certificate and comply with the state’s surveying and mapping criteria. According to the Administrative Rules of Surveying Qualification Certificate and the amended Standard for Internet Map Services issued by the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation, or NASMG in March 2009, and May 2010, respectively, non-surveying and mapping enterprise is subject to the approval of the NASMG and requires a surveying and mapping qualification certificate to provide internet mapping services. Pursuant to the Notice on Further Strengthening the Administration of Internet Map Services Qualification issued by the NASMG in December 2011, any entity that has not yet applied for a surveying qualification certificate for internet mapping services is prohibited from providing any internet mapping services. The ICP Company has obtained a surveying and mapping qualification certificate on July 27, 2010.

 

Online Payment

 

On June, 14, 2010, the People’s Bank of China promulgated the Measures for the Administration of Payment Services of Non-Financial Institutions (“The Measures”), which took effect on September 1, 2010. On December 1, 2010, the People’s Bank of China promulgated implementing rules for the Measures. The Measures and the implementing rules require any non-financial institution engaging in payment services, such as online payment, issuance and acceptance of prepaid cards, and bill collection via bankcard, to obtain a Payment Service License. The registered capital of an applicant that engages in a nationwide payment business must be at least RMB100 million, while that of an applicant engaging in payment business within a province must be at least RMB30 million. Beijing Sina payment Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the ICP Company, has obtained a Payment Service License from the People’s Bank of China valid until July 5, 2018, which enables us to engage in nationwide online payment business through the internet and mobile phones.

 

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Information Security and Censorship

 

Laws and regulations governing information security and censorship include:

 

·                   The Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Preservation of State Secrets (1988) which was amended on April 30, 2010 and the amendment became effective from October 1, 2010;

 

·                   The Law of the People’s Republic of China Regarding State Security (1993) and its Implementing Rules (1994);

 

·                   Rules of the People’s Republic of China for Protecting the Security of Computer Information Systems (1994);

 

·                   Notice Concerning Work Relating to the Filing of Computer Information Systems with International Connections (1996);

 

·                   Administrative Regulations for the Protection of Secrecy on Computer Information Systems Connected to International Networks (1997);

 

·                   Regulations for the Protection of State Secrets for Computer Information Systems on the Internet (2000);

 

·                   Notice issued by the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China Regarding Issues Relating to the Implementation of the Administrative Measure for the Security Protection of International Connections to Computer Information Networks (2000);

 

·                   Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Regarding the Safeguarding of Internet Security (2000);

 

·                   Measures for the Administration of Commercial Website Filings for the Record (2000) their Implementing Rules (2000);

 

·                   Measures for the Administration of IP Address Archiving (2005);

 

·                   Provision on Technical Measures for Internet Security Protection (2005);

 

·                   Administrative Measures for the Graded Protection of Information Security (2007); and

 

·                   Several Provisions on Regulating the Market Order of Internet Information Services (2012).

 

These laws and regulations specifically prohibit the use of internet infrastructure where it may breach public security, provide content harmful to the stability of society or disclose state secrets. According to these laws and regulations, it is mandatory for internet companies in the PRC to complete security-filing procedures and regularly update information security and censorship systems for their websites with the local public security bureau. In addition, the amended Law on Preservation of State Secrets effective on October 1, 2010 provides that whenever an internet service provider detects any leak of state secrets in the distribution of online information, it should stop the distribution of such information and report to the authorities of state security and public security. As per request of the authorities of state security, public security or state secrecy, the internet service provider should delete any content on its website that may lead to disclosure of state secrets. Failure to do so on a timely and adequate basis may subject us to liability and certain penalties given by the State Security Bureau, Ministry of Public Security and/or the MIIT or their respective local counterparts.

 

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According to the Detailed Implementing Rules for the Measures for the Administration of Commercial Website Filings for the Record, promulgated by Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce (“BAIC”) in July 2002, websites must comply with the following requirements:

 

·                   file with BAIC and obtain electronic registration marks;

 

·                   place the registration marks on their websites’ homepages; and

 

·                   register their website names with BAIC.

 

The ICP Company successfully registered its websites with BAIC on December 23, 2002. Afterwards, SINA’s electronic registration mark is prominently placed on its homepage.

 

In addition, the State Security Bureau has issued regulations authorizing the blocking of access to any site it deems to be leaking state secrets or failing to comply with the relevant legislation regarding the protection of state secrets during online information distribution. Specifically, even though the requirement to obtain specific approvals before providing BBS services, which include electronic bulletin boards, electronic forums, message boards and chat rooms, has been terminated according to a decision issued by the PRC State Council on July 4, 2010, in practice, the government authorities in Beijing still require the relevant ICP operators to obtain such approvals for providing BBS services. Internet companies in China with bulletin boards, chat rooms or similar services must apply for the approval by the State Security Bureau prior to operating such services. The ICP Company has established an internal security committee, adopted security maintenance measures, employed full-time BBS supervisors and has been exchanging information on a regular basis with the local public security bureau with regard to sensitive or censored information and websites. Thus, it is in compliance with the governing legislation.

 

Online Privacy

 

Chinese law does not prohibit internet service providers from collecting and analyzing personal information from their users. The PRC government, however, has the power and authority to order internet service providers to submit personal information of an internet user if such user posts any prohibited content or engages in illegal activities on the internet.

 

Under the Several Provisions on Regulating the Market Order of Internet Information Services promulgated by the MIIT and became effective on March 15, 2012, internet service providers may not, without a user’s consent, collect the user’ personal information that can be used, alone or in combination with other information, to identify the user, and may not provide any user’s personal information to third parties without the prior consent of the user. Internet service providers may only collect users’ personal information necessary to provide their services and must expressly inform the users of the method, scope and purpose of the collection and processing of such information.  They are also required to ensure the proper security of users’ personal information, and take immediate remedial measures if such information is suspected to have been inappropriately disclosed.  We require our users to accept a user agreement whereby they agree to provide certain personal information to us. If we are not in compliance with these provisions, the MIIT or its local counterparts may impose penalties and we may be liable for damage caused to our users. On December 28, 2012, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress enacted the Decision to Enhance the Protection of Network Information to further enhance the protection of users’ personal information in electronic form. Most requirements under this decision relevant to internet service providers are consistent with the requirements already established under the MIIT provisions discussed above, but are often stricter and broader.  Under this decision, internet service providers are required to take such technical and other measures necessary to safeguard the information against inappropriate disclosure. On July 16, 2013, MIIT issued the Order for the Protection of Telecommunication and Internet User Personal Information (the “Order”). Most requirements under the Order that are relevant to ICP operators are consistent with the requirements already established under the MIIT provisions as discussed above. Under the Order, these requirements are often more strict and have a wider scope. If an ICP operator wishes to collect or use personal information, it may do so only if such collection is necessary for the services it provides. Further, it must disclose to its users the purpose, method and scope of any such collection or use, and must obtain consent from its users whose information is being collected or used. ICP operators are also required to establish and publish their rules relating to personal information collection or use, keep any collected information strictly confidential, and take technological and other measures to maintain the security of such information. ICP operators are required to cease any collection or use of the user personal information, and de-register the relevant user account, when a given user stops using the relevant Internet service. ICP operators are further prohibited from divulging, distorting or destroying any such personal information, or selling or providing such information unlawfully to other parties. In addition, if an ICP operator appoints an agent to undertake any marketing and technical services that involve the collection or use of personal information, the ICP operator is still required to supervise and manage the protection of the information. As to penalties, in very broad terms, the Order states that violators may face warnings, fines, and disclosure to the public and, in most severe cases, criminal liability.

 

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Encryption Software

 

On October 7, 1999, the State Encryption Administration Commission published the Regulations for the Administration of Commercial Encryption, followed by the first Notice of the General Office of the State Encryption Administration Commission on November 8, 1999. Both of these regulations address the use of software in China with encryption functions. According to these regulations, purchase of encryption products must be reported. Violation of the encryption regulations may result in a warning, penalty, confiscation of the encryption product, or criminal liabilities.

 

On March 18, 2000, the Office of the State Commission for the Administration of Cryptography issued a public announcement regarding the implementation of those regulations. The announcement clarifies the encryption regulations as below:

 

·                   Only specialized hardware and software, the core functions of which are encryption and decoding, fall within the administrative scope of the regulations as “encryption products and equipment containing encryption technology.” Other products such as wireless telephones, Windows software and browsers do not fall within the scope of this regulation.

 

·                   The PRC government has already begun to study the laws in question in accordance with WTO rules and China’s external commitments, and will make revisions wherever necessary. The Administrative Regulations on Commercial Encryption will also be subject to such scrutiny and revision.

 

In late 2005, the Administration Bureau of Cryptography further issued a series of regulations to regulate the development, production and sales of commercial encryption products, which all came into effect on January 1, 2006.

 

We believe that the companies described in “C. Organizational Structure” below are in proper compliance with these requirements. For the legal uncertainties associated with encryption software, please see “We may have to register our encryption software with Chinese regulatory authorities, and if they request that we change our encryption software, our business operations could be disrupted as we develop or license replacement software” in the Risk Factors section.

 

Online Education

 

According to the Measures for the Administration of Educational websites and Online Education School released on July 5, 2000, to open educational websites and online education schools, application must be made to the administrative department overseeing education. Operation may begin only when it is inspected and approved by the administrative department. Educational websites and online education schools shall not operate without the approval of the administrative department overseeing education.

 

In compliance with the above regulation, the ICP Company obtained the aforementioned approvals from the Beijing Education Committee on March 21, 2002.

 

Internet Copyright

 

The National People’s Congress adopted the Copyright Law in 1990 and amended it in 2001 and 2010, respectively. The amended Copyright Law extends copyright protection to internet activities, products disseminated over the internet and software products. In addition, there is a voluntary registration system administered by the China Copyright Protection Center. The amended Copyright Law also requires registration of copyright pledges. The National Copyright Administration and the MII jointly promulgated the Measures for Administrative Protection of Copyright Related to Internet on April 29, 2005 to address copyright infringement issue related to the content posted or transmitted over the internet, which became effective on May 30, 2005.  According to these measures, providing internet content directly in the course of internet information service activities shall be governed by the Copyrights Law, which includes the uploading, storing, linking, search and other functions of such content directly provided over the internet without any editing, amending or selecting the stored or transmitted content.

 

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On May 18, 2006, the State Council promulgated the Protection of the Right of Communication through Information Networks, which became effective on July 1, 2006. Under this regulation, with respect to any information storage space, search or link services provided by an internet service provider, if the legitimate right owner believes that the works, performance or audio or video recordings pertaining to that service infringe his or her rights of communication, the right owner may give the internet service provider a written notice containing the relevant information along with preliminary supporting materials proving that an infringement has occurred, and requesting that the internet service provider to delete, or disconnect the links to, such works or recordings. The right owner will be responsible for the truthfulness of the content of the notice. Upon receipt of the notice, the internet service provider must delete or disconnect the links to the infringing content immediately and forward the notice to the user that provided the infringing works or recordings. If the written notice cannot be sent to the user because the user’s IP address is not known, the contents of the notice shall be published on information networks. If the user believes that the subject works or recordings have not infringed others’ rights, the user may submit to the internet service provider a written explanation with preliminary supporting materials, and a request for the restoration of the deleted works or recordings. The internet service provider should then immediately restore the deleted or disconnected content and forward the user’s written statement to the right owner.

 

According to an interpretation by PRC Supreme People’s Court took effect on January 1, 2013, internet service providers will be jointly liable if they continue their infringing activities or do not remove infringing content from their websites once they know of the infringement or receive notice from the rights holder.  If a network service provider economically benefits from the works, performances, and sound or visual recordings provided by the network service provider, it must pay close attention to infringement of network information transmission rights by network users.

 

Tort Liability Law

 

The PRC Tort Liability Law became effective on July 1, 2010. According to the Tort Liability Law, internet users and internet service providers bear tortious liabilities in the event that they infringe other persons’ rights and interests through the internet. Where an internet user conducts tortious acts through internet services, the infringed person has the right to require the internet service provider to take necessary actions such as deleting content, screening and de-linking. A failure to take necessary actions after being informed will subject the internet service provider to joint and several liability with the internet user with regard to the additional damages incurred. Where an internet service provider knows an internet user is infringing other persons’ rights and interests through its internet service but fails to take necessary actions, it is jointly and severally liable with the internet user.

 

Foreign Exchange

 

Foreign exchange regulation in China is primarily governed by the following regulations:

 

·                   Foreign Exchange Administration Rules, or the Exchange Rules, promulgated by the State Council on January 29, 1996, which was amended on January 14, 1997 and on August 5, 2008 respectively; and

 

·                   Administration Rules of the Settlement, Sale and Payment of Foreign Exchange, or the Administration Rules, promulgated by the People’s Bank of China on June 20, 1996.

 

Under the Exchange Rules, RMB is convertible for current account items, including the distribution of dividends, interest payments, trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions. As for capital account items, such as direct investments, loans, security investments and the repatriation of investment returns, however, the reservation or conversion of foreign currency income is still subject to the approval of SAFE or its competent local branches; while for the foreign currency payments for capital account items, the SAFE approval is not necessary for the conversion of RMB except as otherwise explicitly provided by laws and regulations.

 

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Under the Administration Rules, enterprises may only buy, sell or remit foreign currencies at banks that are authorized to conduct foreign exchange business after the enterprise provides valid commercial documents and relevant supporting documents and, in the case of certain capital account transactions, after obtaining approval from SAFE or its competent local branches. Capital investments by enterprises outside of China are also subject to limitations, which include approvals by the MOC, SAFE and the National Development and Reform Commission, or their respective competent local branches.

 

On October 21, 2005, SAFE issued the Circular on Several Issues concerning Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Residents to Engage in Financing and in Return Investments via Overseas Special Purpose Companies, or Circular No. 75, which went into effect on November 1, 2005. Circular No. 75 provides that if PRC residents use assets or equity interests in their PRC entities to establish offshore companies or inject assets or equity interests of their PRC entities into offshore companies for the purpose of overseas capital financing, they must register with local SAFE branches with respect to their investments in offshore companies. Circular No. 75 also requires PRC residents to file changes to their registration if their special purpose companies undergo material events, such as capital increase or decrease, share transfer or exchange, merger or division, long-term equity or debt investments, or provision of guaranty to a foreign party. Since May 2007, SAFE has issued a series of guidance to its local branches with respect to the operational process with regard to Circular No. 75. Since May 2007, SAFE has issued a series of guidance to its local branches to further clarify the SAFE registration process.

 

On August 29, 2008, the Notice of the General Affairs Department of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on the Relevant Operating Issues concerning the Improvement of the Administration of Payment and Settlement of Foreign Currency Capital of Foreign-funded Enterprises, or Circular 142, was promulgated by SAFE. Pursuant to Circular 142, the foreign currency capital of FIEs, after being converted to RMB, can only be used for doing business within the business scope approved by relevant governmental authorities, and shall not be used for domestic equity investment except as otherwise explicitly provided by laws and regulations. In addition, FIEs may not change how they use such capital without SAFE’s approval, and may not in any case use such capital to repay RMB loans if they have not used the proceeds of such loans.

 

On November 19, 2010 SAFE promulgated a circular, or Circular 59 which requires the authenticity of settlement of net proceeds from offshore offerings to be closely examined and the net proceeds to be settled in the manner described in the offering documents. Circular 142 and Circular 59 may significantly limit our ability to transfer the net proceeds from this offering to our PRC subsidiaries and convert the net proceeds into RMB, which may adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business in the PRC.

 

Income Tax

 

On March 16, 2007, the National People’s Congress approved and promulgated the EIT Law. On December 6, 2007, the State Council approved the Implementing Rules. Both the EIT Law and its Implementing Rules became effective on January 1, 2008. Under the EIT Law and the Implementing Rules, which superseded the Previous IT Law, the enterprise income tax rate for both domestic companies and FIEs is unified at 25%. On December 26, 2007, the State Council promulgated the Circular on Implementation of Enterprise Tax Transition Preferential Policy, or the Preferential Policy Circular. The EIT Law, its Implementing Rules and the Preferential Policy Circular provide a five-year transitional period for certain entities that had enjoyed a favorable income tax rate of less than 25% under the Previous IT Law and were established before March 16, 2007, during which period the applicable enterprises income tax rate shall gradually increase to 25%.

 

On April 14, 2008, the Administration Measures for Recognition of High and New Technology Enterprises, or the Recognition Measures, were jointly promulgated by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, and the State Administration of Taxation, which sets out the standards and process for granting the high and new technology enterprises status. According to the EIT Law and its Implementing Rules as well as the Recognition Measures, enterprises which have been granted the high and new technology enterprises status shall enjoy a favorable income tax rate of 15%. As of December 31, 2013, five of our subsidiaries have obtained the Certificate for High and New Technology Enterprises and enjoyed a favorable tax rate under the EIT Law, evidencing their high and new technology enterprises status.  The New EIT Law and its implementation rules also provide that “software enterprises” enjoy a two-year income tax exemption starting from the first profit making year, followed by a reduced tax rate of 12.5% for the subsequent three years. As of December 31, 2013, two of our subsidiaries in China were qualified as software enterprises under the EIT Law and enjoyed or planned to enjoy the tax holiday of software enterprises.

 

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The EIT Law also provides that an enterprise established under the laws of a foreign country or region but whose “de facto management body” is located in the PRC be treated as a resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes and consequently be subject to the PRC income tax at the rate of 25% for its global income. The Implementing Rules merely defines the location of the “de facto management body” as “the place where the exercising, in substance, of the overall management and control of the production and business operation, personnel, accounting, properties, etc., of a non-PRC company is located.” The State Tax Administration issued the Circular regarding the Determination of Chinese-Controlled Offshore Incorporated Enterprises as PRC Tax Resident Enterprises on the Basis of De Facto Management Bodies, or Circular 82, on April 22, 2009. Circular 82 provides certain specific criteria for determining whether the “de facto management body” of a Chinese-controlled offshore-incorporated enterprise is located in China. The State Administration of Taxation issued the Bulletin regarding the Administrative Measures on the Income Tax of Chinese-Controlled Offshore Incorporated Resident Enterprises (Interim) on July 27, 2011, which became effective on September 1, 2011, providing more guidance on the implementation of Circular 82. This bulletin clarifies matters including resident status determination, post-determination administration and competent tax authorities. Although both Circular 82 and the bulletin only apply to offshore enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises, not companies like us, the determining criteria set forth in Circular 82 and the bulletin may reflect the State Administration of Taxation’s general position on how the “de facto management body” test should be applied in determining the tax resident status of offshore enterprises, regardless of whether they are controlled by PRC enterprises or individuals. Based on a review of surrounding facts and circumstances, the Company does not believe that it is likely that its operations outside of the PRC should be considered a resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes. However, due to limited guidance and implementation history of the EIT Law, should the Company be treated as a resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes, the Company will be subject to PRC tax on worldwide income at a uniform tax rate of 25% retroactive to January 1, 2008.

 

The EIT Law also imposes a withholding income tax of 10% on dividends distributed by an FIE to its immediate holding company outside of China if such immediate holding company is considered a non-resident enterprise without any establishment or place within China or if the received dividends have no connection with the establishment or place of such immediate holding company within China, unless such immediate holding company’s jurisdiction of incorporation has a tax treaty with China that provides for a different withholding arrangement. Such withholding income tax was exempted under the Previous IT Law. The Cayman Islands, where the Company is incorporated, does not have such tax treaty with China. According to the Arrangement between Mainland China and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on the Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion in August 2006, dividends paid by a foreign-invested enterprise in China to its direct holding company in Hong Kong will be subject to withholding tax at a rate of no more than 5% (if the foreign investor owns directly at least 25% of the shares of the FIE). The State Administration of Taxation further promulgated a circular, or Circular 601, on October 27, 2009, which provides that the tax treaty benefits will be denied to “conduit” or shell companies without business substance and that a beneficial ownership analysis will be used based on a “substance-over-form” principle to determine whether or not to grant the tax treaty benefits. A majority of our subsidiaries in China are directly held by our Hong Kong subsidiaries. If we are regarded as a non-resident enterprise and our Hong Kong subsidiaries are regarded as resident enterprises, then our Hong Kong subsidiaries may be required to pay a 10% withholding tax on any dividends payable to us. If our Hong Kong entities are regarded as non-resident enterprises, then our PRC subsidiaries may be required to pay a 5% withholding tax for any dividends payable to our Hong Kong subsidiaries, however, it is still unclear at this stage whether Circular 601 applies to dividends from our PRC subsidiaries paid to our Hong Kong subsidiaries, and if our Hong Kong subsidiaries were not considered as “beneficial owners” of any dividends from their PRC subsidiaries, whether the dividends payable to our Hong Kong subsidiaries would be subject to withholding tax at a rate of 10%.

 

The EIT Law and its Implementation Rules have made an effort to scrutinize transactions between related parties. Pursuant to the EIT Law and its Implementation Rules, the tax authorities may impose mandatory adjustment on tax due to the extent a related party transaction is not in line with arm’s-length principle or was entered into with a purpose to reduce, avoid or delay the payment of tax. On January 8, 2009, the State Administration of Taxation issued the Implementation Measures for Special Tax Adjustments (Trial), which clarifies the definition of “related party” and sets forth the tax-filing disclosure and documentation requirements, the selection and application of transfer pricing methods, and transfer pricing investigation and assessment procedures.

 

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On December 10, 2009, the State Administration of Taxation issued a circular on Strengthening the Administration of Enterprise Income Tax Collection on Income Derived from Equity Transfer by Non-resident Enterprise, or Circular 698. Pursuant to Circular 698, non-resident enterprises should declare any direct transfer of equity interest of PRC resident enterprises and pay taxes in accordance with the EIT Law and relevant laws and regulations. For an indirect transfer, if the effective tax rate for the transferor (a non-PRC-resident enterprise) is lower than 12.5% under the law of the jurisdiction of the direct transferred target, the transferor is required to submit relevant transaction materials to PRC tax authorities for review. If such indirect transfer is determined by PRC tax authorities to be a transaction without any reasonable business purpose other than for the purpose of tax avoidance, the gains derived from such transfer will be subject to PRC income tax.

 

In addition to the above, after the EIT Law and its Implementing Rules were promulgated, the State Administration of Taxation released several regulations to stipulate more details for carrying out the EIT Law and its Implementing Rules. These regulations include:

 

·                   Notice of the State Administration of Taxation on the Issues Concerning the Administration of Enterprise Income Tax Deduction and Exemption (2008);

 

·                   Notice of the State Administration of Taxation on Strengthening the Withholding of Enterprise Income Tax on Non-resident Enterprises’ Interest Income Sourcing from China (2008);

 

·                   Notice of the State Administration of Taxation on Several Issues Concerning the Recognition of Incomes Subject to the Enterprise Income Tax (2008);

 

·                   Opinion of the State Administration of Taxation on Strengthening the Administration of Enterprise Income Tax (2008);

 

·                   Notice of the Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation on Several Preferential Policies in Respect of Enterprise Income Tax (2008);

 

·                   Interim Measures for the Administration of Collection of Enterprise Income Tax on the Basis of Consolidation of Trans-regional Business Operations (2008);

 

·                   Several Issues Concerning the Enterprise Income Tax Treatment on Enterprise Reorganization (2009);

 

·                   Circular of the State Council on Printing and Distributing Policies for Further Encouraging the Development of the Software Industry and the Integrated Circuit Industry (2011); and

 

·                   Circular on Income Tax Policies for Further Encouraging the Development of Software Industry and Integrated Circuit Industry (2012).

 

Business Tax and Value-Added Tax

 

Pursuant to applicable PRC tax regulations, any entity or individual conducting business in the service industry is generally required to pay a business tax at the rate of 5% on the revenues generated from providing such services, while our MVAS business is subject to a business tax rate of 3%. However, if the services provided are related to technology development and transfer, such business tax may be exempted subject to approval by the relevant tax authorities.

 

Pursuant to a pilot program (the “Pilot Program”) launched by the PRC government, a VAT was initially implemented in Shanghai starting January 1, 2012 to replace the business tax in certain modern service industries. Effective September 1, 2012, the Pilot Program was expanded to eight other cities and provinces in China, including Beijing. Beginning from August 1, 2013, the Pilot Program was expanded to all regions in PRC. With the implementation of the Pilot Program, the Company is subject to 6.7% VAT and surcharges and 3% cultural business construction fees for certain parts of our advertising business. Our MVAS revenue is not within the scope of the pilot plan and is still subject to the business tax of 3%.

 

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Labor and Work Safety

 

The Labor Law of the PRC, or the Labor Law, which became effective on January 1, 1995, provides basic protections for employees. For examples, employers should sign labor contracts with employees if labor relationships are to be established; employers cannot compel employees to work beyond the time limit and should promptly pay wages not lower than local minimum wage standards to employees; employers shall establish and improve occupational safety and health policies and procedures and strictly abide by applicable PRC rules and standards on labor safety and health; and female employees and juvenile employees are given special protection.

 

On June 29, 2007, the National People’s Congress of China enacted the Labor Contract Law, which became effective on January 1, 2008. The Labor Contract Law was amended on December 28, 2012, which amendment will come into effect on July 1, 2013. On September 18, 2008, the State Council further promulgated the Regulations on Implementation of the Labor Contract Law. Compared to the Labor Law, the Labor Contract Law and its implementing regulations impose more restrictions on employers. Such restrictions include specific provisions related to fixed term employment contracts, temporary employment, probation, consultation with the labor union and employee assembly, employment without a contract, dismissal of employees, compensation upon termination and overtime work, and collective bargaining. According to the Labor Contract Law and its implementing regulations, an employer is obliged to sign a non-fixed term employment contract with an employee if the employer intends to renew employment relationship with such employee after two consecutive fixed term employment contracts. The employer also has to compensate the employee if the employer terminates the unlimited term labor contract, unless the employee refuses to extend an expired employment contract under terms which are the same or more favorable than those in the expired contract. Further, under the Regulations on Paid Annual Leave for Employees, which became effective on January 1, 2008, employees who have worked more than one year for an employer are entitled to a paid vacation ranging from 5 to 15 days, depending on their accumulative length of services. Employees who waive such vacation time at the request of employers shall be compensated for three times of their daily salaries for each waived vacation day.

 

The laws and regulations governing the labor relations and work safety also include:

 

·                   the Work Safety Law of the PRC (2002);

 

·                   the Regulation on Occupational Injury Insurance (2011);

 

·                   the Interim Measures Concerning the Maternity Insurance (1995);

 

·                   the Interim Regulations on the Collection and Payment of Social Insurance Premiums (1999) and its interim measures (1999);

 

·                   the PRC Social Insurance Law (2011); and

 

·                   the Regulation on the Administration of Housing Fund (2002).

 

Security Review System for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors

 

The General Office of the State Council promulgated the Notice on the Establishment of the Security Review System for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the Security Review Notice, on February 3, 2011. The Security Review Notice apply to the mergers and acquisitions of domestic enterprises by foreign investors that involves national security, including enterprises relating to military, national defense, important agricultural products, important energies and resources, important infrastructural facilities, important transportation services, key technologies, and manufacturing of major equipment. The joint ministerial meeting is appointed as the authority in carrying out the security review.

 

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To specify the implementation and procedural matters, the MOFCOM enacted the Interim Measures on Related Matters on the Implementation of the Security Review System for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors which were effective from March 5, 2011 to August 31, 2011 and the Provisions on the Implementation of the Security Review System for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the Security Review Provisions, which became effective on September 1, 2011. The Security Review Provisions determine whether a merger or acquisition of a domestic enterprise by a foreign investor falls within the scope of the national security review based on the substance and actual impact of the transaction and prohibit any transactions attempting to bypass such security review, including by controlling entities through contractual arrangements.

 

For a description of how uncertainties in Chinese regulations may affect our business, please see “Item 3. Key Information — D. Risk Factors — Even if we are in compliance with PRC governmental regulations relating to licensing and foreign investment prohibitions, the PRC government may prevent us from advertising or distributing content that it believes is inappropriate and we may be liable for such content or we may have to stop profiting from such content.”

 

C.                                     Organizational Structure

 

SINA is the parent company of our group and conducts business operations in China through wholly owned and partially owned subsidiaries and VIEs. The following diagram illustrate our corporate structure as of the date of this annual report:

 

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		Equity interest for companies.
		Contractual arrangements including loan agreements, share transfer agreements, loan repayment agreements, agreements on authorization to exercise shareholder’s voting power, share pledge agreements, exclusive technical services agreements, exclusive sales agency agreements and trademark license agreements. See “—C. Organizational Structure.”
(1)		Shareholders of the IAD Company include two of non-executive PRC employees, Y. Liu and W. Wang, each holding 50% of IAD Company equity interest. The registered capital of the IAD Company is $24.8 million.
(2)		Shareholders of the ICP Company including H. Du. and T. Chen, our executive officers, holding 27.1% and 22.8% equity interest respectively, and Y. Wang a director of our company, holding 0.2% equity interest.  The remaining 22.8% equity interest is held by D. Li n, a non-executive PRC employee of the Company, and 27.1% equity interest is held by G. Xie , a former employee.  The registered capital of the ICP Company is $19.0 million.

 

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(3)		Shareholders of StarVI include non-executive PRC employees, G. Wang, L. Wei and X. Yi, holding 40%, 30% and 30% of StarVI’s equity interest, respectively. The registered capital of StarVI is $1.2 million.
(4)		Shareholders of Xunlong include two non-executive PRC employees, H. Su and B. Luo, holding 55% and 45% of Xunlong’s equity interest, respectively. The registered capital of Xunlong is $1.2 million.
(5)		Shareholders of Wangxing include two non-executive PRC employees, X. Wang and X. Wang, holding 45% and 55% of  Wangxing equity interest, respectively. The registered capital of Wangxing is $1.2 million.
(6)		Shareholders of Weimeng include four non-executive PRC employees, Y. Liu, W. Wang, Y. Lu and Z. Cao, holding 30%, 30%, 20% and 20% of Weimeng’s equity interest, respectively. The nominee shareholders of the Company’s VIEs have immaterial stake in the Company. The registered capital of Weimeng is $9.1 million.
(7)		Beijing Weibo Interactive Technology Co., Ltd. (“Weibo Interactive”), an online-game platform company, was acquired by the IAD Company in May 2013.  The entire equity interest in Weibo Interactive was transferred to Weimeng in December 2013.  The registered capital of Weibo Interactive is $5.5 million.
(8)		The nominee shareholders of our VIEs have immaterial stake in our company.

 

Contractual Arrangements with VIEs and their respective shareholders

 

In order to comply with the PRC government’s foreign investment restrictions on internet information services and other laws and regulations, we conduct all our internet information services, advertising and MVAS in China via our significant domestic VIEs:

 

The capital investments in these VIEs were funded by SINA through SINA’s wholly or partially owned subsidiaries and recorded as interest-free loans to the employees. As of December 31, 2013, the total amount of interest-free loans to the employee shareholders of the VIEs listed above and the other inactive VIEs was $35.9 million. Under various contractual agreements, employee shareholders of the VIEs are required to transfer their ownership in these entities to our subsidiaries in China when permitted by PRC laws and regulations or to our designees at any time for the amount of outstanding loans, and all voting rights of the VIEs are assigned to our wholly owned subsidiaries in China. Our subsidiaries in China have the power to appoint all directors and senior management personnel of the VIEs. Through our subsidiaries in China, we have also entered into exclusive technical agreements and other service agreements with the VIEs, under which these subsidiaries provide technical services and other services to the VIEs in exchange for substantially all of the economic benefits of the VIEs. In addition, our employee shareholders of the VIEs have pledged their shares in the VIEs as collateral for non-payment of loans or for fees on technical and other services due to us.

 

The following is a summary of the VIE agreements:

 

Loan Agreements . One of our wholly owned subsidiaries, Sina.com Technology (China) Co., Ltd(“STC”), or Weibo Internet Technology (China) Co., Ltd., or Weibo Technology, in the case of Weimeng, has granted interest-free loans to the shareholders of the VIEs with the sole purpose of providing funds necessary for the capital injection of the VIEs. The term of the loans is ten years in general, except for certain loans related to the ICP Company which have a term of five years.  STC, or Weibo Technology in the case of Weimeng, at its own discretion, has the right to shorten or extend the terms of the loans if necessary. These loans were eliminated with the capital of the VIEs during consolidation.

 

Share Transfer Agreements. Each shareholder of the VIEs has granted STC, or Weibo Technology in the case of Weimeng, an option to purchase his/her shares in the respective VIEs at a purchase price equal to the amount of capital injection. STC, or Weibo Technology in the case of Weimeng, may exercise such option at any time until it has acquired all shares of such VIE, subject to applicable PRC laws. The options will be effective until the earlier of (i) the shareholders of the VIEs and STC, or Weibo Technology in the case of Weimeng, have fully performed their obligations under this agreement, and (ii) the respective shareholders of the VIEs and STC, or Weibo Technology in the case of Weimeng, agree to terminate the share transfer agreement in writing.

 

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Loan Repayment Agreements. Each shareholder of the VIEs and STC, or Weibo Technology in the case of Weimeng, have agreed that the interest-free loans under the loan agreements shall only be repaid through share transfer. Once the share transfers are completed, the purchase price for the share transfer will be set off against the loan repayment. The loan repayment agreements will be effective until the earlier of (i) the shareholders of the VIEs and STC, or Weibo Technology in the case of Weimeng, have fully performed their obligations under the respective agreement, and (ii) the respective shareholders of the VIEs and STC, or Weibo Technology in the case of Weimeng, agree to terminate the share transfer agreement in writing.

 

Agreements on Authorization to Exercise Shareholder’s Voting Power . Each shareholder of the VIEs has authorized STC, or Weibo Technology in the case of Weimeng, to exercise all his/her voting power as a shareholder of the respective VIE. The authorizations are irrevocable and will not expire until the respective VIE dissolves.

 

Share Pledge Agreements . Each shareholder of the VIEs has pledged all his/her shares in the VIEs and all other rights relevant to the share rights to STC, or Weibo Technology in the case of Weimeng, as a collateral security for his/her obligations to pay off all debts to STC, or Weibo Technology in the case of Weimeng, under the loan agreement and for the payment obligations of the VIEs under the trademark license agreement and the technical services agreement. In the event of default of any payment obligations, STC, or Weibo Technology in the case of Weimeng, will be entitled to certain rights, including transferring the pledged shares to itself and disposing of the pledged shares through sale or auction. During the term of each agreement, STC, or Weibo Technology in the case of Weimeng, is entitled to receive all dividends and distributions paid on the pledged shares. The pledges will be effective until the earlier of (i) the three-year anniversary of the due date of the last guaranteed debt, (ii) the VIEs and the shareholders of the VIEs have fully performed their obligations under the above-referred agreements, and (iii) STC or Weibo Technology in the case of Weimeng, unilaterally consents to terminate the respective share pledge agreement.

 

Exclusive Technical Services Agreements . Each of the VIEs has entered into an exclusive technical services agreement with STC, or Weibo Technology in the case of Weimeng, pursuant to which STC, or Weibo Technology in the case of Weimeng, is engaged to provide certain technical services to the VIEs, depending on the licenses obtained and held by the VIE.  These exclusive technical services agreements will not expire until the respective VIEs dissolve, with the services fee being adjusted annually through written agreements.  Due to their control over the respective VIEs, our wholly owned subsidiaries have the right to determine the service fees to be charged to the respective VIEs by considering, among others, the technical complexity of the services, the actual costs that may be incurred for providing the services, the operations of each VIE, applicable tax rates, planned capital expenditures and business strategies.

 

Xunlong, one of our VIEs, has engaged STC to provide technical services for its internet information service and MVAS businesses and STC has the sole right to appoint any company or companies at its discretion to perform such technical services. Beijing New Media Information Technology Co., Ltd., or NMIT, our wholly owned subsidiary, has been appointed by STC to perform technical services for Xunlong. Xunlong is obligated to pay service fees based on the hourly rate of NMIT’s engineers.

 

Wangxing, one of our VIEs, has also entered into a technical services agreement with STC with terms and rights substantially identical to the technical services agreement entered into between Xunlong and STC for the internet information service and MVAS businesses described above.

 

The ICP Company, one of our VIEs, has engaged STC to provide technical services for its (i) online advertising and other related businesses, and (ii) value-added telecommunication and other related businesses. The ICP Company is obligated to pay service fees to STC based on the hourly rate of STC’s engineers.

 

IAD Company, one of our VIEs, has also entered into a technical services agreement with STC with terms substantially identical to the technical services agreement entered into between ICP Company and STC for the online advertising and other related businesses described above. Starting from October 2008 pursuant to changes in applicable PRC laws, SINA established two wholly owned subsidiaries to engage directly in advertising businesses, including online advertising and other related businesses. As a result, SINA has gradually reduced its reliance on IAD Company.

 

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StarVI, one of our VIEs, has also entered into a technical services agreement with STC, with terms substantially identical to the technical services agreement entered into between Xunlong and STC for the value-added telecommunication and other related businesses described above.

 

Weimeng, one of our VIEs, has engaged Weibo Technology to provide technical services for its online advertising and other related businesses.

 

Exclusive Sales Agency Agreements . Each of the VIEs has granted STC, or Weibo Technology in case of Weimeng, the exclusive right to distribute, sell and provide agency services for all the products and services provided by the VIEs. These exclusive sales agency agreements will not expire until the respective VIEs dissolve. We have entered into the Exclusive Sales Agency Agreements to allow us to generate revenues from the VIEs in the form of sales agency fees if we decide to enter into sales agency arrangements with the VIEs in the future (when permitted under PRC laws).

 

Trademark License Agreements . STC, or Weibo Technology in case of Weimeng, has granted each of the VIEs trademark licenses to use the trademarks held by STC, or Weibo Technology in case of Weimeng, in specific areas, and each of the licensed VIEs is obligated to pay license fees to STC, or Weibo Technology in case of Weimeng. The term of these agreements is one year and is automatically renewed provided there is no objection from STC, or Weibo Technology in case of Weimeng. We have entered into the Trademark License Agreements to provide other potential revenue-generating channels from the VIEs.

 

Although we have been advised by our PRC counsel, TransAsia Lawyers, that our arrangements with the VIEs are not in conflict with the current PRC laws and regulations, we cannot assure you that we will not be required to restructure our organization structure and operations in China to comply with changing and new PRC laws and regulations. Restructuring of our operations may result in disruption to our business. If PRC tax authorities were to determine that our transfer pricing structure was not done on an arm’s length basis and therefore constitutes a favorable transfer pricing, they could request that our VIEs adjust their taxable income upward for PRC tax purposes. Such a pricing adjustment may not reduce the tax expenses of our subsidiaries but could adversely affect us by increasing our VIEs’ tax expenses, which could subject our VIEs to late payment fees and other penalties for underpayment of taxes and/or could result in the loss of tax benefits available to our subsidiaries in China. Any of these measures may result in adverse tax consequences to us and adversely affect our results of operations.

 

D.                                     Property, Plant and Equipment

 

The majority of our operations are in China, where we have offices in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Our principal sales, marketing and development facilities are located on premises comprising approximately 43,075 square meters in Beijing, China. We also have sales, marketing and other operations at satellite offices across China. We lease office facilities under non-cancelable operating leases with various expiration dates through 2017. Our servers are primarily maintained at China Telecom and China Unicom branches in cities across China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Tianjin. We also have servers located at various internet data centers in Taipei, Taiwan, San Jose, California and Hong Kong.

 

We signed an agreement in July 2012 with Beijing Zhong Guan Cun Software Park Development Company Limited to purchase a parcel of land for the construction of office building, at a price of approximately $35.3 million. The first two installments of approximately $21.2 million were paid in 2012, and the remaining approximately $14.1 million was paid in January 2013.

 

In May 2013, we entered into an agreement for the construction of a new office building in Zhongguancun Software Park, Haidian District, Beijing. The gross floor area for the new office building as planned is approximately 1 32 , 0 00 square meters and the aggregate construction cost is expected to be ranging from $1 8 0 million to $ 20 0 million, to be paid in installments over the construction period. An amount of RMB318.0 million ($51.3 million) construction costs has been paid in 2013.

 

Item 4A.                         Unresolved Staff Comments

 

None.

 

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Item 5.                                  Operating and Financial Review and Prospects

 

This report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act, as amended including, without limitation, statements regarding our expectations, beliefs, intentions or future strategies that are signified by the words “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “believe,” the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. All forward-looking statements included in this document are based on information available to us on the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. We caution you that our business and repetitive financial performance are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, including the factors identified in “Item 3. Key Information — D. Risk Factors,” that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.

 

Overview

 

We are an online media company serving China and the global Chinese communities. Our digital media network of SINA.com (portal), SINA mobile (mobile portal and mobile apps), Weibo (social media) enable internet users to access professional media and UGC in multimedia formats from the web and mobile devices and share their interests with friends and acquaintances.

 

SINA.com . SINA.com offers distinct and targeted professional content on each of its region - specific websites and a range of complementary offerings. Over years, we have built a broad content network with thousands of professional media partners and accumulated a large mainstream user base, including well-educated, white-collar professionals.

 

SINA mobile . Our mobile portal, SINA.cn, provides information and entertainment content from SINA.com customized for mobile users. We have also developed a broad range of mobile apps such as SINA News, SINA Sports, SINA Finance and SINA Entertainment to complement our mobile offering.

 

Weibo . Based on an open platform architecture to host organically developed and third party applications, Weibo is a form of social media, featuring microblogging services and social networking services that allow users to connect and share information anywhere, anytime and with anyone on our platform. In December 2013, Weibo had had 129.1 million monthly active users and 61.4 million average daily active users, with over 70% monthly active users accessed Weibo from mobile devices at least once during the month.

 

Through these properties and other product lines, we offer an array of online media and social media services to our users to create a rich canvas for businesses and advertisers to effectively connect and engage with their targeted audiences. We offer both brand advertising services in display ad formats on SINA portal and Weibo, as well as performance-based online marketing solutions on Weibo, such as promoted feeds. We generate the majority of our revenues from online advertising and marketing services and, to a lesser degree, from fee-based services.

 

The primary focus of our operations is in China, where the majority of our revenues are derived. We have grown in recent years, except for 2009 when China was impacted by the global financial crisis. Our online advertising business in China has been robust due to a growing local economy, increase in internet users and the shift of advertising budgets from traditional media to online media. As the growth of the Chinese economy slowed in recent years, our online advertising business was impacted by the budget limitations of certain large brand advertisers. Nevertheless, the launch of Weibo advertising and marketing solutions to brand advertisers in 2012 and to small and medium enterprises as well as to Alibaba and e-commerce merchants in 2013 helped increased the demand for our online advertising in 2013. The success of our online advertising business is tied to the size and vitality of the China’s economy. Any prolonged economic slowdown in China may cause our customers to decrease or delay their online marketing spending and could negatively affect our ability to grow our online advertising business.

 

Factors directly affecting the growth of our online advertising business include: (1) our ability to increase awareness of our brand and continue to build user loyalty; (2) our ability to attract a larger audience to our network; and (3) our ability to attract new advertisers and increase the average spending of our existing advertisers. The performance of our online advertising and other businesses also depends on our ability to react to risks and challenges, including:

 

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·                   our ability to adapt our content, product offerings and monetization model to the increasing usage of smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices and sustain the monetization of PC traffic while the proportion of internet traffic shifts to mobile

 

·                   increasing competition in the core areas of our business, including mobile, video, portal verticals (including news, auto, finance and sports) and social media;

 

·                   our ability to achieve sustainable revenue growth and profitability for our social media Weibo and fully implement and capitalize upon the strategic alliance between our affiliates and entities affiliated with the Alibaba Group;

 

·                   our ability to continue to increase the strength of our brands and develop new brands successfully in the marketplace;

 

·                   our ability to keep up with the rapid technological changes of the internet industry and develop and introduce new products and services;

 

·                   our ability to meet internal or external expectations of future performance;

 

·                   the ability of the online advertising market in China to continue to grow and the rate of such growth;

 

·                   China’s complex legal system governing the internet and advertising related industries;

 

·                   Changes in practice, policy or law by the Chinese government in connection with our advertising and other businesses;

 

·                   the performance of our equity investments; and

 

·                   the risks associated with our control over our variable interest entities.

 

Our MVAS revenues have been declining in recent years due to continuous changes in mobile operator policies and fierce market competition. We expect this trend to continue in the near future, particularly as mobile users in China upgrade from feature phones to smartphones and the increased adoption of Wi-Fi connections and 3G/4G networks. Although we believe it is strategically important to stay in the MVAS business, we are shifting our resources away from MVAS to other fee-based services, such as Weibo VAS, to address the changing demands in China.

 

We have made significant investments in the development of Weibo and other initiatives, such as expanding our online video offerings, growing our user traffic and attracting new advertisers and partners to better position us for the future. Such initiatives have increased our spending in product and partnership development, advertising and promotion, content purchases and infrastructure procurement. We expect to continue to increase our investments in Weibo and other products in absolute dollar terms in the near future, which may continue to hamper our gross margin and profitability.

 

In October 2009, prior to CRIC’s listing on the NASDAQ, we spun off our online real estate advertising business into our majority-owned subsidiary COHT and merged it with CRIC to form an online and offline real estate information and consulting platform in China. As a result of the spin-off, we stopped consolidating the financial results of COHT on October 1, 2009, and began to account for our interest in CRIC, one quarter in arrears, using the equity method of accounting. On April 20, 2012, upon the completion of CRIC’s merger into E-House, our ordinary shares in CRIC were converted into E-House’s ordinary shares, and we began to record our share of E-House’s results one quarter in arrears also using the equity method of accounting.

 

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In April 2013, we entered into an agreement to form a strategic alliance between several of our affiliated entities, including PRC subsidiaries of Weibo, and several entities affiliated with Alibaba, including Taobao (China) Software Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Tmall.com Technology Co., Ltd., to jointly explore social commerce and develop innovative marketing solutions to enable merchants on Alibaba e-commerce platforms to better connect and build relationships with Weibo users. As part of the strategic alliance Alibaba has committed to purchase approximately RMB 2.3 billion ($380 million) in advertising and social commerce services from Weibo and us. Assuming the successful development of new products, business models and growth of effective traffic, we expect to generate such amount in revenues in aggregate for Weibo and us from 2013 to 2015, with non-Weibo portion not exceeding 15% of such revenues. Separately, Alibaba, through a wholly owned subsidiary, invested $585.8 million to purchase preferred and ordinary shares representing approximately 18% of Weibo on a fully diluted basis. We also granted an option to Ali WB to enable Ali WB to increase its ownership in Weibo up to 30% on a fully diluted basis at a mutually agreed valuation within a certain period of time in the future.

 

In April 2014, Weibo listed its American depositary shares on the NASDAQ Global Select Market in connection with its initial public offering. As a part of the offering, 6,000,000 Weibo ADSs were allotted to Ali WB. Concurrently with the initial public offering, Ali WB fully exercised its option to acquire an additional 2,923,478 Class A ordinary shares of Weibo in a private placement and 21,067,300 Class A ordinary shares from us. Subsequent to its initial public offering , Weibo repurchased 2,923,478 ordinary shares from our company with the proceeds from the issuance of ordinary shares to Ali WB in the private placement. Following these transactions, we remained the majority shareholder of Weibo, holding approximately 58% of Weibo’s total outstanding shares, and Ali WB remained the second largest shareholder holding approximately 32% of Weibo’s total outstanding shares.

 

Critical Accounting Policies, Judgments and Estimates

 

The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. On an on-going basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgment areas, including those related to recognition of non-controlling interests, fair value, net income (loss) per share, business combination, goodwill and other long-lived assets, long-term investments, revenue recognition, allowance for doubtful accounts, stock-based compensation, taxation and foreign currency. Our estimates are based on historical experience and various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. These estimates form the basis for our judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ materially from such estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

 

We believe the following critical accounting policies affect the more significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements:

 

Non-controlling interests

 

For our majority-owned subsidiaries and VIEs, non-controlling interests are recognized to reflect the portion of their equity that is not attributable, directly or indirectly, to SINA as the controlling shareholder. The majority of our non-controlling interests relate to the operations of Weibo. To reflect the economic interest in Weibo held by non-controlling shareholders, Weibo’s net income (loss) attributable to the non-controlling ordinary shareholders is recorded as non-controlling interests in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income (loss). Pursuant to the liquidation terms and redemption terms of the preferred shares, any net income or loss by Weibo will not be allocated to the non-controlling preferred shareholders. Non-controlling interests are classified as a separate line item in the equity section of our consolidated balance sheets and have been separately disclosed in our consolidated financial statements to distinguish the interests from ours.

 

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Fair value

 

Financial instruments

 

All financial assets and liabilities are recognized or disclosed at fair value in the consolidated financial statements on a recurring basis. Accounting guidance defines fair value as the price that would be received from selling an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. When determining the fair value measurements for assets and liabilities required or permitted to be recorded at fair value, we consider the principal or most advantageous market in which it would transact and it considers assumptions that market participants would use when pricing the asset or liability.

 

Certain financial assets, including investments under cost method and equity method, are marked to fair value upon an other-than-temporary basis and intangible assets, goodwill and fixed assets are marked to fair value when an impairment charge is recognized.

 

Accounting guidance establishes a fair value hierarchy that requires an entity to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value. A financial instrument’s categorization within the fair value hierarchy is based upon the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. Accounting guidance establishes three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value:

 

·                   Level 1 applies to assets or liabilities for which there are quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

 

·                   Level 2 applies to assets or liabilities for which there are inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets; quoted prices for identical asset or liabilities in markets with insufficient volume or infrequent transactions (less active markets); or model- derived valuations in which significant inputs are observable or can be derived principally from, or corroborated by, observable market data.

 

·                   Level 3 applies to asset or liabilities for which there are unobservable inputs to the valuation methodology that are significant to the measurement of the fair value of the assets or liabilities.

 

We measure certain financial assets, including our investments under cost method and equity method on an other-than-temporary basis and measures intangible assets, goodwill and fixed assets, at fair value on a nonrecurring basis only if an impairment charge were to be recognized.

 

The carrying amount of cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments, accounts receivable, prepaid expenses and other current assets, accounts payable and accrued liabilities approximates fair value.

 

Investor option liability

 

The fair values of the preferred shares and ordinary shares granted to Alibaba were derived from the income approach by applying the discounted cash flow method based on management’s best estimate of projected cash flow as of the Transaction Date. Determination of the estimated fair values requires complex and subjective judgments due to Weibo’s limited financial and operating history, unique business risks and limited public information on companies in China similar to the business of Weibo. We utilized the Binominal option pricing model to determine the fair value of the option liability, which was measured using significant unobservable input (level 3) and required an assessment of the probability weight for each exercise scenario. These assumptions are subjective and have inherent uncertainties. Changes in these estimates and assumptions could materially impact our financial position and results of operations.

 

Net income (loss) per share

 

Basic net income (loss) per share is computed using the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the period. Restricted share units are not considered outstanding in computation of basic earnings per share. Diluted net income (loss) per share is computed using the weighted average number of ordinary share and potential ordinary shares outstanding during the period. Potential ordinary shares include options to purchase ordinary shares, restricted share units, and conversion of convertible debt, unless they were anti-dilutive. The computation of diluted net income per share does not assume conversion, exercise, or contingent issuance of securities that would have an anti-dilutive effect (i.e. an increase in earnings per share amounts or a decrease in loss per share amounts) on net income per share. Additionally, we take into account the effect on consolidated net income (loss) per share of dilutive shares of entities in which we hold equity interests, including long-term investments accounted for using the equity method and the consolidated subsidiaries, such as Weibo.

 

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Business combination

 

Business combinations are accounted for under the purchase method. The cost of an acquisition is measured as the aggregate of fair values at the date of exchange of assets given, liabilities incurred and equity instruments issued as well as the contingent considerations and all contractual contingencies as of the acquisition date. The costs directly attributable to an acquisition are expensed as incurred. Identifiable assets, liabilities and contingent liabilities acquired or assumed are measured separately at their fair value as of the acquisition date, irrespective of the extent of any non-controlling interests. The excess of (i) the total of cost of acquisition, fair value of non-controlling interests and acquisition date fair value of any previously held equity interest in an acquiree over (ii) the fair value of identifiable net assets of an acquiree is recorded as goodwill. If the cost of acquisition is less than the fair value of the net assets of a subsidiary acquired, the difference is recognized directly in the consolidated statements of comprehensive income (loss). In a business combination achieved in stages, we remeasure our previously held equity interest in the acquiree immediately before obtaining control at its acquisition-date fair value and the re-measurement gain or loss, if any, is recognized in earnings.

 

Goodwill and other long-lived assets

 

Goodwill. Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the identifiable assets and liabilities acquired as a result of our acquisitions of interests in our subsidiaries and consolidated VIEs. We test goodwill for impairment at the reporting unit level on an annual basis as of December 31, and between annual tests when an event occurs or circumstances change that could indicate that the asset might be impaired. US GAAP provides the option to apply the qualitative assessment first and then the quantitative assessment, if necessary, or to apply the quantitative assessment directly. The qualitative approach starts the goodwill impairment test by assessing qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. If so, the quantitative impairment test is performed; otherwise, no further testing is required. The quantitative impairment test consists of a comparison of the fair value of goodwill with its carrying value. For reporting units directly applying a quantitative assessment, the goodwill impairment test is quantitatively performed by comparing the fair values of those reporting units to their carrying amounts. Commencing in January 2012, we adopted the option to apply the qualitative approach to assess its goodwill on the relevant reporting units. Application of a goodwill impairment test requires significant management judgment, including the identification of reporting units, assigning assets and liabilities to reporting units, assigning goodwill to reporting units, and determining the fair value of each reporting unit. The judgment in estimating the fair value of reporting units includes estimating future cash flows, determining appropriate discount rates and making other assumptions. Changes in these estimates and assumptions could materially affect the determination of fair value for each reporting unit.

 

Long-lived assets other than goodwill. Intangible assets arising from acquisitions are recognized at fair value upon acquisition and amortized on a straight-line basis over their useful lives, generally from two to ten years.

 

Long-lived assets and certain identifiable intangible assets to be held and used are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of such assets may not be recoverable. Determination of recoverability is based on an estimate of undiscounted future cash flows resulting from the use of the asset and its eventual disposition. Measurement of any impairment loss for long-lived assets and certain identifiable intangible assets that management expects to hold or use is based on the amount by which the carrying value exceeds the fair value of the asset. Changes in these estimates and assumptions could materially impact our financial position and results of operations.

 

Property and equipment are stated at historical cost less accumulated depreciation and amortization. Depreciation is computed using the straight- line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets, generally from three to five years. Judgment is required to determine the estimated useful lives of assets, especially for computer equipment, including determining how long existing equipment can function and when new technologies will be introduced at cost-effective price points to replace existing equipment. Changes in these estimates and assumptions could materially impact our financial position and results of operations.

 

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Long-term investments

 

Long-term investments are comprised of investments in publicly traded companies, privately held companies and limited partnerships . For equity investments over which we do not have significant influence, the cost method of accounting is used. For long-term investments in shares that are not common stock or in-substance common stock and that do not have readily determinable fair value, the cost method accounting is used. Investments in limited partnerships over whose operating and financing policies that we have virtually no influence are accounted for using the cost method. We account for common-stock-equivalent equity investments and limited partnership investments in entities over which we have significant influence but do not own a majority equity interest or otherwise control using the equity method. We account for our investment in E-House/CRIC using the equity method of accounting. Following the acquisition date, we record our share of the results of CRIC one quarter in arrears within earnings from long-term investments. CRIC completed the privatization transaction, merged into and became a 100% subsidiary of E-House on April 20, 2012. Ordinary shares of CRIC held by us were converted to ordinary shares of E-House upon the completion of the transaction. Following the share conversion, we have recorded our share of results of E-House one quarter in arrears with earnings from long-term investments.

 

We assess our investments accounted for under the cost method and equity method for other-than-temporary impairment by considering factors including, but not limited to, stock prices of public companies in which we have an equity investment, current economic and market conditions, operating performance of the companies, including current earnings trends and undiscounted cash flows, and other company-specific information, such as recent financing rounds. The fair value determination, particularly for investments in privately held companies whose revenue models are still unclear, requires significant judgment to determine appropriate estimates and assumptions. Changes in these estimates and assumptions could affect the calculation of the fair value of the investments and the determination of whether an identified impairment is other-than-temporary. If an impairment is considered other-than-temporary, we will write down the asset to its fair value and take the corresponding charge to the consolidated statements of comprehensive income (loss).

 

Our investments in marketable securities are held as available for sale and are reported at fair value. The treatment of a decline in the fair value of an individual security is based on whether the decline is other-than-temporary. Significant judgment is required to assess whether the impairment is other-than-temporary. Our judgment of whether an impairment is other-than-temporary is based on an assessment of factors including, but not limited to, our ability and intent to hold the individual security, severity of the impairment, expected duration of the impairment and forecasted recovery of fair value. Changes in the estimates and assumptions could affect our judgment of whether an identified impairment should be recorded as an unrealized loss in the equity section of our consolidated balance sheets or as a realized loss in the consolidated statements of comprehensive income (loss).

 

Revenue recognition

 

Advertising

 

Our advertising revenues are derived principally from online advertising and marketing, including display advertising and promoted marketing, and, to a lesser extent, sponsorship arrangements. Display advertising arrangements allow advertisers to place advertisements on particular areas of our websites or platform, in particular formats and over particular periods of time. We enter into cost per day (“CPD”) advertising arrangements with customers, under which we recognize revenues ratably over the contract periods.  Our advertising revenues are also from display advertising arrangements, which are recognized ratably over the contract period of display, when the collectability is reasonably assured. We enter into cost per mille (“CPM”), or cost per thousand impressions, advertising arrangements with the customers, under which we recognize revenues based on the number of times that the advertisement has been displayed.

 

Promoted marketing arrangements are primarily priced based on CPM or cost per engagement (“CPE”). An engagement may include when a user clicks on a link, becomes a follower of the marketing customer account, shares the promoted feed or marks the feed as a favorite. Under the CPM model, our customers are obligated to pay when the advertisement is displayed, while under the CPE model, our customers are obligated to pay based on the number of engagements with the marketing feed.

 

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Sponsorship arrangements allow advertisers to sponsor a particular area on our websites in exchange for a fixed payment over the contract period. While the majority of our revenue transactions contain standard business terms and conditions, there are certain transactions that contain non-standard business terms and conditions.

 

In addition, we have certain sales transactions that involve multiple element arrangements (arrangements with more than one deliverable), which required the arrangement consideration be allocated to all deliverables at the inception of the arrangement on the following basis (a) vendor-specific objective evidence (“VSOE”) of selling price, if it exists, otherwise, (b) third-party evidence (“TPE”) of the selling price. If neither (a) nor (b) exists, then use (c) management’s best estimate of the selling price of the deliverable. We primarily uses VSOE to allocate the arrangement consideration if such selling price is available. For the deliverables that have not been sold separately, the best estimat ion of the selling price has taken into consideration of the pricing of advertising areas of our websites or platform with similar popularities and advertisements with similar formats and quoted prices from competitors and other market conditions. Revenues recognized with reference to best estimation of selling price were immaterial for all periods presented. We recognize revenue on the elements delivered and defers the recognition of revenue for the undelivered elements until the remaining obligations have been satisfied. Changes in judgments on these assumptions and estimates could materially impact the timing or amount of revenue recognition.

 

Fee-based revenues

 

We mainly rely on third-party operators for billing, collection and transmission of our MVAS to our users. We also rely on other service providers to provide content and to distribute MVAS or other services for us. Revenues are recorded on a gross basis when most of the gross indicators are met, such as we are considered the primary obligor in the arrangement, design and develop (in some cases with the assistance of third-parties) the MVAS, have reasonable latitude to establish price, have discretion in selecting the operators to offer our MVAS, provide customer services related to the MVAS and take on the credit risks associated with the transmission fees. Conversely, revenues are recorded on a net basis when most of the gross indicators are not met. The determination of whether we are the primary obligor for a particular type of service is subjective in nature and is based on an evaluation of the terms of the arrangement. If the terms of the arrangement with operators were to change and cause the gross indicators not being met, we would have to record our MVAS revenues on a net basis. Due to the time lag between when the services are rendered and when the operator billing statements are received, MVAS revenues are estimated based on our internal records of billings and transmissions for the month, adjusting for prior periods’ confirmation rates with operators and prior periods’ discrepancies between internally estimated revenues and actual revenues confirmed by operators. The confirmation rate applied to the estimation of revenue is determined at the lower of the latest confirmation rate available and the average of six months of historical rates if such historical average is available. If we have not yet received confirmation rates for six months, revenues would be deferred until billing statements are received from the operators. If subsequent billing statements from the operators differ significantly from management’s estimates, our revenues could be materially impacted. During all the periods presented, the adjustments based on the subsequent billing statements are not material.  Changes in judgments on assumptions and estimates stated above for MVAS revenues could materially impact the timing and/or amount of revenue recognition.

 

Other fee-based services allow our users to subscribe to services on our websites or platform including, game-related services , VIP membership, e-reading and paid personal/corporate email services and data licensing. Revenues from these services are recognized over the periods in which the services are performed, provided that no significant obligations remain, collection of the receivables is reasonably assured and the amounts can be accurately estimated.

 

The game-related revenues are generated from the purchase of virtual items by game players through our platforms. We collect payments from the game players in connection with the sale of virtual currency, which will later be converted by game player into in-game credits (game tokens) that can be used to purchase virtual items in online games.  We remit certain predetermined percentages of the proceeds to the game developers when the virtual currency is converted into in-game credits.

 

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We have determined that the game developers are the primary obligors for the game-related services given that the game developers are responsible for developing, maintaining and updating the online games and have reasonable latitude to establish the prices of virtual items for which in-game credits are used. We view the game developers to be our customers, and our primary responsibility is to promote the games of the third-party developers, provide virtual currency exchange services, maintain the platform for game players to easily access the games and offer customer support to resolve registration, log-in, currency exchange and other related issue. Accordingly, we record game-related revenues net of predetermined revenue-sharing with the game developers.

 

Virtual currencies in general are not refundable once they have been sold unless there are unused in-game credits at the time a game is discontinued. Sales of virtual items net of the game developer proceeds are recognized as revenues over the estimated consumption period of in-game virtual items, which is typically from a few days to one month after the purchase of in-game credits. Virtual currency sold for game-related services in excess of recognized revenue is recorded as deferred revenues.

 

Game-related revenues recognition involves management judgments, such as the determination of who is the principal in providing game-related services and estimating the consumption period of in-game credits. We assess the estimated consumption period periodically, taking into consideration of the actual consumption information, types of virtual items offered in the game and user behavior patterns, including average recharge interval and estimated user relationship on the game. Using different assumptions to calculate the revenue recognition of games-related revenues may cause the results to be significantly different. Any adjustments arising from changes in the estimate would be applied prospectively on the basis that such changes are caused by new information indicating a change in the user behavior pattern.

 

Allowance for doubtful accounts

 

We maintain an allowance for doubtful accounts which reflect our best estimate of amounts that potentially will not be collected. We determine the allowance for doubtful accounts based on factors such as historical experience, credit-worthiness and age of receivable balances. If the financial condition of the customers were to deteriorate and result in an impairment of their ability to make payments, or if the operators decide not to pay us, additional allowances may be required which could materially impact our financial position and results of operations. Allowances for doubtful accounts charged to income were $ 10.4 million, $3.9 million and $2.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively.

 

Stock-based compensation

 

Stock-based compensation cost is measured at the grant date based on the estimated fair value of the award and is recognized as an expense on a straight-line basis, net of estimated forfeitures, over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period. We use the Black-Scholes option pricing model to determine the estimated fair value of share options. The determination of the estimated fair value of stock-based compensation awards on the grant date using an option-pricing model is affected by our stock price as well as assumptions regarding a number of complex and subjective variables, including our expected share price volatility over the term of the awards, actual and projected employee share option exercise behaviors, risk-free interest rate and expected dividends. Shares of our subsidiaries, which do not have quoted market prices, were valued based on the income approach, if a revenue model had been established, the market approach, if information from comparable companies had been available or a weighted blend of these approaches if more than one is applicable.

 

Determination of estimated fair value of our subsidiaries requires complex and subjective judgments due to their limited financial and operating history, unique business risks and limited public information on companies in China similar to ours. We, with the assistance of our independent valuation firm, evaluated the use of two generally accepted valuation approaches. We used the income approach if a revenue model had been established, the market approach if information from comparable companies had been available, or a weighted blend of these two approaches if more than one is applicable, to estimate our subsidiaries’ enterprise value for purposes of recording stock-based compensation in connection with employee stock options and recording fair value changes for our option liability to Alibaba. Before April 2013, the market approach was primarily used to determine the fair value of our subsidiary’s ordinary shares. We selected guideline companies that engaged in a similar line of business with similar growth prospects and that were subject to similar financial and business risks. For periods beyond April 2013, the income approach was applied since the revenue model for our subsidiary had been established and projections of revenues, costs and expenses, incremental working capital and capital expenditures became available as our business developed. If different assumptions were used for estimating stock-based compensation expense or if a different valuation method were used, the change in our stock-based compensation expense could adversely affect our gross profit, operating income, net income attributable to SINA and net income per share attributable to SINA.

 

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We recognize the estimated compensation cost of service-based restricted share units based on the fair value of its ordinary shares on the date of the grant. We recognize the compensation cost, net of estimated forfeitures, over a vesting term of generally four years.

 

We recognize the estimated compensation cost of performance-based restricted share units based on the fair value of the ordinary shares on the date of the grant. The rewards are earned upon attainment of identified performance goals. We recognize the compensation cost, net of forfeitures, over the performance period. We also adjust the compensation cost based on the probability of performance goal achievement at the end of each reporting period.

 

Furthermore, we are required to estimate forfeitures at the time of grant and record stock-based compensation expense only for those awards that are expected to vest. If actual forfeitures differ materially from our estimated forfeitures, we may need to revise those estimates used in subsequent periods.

 

Taxation

 

Income tax

 

We use the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes. Under this method, income tax expense is recognized for the amount of taxes payable or refundable for the current year. In addition, deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the expected future tax consequences of temporary differences between the financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities and for operating losses and tax credit carryforwards. Management is required to make assumptions, judgments and estimates to determine our current provision for income taxes and our deferred tax assets and liabilities and any valuation allowance to be recorded against a deferred tax asset. Our judgments, assumptions and estimates relative to the current provision for income tax take into account current tax laws, our interpretation of current tax laws and possible outcomes of current and future audits conducted by foreign and domestic tax authorities. Changes in tax law or our interpretation of tax laws and the resolution of current and future tax audits could significantly impact the income taxes recorded in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income (loss). Our assumptions, judgments and estimates related to the value of a deferred tax asset take into account predictions of the amount and category of future taxable income, such as income from operations. Actual operating results and the underlying amount and category of income in future years could render our current assumptions, judgments and estimates of recoverable net deferred taxes inaccurate. Any of the assumptions, judgments and estimates mentioned above could cause our actual income tax obligations to differ from our estimates and, thus, materially impact our financial position and results of operations.

 

Uncertain tax positions

 

In order to assess uncertain tax positions, we apply a more likely than not threshold and a two-step approach for the tax position measurement and financial statement recognition. Under the two-step approach, the first step is to evaluate the tax position for recognition by determining if the weight of available evidence indicates that it is more likely than not that the position will be sustained, including resolution of related appeals or litigation processes, if any. The second step is to measure the tax benefit as the largest amount that is more than 50% likely of being realized upon settlement.

 

Foreign currency

 

Our reporting currency and functional currency are the U.S. dollar and our subsidiaries and VIEs in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan use their respective local currencies as their functional currencies. An entity’s functional currency is the currency of the primary economic environment in which the entity operates. Management must use judgment in determining an entity’s functional currency, assessing economic factors including cash flow, sales price, sales market, expense, financing and inter-company transactions and arrangements. Impact from exchange rate changes related to transactions denominated in currencies other than the functional currency is recorded as a gain and loss in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income (loss), while impact from exchange rate changes related to translating a foreign entity’s financial statements from its functional currency to our reporting currency, the U.S. dollar, is disclosed and accumulated in a separate component under the equity section of our consolidated balance sheets. Translation gains or losses are not released to net income unless the associated net investment has been sold, liquidated or substantially liquidated. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated into the functional currency using the applicable exchange rates at the balance sheet dates. Management uses judgment in determining the timing of recognition of translation gains or losses. Such determination requires assessing whether translation gains or losses were derived from the sale or complete or substantially complete liquidation of an investment in a foreign entity. Different judgments or assumptions resulting in a change of functional currency or timing of recognition of foreign exchange gains or losses may materially impact our financial position and results of operations.

 

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Recent accounting pronouncements

 

In February 2013, the FASB issued revised guidance on “Comprehensive Income: Reporting of Amounts Reclassified Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income.” The revised guidance does not change the current requirements for reporting net income or other comprehensive income in financial statements. However, the revised guidance requires an entity to provide information about the amounts reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive income by component. In addition, an entity is required to present, either on the face of the statement where net income is presented or in the notes, significant amounts reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive income by the respective line items of net income but only if the amount reclassified is required under U.S. GAAP to be reclassified to net income in its entirety in the same reporting period. For other amounts that are not required under U.S. GAAP to be reclassified in their entirety to net income, an entity is required to cross-reference to other disclosures required under U.S. GAAP that provide additional detail about those amounts. The revised guidance was effective prospectively for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2012 for public entities. The revised guidance did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

 

In July 2013, the FASB issued ASU 2013-11, “Presentation of an Unrecognized Tax Benefit When a Net Operating Loss Carryforward, a Similar Tax Loss, or a Tax Credit Carryforward Exists,” an update to provide guidance on the financial statement presentation of an unrecognized tax benefit when a net operating loss carryforward exists. The guidance requires an entity to present an unrecognized tax benefit in the financial statements as a reduction to a deferred tax asset for a net operating loss carryforward, except for when a net operating loss carryforward is not available as of the reporting date to settle taxes that would result from the disallowance of the tax position or when the entity does not intend to use the deferred tax asset for purposes of reducing the net operating loss carryforward. The guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2013 and for interim periods within that fiscal year. We do not expect the adoption of this guidance will have a significant effect on its consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

 

A.                                     Operating Results

 

Net revenues

 

		Years Ended December 31,
														% of Change
		2013				2012				2011				YOY 2013		YOY 2012
		(In thousands, except percentages)
		$		%		$		%		$		%		%		%
Portal Advertising		378,068		57		363,198		69		368,805		76		4		(2	)
Weibo		188,313		28		65,929		12		—		—		186		—
Others		98,725		15		100,202		19		114,024		24		(1	)	(12	)
		665,106		100		529,329		100		482,829		100		26		10

 

Total net revenues increased 26% and 10% year-over-year in 2013 and 2012, respectively. The year-over-year increase in total net revenues in 2013 was mainly due to the growth of portal advertising and Weibo revenues, partially offset by the decrease in other revenues, particularly MVAS revenue. The year-over-year increase in total net revenues in 2012 was driven by the growth in Weibo revenues, as Weibo began monetization in 2012.  The year-over-year increase in total net revenues in 2012 was partially offset by a decrease in other revenues, particularly MVAS revenue. Our top ten customers in the aggregate accounted for approximately 26%, 17% and 15% of our advertising revenues in China in 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively. Total large brand advertisers in China was approximately 795 in 2013, compared to approximately 877 and 860 in 2012 and 2011, respectively.

 

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As a percentage of total net revenues, portal advertising revenues were 57%, 69% and 76% in 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively, Weibo revenues were 28% and 12% in 2013 and 2012, while other revenues, including MVAS revenues, were 15%, 19% and 24%, respectively.

 

Portal Advertising

 

Our portal a dvertising revenues, which include advertising revenues from SINA.com as well as from SINA mobile properties, increased 4% year-over-year in 2013 and decreased 2% year-over-year in 2012. Substantially all of our portal advertising revenues are generated from China. Automobile, fast-moving consumer goods, Internet services, financial services, IT and telecommunication were our top advertising sectors in 2013 and 2012, accounting for approximately 78% and 82%, respectively, of our portal advertising revenues in China.

 

One of the growth drivers of our portal advertising business is the migration of advertising dollars from offline traditional media to online media. Unlike search and other performance-based advertising models, brand advertising on SINA.com and SINA mobile properties is priced primarily based on time, similar to those of traditional media companies. Based on our experience, online brand advertising clients in China tend to place more emphasis of their buying decision on factors such as the brand strength, market influence and user quality of the offering website. We maintain a variety of traffic metrics for our Internet properties, and the key metrics we focus on differ across product lines based on the nature and features of the products. For these reasons and others, such as a significant portion of our online traffic is currently not being monetized, we do not gauge the growth of our portal advertising revenues based on any particular traffic metric.

 

Weibo

 

		Years Ended December 31,
														% of Change
		2013				2012				2011				YOY 2013		YOY 2012
		(In thousands, except percentages)
		$		%		$		%		$		%		%		%
Advertising and Marketing		148,426		22		51,049		9		—		—		191		—
Other Revenues		39,887		6		14,880		3		—		—		168		—
		188,313		28		65,929		12		—		—		186		—

 

We began to generate revenues from Weibo in the first half of 2012. Our revenues from Weibo increased by 186% year-over-year in 2013, due to the growth of existing revenue sources, including social display advertising for brand advertisers as well as fee-based services, such as game-related services and VIP membership, which are recorded in other revenues. During 2013, we introduced new revenue streams, including promoted feeds to small and medium enterprises, advertising to Alibaba and e-commerce merchants and data licensing.

 

Advertising and Marketing. Advertising and marketing revenues from Weibo grew 191% in 2013 from $51.0 million in 2012 to $148.4 million. The increase was mainly due to higher social display advertising revenue, including $49.1 million in revenue related to the strategic alliance with Alibaba. Excluding revenues from Alibaba, advertising and marketing revenues grew due to an increase in large brand advertisers as well as the launch of promoted feeds to small and medium enterprise customers.  Marketing revenues from small and medium enterprise customers in 2013 was approximately $17.7 million.

 

Other Revenues—Weibo. Other revenues from Weibo increased by 168% from $14.9 million in 2012 to $39.9 million in 2013. The increase was mainly due to a relatively low base in 2012, as Weibo began monetization. Our revenue s from game-related services increased from $12.7 million in 2012 to $22.9 million in 2013 primarily due to an increase in average monthly revenue per paying account from $23.0 to $43.3 in 2013 .  Our revenue s from VIP membership increase from $2.2 million in 2012 to $11.1 million in 2013 primarily due to an increase in VIP members.  The increase in other revenues from Weibo in 2013 was also due to monetization from Weibo’s data licensing.

 

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Other Revenues

 

		Years Ended December 31,
														% of Change
		2013				2012				2011				YOY 2013		YOY 2012
		(In thousands, except percentages)
		$		%		$		%		$		%		%		%
MVAS		60,287		9		69,008		13		83,457		18		(13	)	(17	)
Others		38,438		6		31,194		6		30,567		6		23		2
		98,725		15		100,202		19		114,024		24		(1	)	(12	)

 

MVAS. MVAS revenues declined 13% and 17% year over year in 2013 and 2012, respectively, mainly due to the decrease in MVAS revenues . Our MVAS revenues, consisting of 2G and 2.5G products, have been declining in recent years due to changes in operator policies, which have significantly reduced our ability to acquire new MVAS subscribers and have increased the churn rate of our existing monthly MVAS subscribers. As the market in China has shifted toward 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi enabled smartphones, we are deemphasizing the low-margin MVAS product lines and investing most of our mobile efforts in product lines more suitable for the new environment, such as Weibo value-added services. Key policy changes made by operators recently included the followings:

 

·                   In September 2012, China Unicom implemented a series of measures that limited the promotion of certain MVAS.  A MVAS provider may be penalized if the number of complaints against the provider related to non-compliance of China Unicom’s standard MVAS subscription procedure exceeds a given threshold.  Our MVAS revenues have been significantly affected by such measures.

 

·                   In January 2011, China Mobile implemented a series of measures, including limiting the service offerings and partnerships allowed for each SMS service code, preventing the television and radio promotion of certain interactive IVR products and requiring additional notices and customer confirmations in the MVAS ordering process. Our SMS, IVR and MMS revenues have been significantly affected by such measures.

 

Mobile operators, such as China Mobile and China Unicom, and governmental bodies, such as the MIIT and the SARFT, may announce additional measures or regulations in the future, which may adversely impact our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. We are in the process of developing and promoting new products that we believe are not subject to recent policy and regulatory changes made by operators and governmental bodies. However, there is no guarantee that we will be able to develop any such new products, that any such products will achieve market acceptance or that such products will not be affected by future changes in rules and regulations.  For the reasons stated above, we expect a continual decline in revenues from MVAS.

 

Other Revenues—SINA. Other revenues from SINA include mainly amortized deferred revenues and fee-based services, such as online game and paid email services. In conjunction with the sale of our online real estate business to CRIC in October 2009, we signed certain license agreements with CRIC.  The fair value of these license agreements were measured at $187.4 million, which was recognized as deferred revenue and amortized on a straight-line basis over the contract period of ten years. Amortized deferred revenues were $18.7 million for each of the years between 2011 and 2013.  CRIC merged with E-House in April 2012 and the agreement rights have subsequently been reassigned to E-House’s subsidiary, Leju, which was spun off in April 2014.  The license agreements with Leju were extended to 2024.  Consequently, the unamortized balance of $103.1 million as of March 31, 2014 will be amortized on a straight-line basis until 2024.

 

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