Google buys stake in Chinese filesharing

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 5 Jan 2007 at 11:18

Google has acquired a stake in China's Xunlei Network Technology, which provides file-sharing and other services, a Google spokesperson said yesterday.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed by Google, although the China Daily earlier reported that Xunlei planned to announce the details soon. Google is reportedly partnering Ceyuan Ventures, a Shanghai-based venture capital firm for the investment, the newspaper said.

More than 80 million users have installed Shenzhen-based Xunlei's software and its Web sites attract more than 50 million visitors a day, the China Daily said.

Baidu.com controlled nearly 57 percent of China's search-engine market at the end of June, according to Analysis International, a Beijing-based IT research company.

Sources have said both Baidu and Google, which has only 16 percent of the China market, are exploring options to expand their online video services in the world's fourth-largest economy.

The moves come after Google closed its $1.65 billion acquisition of top online video-sharing site YouTube. Baidu also launched its own Chinese-language video Web channel on a trial-basis a few months ago.