Giant Interactive to take 25% 51.com stake for US$51m

Giant Interactive (GA.NYSE), a Chinese online game developer and operator, is aiming to acquire a 25% stake in 51.com, a social networking website, for US$51 million, chairman Shi Yuzhu told China Business News. It has hired China Renaissance to act as a financial consultant on the deal. Ma Yun, CEO of Alibaba.com, previously said his company wanted to take a stake in 51.com. “Ma thought 51.com will benefit Alibaba.com in three to five years but we need it right now,” Shi said. “I persuaded him to give it to me.” Established in 2005, 51.com is the second largest online community in China after Tencent. As of June 15, 2008, the website had 120 million registered users and 10 billion clicks on average per month. It has so far attracted US$16 million in venture capital from Sequoia Capital, CIG China, Intel Capital and Redpoint Ventures. Correction: This brief initially referred to Giant Interactive as juren.com. We regret the error.