由软银和盛大共同投资的博客中国准备美国上市

Pacific Epoch: There are reports that BlogChina is heading for a Nasdaq IPO? Are the reports true?

Fang Xindong: Yes, definitely. I think blogging will be the hottest thing on the Internet in the next one to two years.

PE: Why choose Nasdaq over the Hong Kong Stock Exchange?

Fang: Choosing where to list depends on investors and other factors. Although it costs less to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange than in the US, investors are willing to go where market conditions are best.

PE: Softbank is a strategic investor in BlogChina. Did you choose Softbank because they would be helpful with an IPO?

Fang: Yes. Softbank invested in BlogChina because they have high expectations for blogging. Softbank will support BlogChina in various ways in addition to providing operating capital. We will have a significant amount of additional investment coming in soon. Legend Capital vice president Tan Yongquan recently came on as CEO of BlogChina, which will assist us in raising more capital.

PE: Do you think BlogChina have difficulty getting an IPO out because the company lacks a clear revenue generating model?

Fang: [An unclear revenue generating plan] is very normal for a new business. Our revenue model may not be clear at present, but BlogChina is still in its initial stages of development. We only have several million users now but I think when our user number reaches ten million, we will be able to show investors a clear profit generating model.

PE: What will be the major profit generators for BlogChina?

Fang: Advertising will be one way, and not the same kind of advertising that you find on the portals. Advertisements on BlogChina will target a very specific audience. Another is WVAS, because mobile blogging will definitely become a mainstream service. A third is to provide value added services and applications for bloggers. A blog portal like BlogChina is like an online family for bloggers. Users will pay for certain services.

PE: Have you considered cooperating with the traditional publishing industry?

Fang: Yes, we believe publishing print versions of blogs will be a very important businesses for BlogChina in the future because BlogChina has so many writers. CITIC Publishing House's planning department director Fang Xi has joined BlogChina. BlogChina will probably release its first book in May. The book will have some IT industry related content and selections of famous writers' contributions to BlogChina.

PE: The majority of BlogChina writers are industry insiders and experts. Do you think BlogChina might be a good platform to develop a social networking business?

Fang: Definitely. I believe that social networking will become one of blogging's most important applications. However, I think that pure social networking still lacks content. I think social networking will be more useful when combined with blogging.

PE: Does BlogChina plan to offer podcasting services? If so, how will podcasting contribute to BlogChina's revenues?

Fang: Yes, we will launch podacsting services very soon, probably within one month. Podcasting can be a form of audio blogging, and BlogChina will launch video blog services in the future. I think blogging will develop into a multimedia and entertainment service. Blog websites will not only be a place for writing articles because there is not a huge number of people that are really willing to write articles on a regular basis.

PE: You indicated Blogchina plans to acquire more small companies after the acquisition of Blogdriver earlier this year. Could you discuss some specific targets?

Fang: We are negotiating with three to five companies now and we may acquire one of them in April. These companies will add to BlogChina's user numbers and improve our business model. For example, we will consider acquiring some blog websites and community websites that have large numbers of users and some websites that have blogging related technologies.

PE: Does BlogChina have any plans to acquire Internet radio sites?

Fang: We will consider it, but we have not found an Internet radio website that is a market leader in terms of user numbers or technology. If we do feel a company is in this position, we will consider acquisition.

PE: China's three largest portals, Sina, Sohu and Netease have all launched their own blog services. How is BlogChina dealing with the increased competition?

Fang: This is a normal situation. I believe all major portals and many other websites will launch blog services and relevant blog applications. When this happens, it means blogging has become mainstream. BlogChina will be a professional blog services company and will be an industry leader in terms of service. We are not a portal, media or technology company, we are a service company. We have recently established a BlogChina Service Center. Our level of service will differentiate us from other blog sites.

PE: Will BlogChina develop an e-commerce business in the future?

Fang: If BlogChina enters the e-commerce industry, we will do so through cooperate with professional e-commerce websites. When bloggers set up their personal space on BlogChina, they have various needs and requests for services that BlogChina is not able to provide on its own. Therefore, BlogChina will cooperate with other companies in different businesses, for example instant messaging, for example. Because our technology platform is still under construction, applications are still being developed. We will cooperate with many large websites, and are now preparing for cooperation with Jiangmin Tech and Shanda.

PE: BlogChina users are not the casual web surfer; does this affect the kind of advertisements that appear on BlogChina?

Fang: I don't think this difference in audience will last for much longer. Presently, advertisements on BlogChina's front page are mostly high end luxury items; however, the majority of bloggers are not interested in these kinds of items, they are more casual. We will adjustment the types of advertisements on our site according to the types of users we attract.

PE: Do you emphasize to advertisers that your audience is different from that of other websites?

Fang: Yes, we do. BlogChina's influence is very different from other websites. It is not difficult to convince companies of the value of advertising on our site.

PE: Will BlogChina become cash flow positive when user numbers grow to that level?

Fang: Even if BlogChina can make money in the first one to two years, we will choose to development instead of money. To use money in exchange for time. A leading position in initial stage is very critical for future development.

PE: Does BlogChina have a target date for becoming cash flow positive?

Fang: I think that will happen in one to two years. With 100 million Internet users in China, it will be no problem reaching our target. BlogChina will only consider running an IPO after cash flow is positive.

PE: There are thousands of new postings on BlogChina everyday. How does BlogChina ensure that no politically sensitive content is posted on the website? Is it done manually or through keyword filtering?

Fang: Both. We use technology and manual examination procedures. China is more sensitive about political content compared with foreign countries such as the US, while the US is more strict on the use of copyrights. To use a company logo in an article may be against the law in the US but is common in China. As a blog website with three million registered users, we must have content management. However, Blogging mainly deals with personal content. Bloggers will not typically put inappropriate content on their own page. Blogs normally only contain one tenth of the inappropriate content found on online forums. In China, I think it is much easier to manage a blog site than a forum.