Microsoft bought 1.6 percent stake of Facebook for $240 millions, which valued Facebook at $15 billion. It has just been confirmed that Xiaonei.com, the Chinese clone of Facebook owned by Oak Pacific Interactive (OPI) sold its approximately 35% share to Softbank for $430 millions, which values OPI at over $1 billion.
So the Chinese social networks market is fueled. However, if we take a look at another side of this story, it is more interesting. Softbank has held roughly 30% stake of Chinese super star Alibaba.com, the deal with OPI is a further step into the fast growing Chinese Internet market; and Mixi, the No.1 Japanese SNS is planning to launch a subsidiary in Shanghai by the end of May. Japanese Internet is expanding, as Japantimes reported:
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