TOM Online, China's leading wireless Internet company, and Skype will establish a joint venture to further cement their strategic partnership in China's rapidly growing online communication market. The deal will combine Skype's software and services with TOM Online's over 70 million wireless Internet users.
Skype and Tom Online launched their relationship in November 2004 with a customized simplified Chinese version of Skype, which was co-developed by the companies. The co-branded software has attracted about 3.4 million registered users to date, making China one of Skype's top three markets. The latest version incorporates a TOM Online tab, which makes TOM Online's leading wireless products and the contents of its popular media portal directly accessible from within the Skype experience.
The joint venture holding structure will be 51% and 49% by TOM Online and Skype, respectively.
http://www.skype.com/http://www.tom.com/
- China is the world's largest mobile phone market by users with more than 360 million subscribers at the end of June, 2005. Its number of Internet users is expected to grow to approximately 154 million by 2007, according to figures from IDC.
