SINA.com

SINA.com is a global internet portal that connects Chinese communities around the world. It is, in fact, the largest internet portal in China. But seismic changes in the online industry in 2001 forced the company to rethink parts of its business model. This was explained to shareholders in the company's annual report.

"... in the past year, the ground shifted under the Internet. Suddenly it was not sufficient for Web portals to simply tally up ever larger numbers of visitors. Advertisers became more selective and demanding of results. Similarly investors, not surprisingly, began to expect and demand profitability.

It also became clear that the web portals could no longer count on advertisers alone to pay for the cost of all web content and services. .... This new Internet thinking called for a new path to profitability, one that would be shorter and more solidly based. To find, and then follow this path, a company had to be nimble, creative and financially strong.

SINA.com has been just that and more."