Digital Sky Looking for Piece of the China Pie 俄罗斯DST或与Facebook联手进军中国市场

Facebook isn’t the only global Internet giant looking for a piece of the China social networking pie. My sources tell me that Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies (DST), which itself owns 10 percent of Facebook, is also sniffing the China bushes for potential investments in a bid to capture a piece of what’s likely to become the world’s largest SNS market in the next decade. Facebook has made no secret of its strong desire to enter China over the last five years. After getting locked out of the market a few years ago by Chinese Web blockers, the company approached Kaixin, one of China’s top two SNS sites, a couple of years ago about buying into the company but was ultimately rebuffed. More recently, it has reportedly started talking with search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) about a tie-up even as Beijing has laid down difficult conditions aimed at keeping the US giant out of the market. (previous post) It’s interesting to see that DST is making its own approaches now, which could put it in the strange position of competing with Facebook in the world’s largest Internet market. In a more likely scenario, I would see Facebook and DST teaming up to co-invest with or in a Chinese company rather than each invest individually. The recent sell-off in shares of Renren (NYSE: RENN), China’s leading SNS site, could make that company an interesting potential target. But given the big premiums that established players like Renren and Kaixin are asking right now, I’d say a tie-up with a big Internet name without a big SNS presence, such as Baidu or Tencent (HKEx: 700), could be more likely.

Bottom line: DST is likely to enter the China market in tandem with Facebook, probably by co-investing in a big local Internet player without a major SNS presence.

Facebook不是唯一希望进军中国社交网市场的国际互联网巨头。中国未来10年有望成为全球最大的社交网（SNS）市场，我的消息人士告诉我，拥有Facebook 10%股权的俄罗斯互联网投资公司Digital Sky Technologies（DST）也嗅到了这一投资机遇，试图从中分得一杯羹。过去五年，Facebook毫不掩饰其希望进军中国市场的强烈愿望。自几年前在中国被屏蔽後，Facebook两年前开始与中国两大社交网之一的开心网进行接触，提出并购该公司，但最终遭到拒绝。近期不断有报导称，尽管中国政府创造了些困难条件，Facebook仍开始与中国本土搜索巨头百度谈判，讨论合作事宜。有意思的是，DST如今也采取了行动，致使该公司处於与Facebook竞争中国市场的奇怪位置上。我个人认为更有可能出现的情景是，Facebook和DST将联手投资一家中国企业，或与一家中国企业合作，而不是分别投资。人人网日前在美国股市遭抛售，或成为两公司的潜在投资目标。但鉴於人人网和开心网目前寻求的是高额溢价追捧，我敢说，DST与没有大规模社交网业务的互联网巨头合作的可能性更大，例如百度或腾讯<0700.HK>。

一句话：DST或与Facebook共同投资一家没有大规模社交网业务的中国本土互联网巨头，从而联手进军中国市场。

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