[July 06, 2009] DENA TO MAKE MAJOR CHINESE SOCIAL SITE OPERATOR A SUBSIDIARY Tweet TOKYO, Jul 06, 2009 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) -- Japanese internet portal site operator DeNA Co. (TSE:2432) said Friday that it will take a 50 per cent-plus stake in British firm Waptx Ltd., turning the operator of a Chinese social networking site for cell phones into a subsidiary . DeNA will buy some 8.73 million shares in the British company this month via a private placement of shares. Through two fully owned units in Shanghai, Waptx has partnered with a local social networking service firm and together they run China's largest mobile social networking Web site, which boasts some 9 million users. DeNA intends to use its portal site content and expertise to expand its social networking business. Although DeNA currently provides mobile social networking services in China, it is struggling with just a few hundred thousand subscribers. In order to focus resources, DeNA could merge its own offering with Waptx's service. (Nikkei) lm [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]