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Facebook To Acquire Chinese Social Network?

The hot rumor this week is that Facebook is planning on acquiring its way into the expanding Chinese social networking market by buying Zhanzuo.com. The Web startup, which runs on massive funding provided by Silicon Valley investors and most recently, Microsoft, is reported to have tabled an $85 million offer for the Chinese social network, according to British paper The Guardian.

Zhanzuo.com has an estimated user base of seven million active members, most of which are students. The acquisition would give Facebook a foothold in China, the second-largest Internet market outside the U.S. Rival MySpace already has a presence there. Facebook, meanwhile, has about 100,000 Chinese users of its English-language site. From a public perspective, any move into China by Facebook would come under intense scrutiny due to censorship laws in the country.

However, any deal has been refuted. "No offer has been made and no acquisition in China is being considered by Facebook," its director of Communications told TechCrunch (link: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/18/facebook-offers-85-million-to-acqire-chinese-social-networking-site-zhanzuocom/). "And I don't know who the spokeperson is that they are referring to in the story. The Times never contacted me or my team to confirm the accuracy of this story."

Read the whole story at London Times »

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