ChinaVision may buy stake in MSN China

HONG KONG, CHINA: Hong Kong-listed ChinaVision Media Group may buy the 50 per cent stake in Microsoft's MSN China joint venture held by another local partner, the China Daily reported on Wednesday.

This week, ChinaVision said it aims to buy 50 per cent of "a company that is principally engaged in Internet-related businesses" for about $100 million, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

It did not disclose the name of the acquisition target, but mainland media reported the company was seeking to buy the stake in MSN China, which operates Microsoft's Bing search engine in China as well as other online assets, the China Daily said.

Also read: China is less interesting than India: Ballmer

Microsoft China declined to comment on the report, and a ChinaVision representative was also not available, according to the China Daily report.

ChinaVision could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters.

Shares of ChinaVision shot up after the news first began circulating late last week, with the shares rising as much as 17 percent from their close on Thursday.

Microsoft's current partner in the venture is Shanghai Alliance Investment, a city government investment arm run by the son of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

Media had reported in April that NetEase was in talks to buy the stake, but those talks later broke down.

Microsoft formed the venture in 2005 to introduce MSN, an instant messaging platform and Internet portal, to China. But the company has struggled to gain traction with Chinese users and compete effectively with homegrown titan Tencent Holdings' QQ platform.

Microsoft also has high hopes for its Bing search service, which launched a Chinese version last year and aims to compete with market leaders Baidu and Google.