Sina Corp., one of China's top portal Websites, is looking beyond the Internet as it continues to expand.

Late last month, Sina announced that it had acquired all the assets of Focus Media's outdoor digital advertising network, with the deal expected to close in the first half of 2009.

"It may be the largest merger and acquisition in China's Internet history, which indicates a new development trend for Sina," Cao Guowei, CEO and President of Sina Corp., told People's Daily Online on December 26. "The purpose is to establish a pattern involving an Internet, mobile phone and media network."

The announcement came as the company celebrated 10 years in business. Sina Corp. (NASDAQ GS: SINA) was born on December 28, 1998 with the merging of two large Chinese Websites--Stone Rich Slight Information Technology Ltd. founded by Wang Zhidong, Sina.com's former CEO, and Sinanet.com, a U.S. Website.

The merger was rated by China Internet Weekly magazine as the top IT story in 1998, which has been called the First Year of China's Internet.

During this year, Zhang Chaoyang established Sohu.com, China's largest life and fashion portal Website; NetEase met with early success thanks to its free e-mail system; and Yinghaiwei, an early Internet service provider, began an overall retreat from the Internet sector.

As one of China's oldest Internet companies, Sina Corp. provides Internet services to the Chinese population around the world.

The first problem Sina encountered was how to blend two companies from different cultures into a transnational company.

To forge Sina into the largest Chinese portal company, then CEO Wang Zhidong invited Mao Daolin, Vice President of Walden International, and Sha Zhengzhi, Vice President of Netscape Communications, to manage it.

A batch of managers from Silicon Valley in the United States began to take over the leadership of the portal company. In April 1999, Sina began a company-wide overhaul and reorganized its businesses across the Taiwan Straits and in North America.

Sina.com made its name on May 8, 1999 when it took the lead in covering NATO's bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, receiving five times more hits than usual. A survey by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) in July 1999 showed that Sina ranked first among all Chinese portal Websites in terms of traffic.

The year 2000 was unusually busy for Sina, which introduced a sports line for football fans, launched browser-based online games and became the first Web-based company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

Sina also adopted some new approaches to attract more advertisements on the Web, and began offering short message services in 2001.

In 2002, the Chinese Football Association established with Sina an exclusive long-term partnership, which offered the latter opportunities to cover the 14th Asian Games held in Pusan, South Korea.

Sina turned its first profit in 2003. Its cooperation with Motorola, a major mobile phone producer in the United States, doubled Sina's income from the wireless business.

In 2005, Sina became the first portal Website to launch a blog line, which has since attracted numerous users.

Sina set up an exclusive partnership in China with the Union of European Football Associations Champions League in September 2006, securing the right to provide wireless services and broadcast league matches from that season on.

In 2008, Sina and two other leading Web-based companies--NetEase and Tencent--signed agreements with CCTV.com to broadcast the 29th Olympic Games.

The company's experience broadcasting large international sporting events made Sina well prepared to screen the 2008 Olympic Games held in Beijing.

During the Games, Sina's mobile phone lines were available for mobile phone users to watch events 24 hours a day.

A survey by CTR Market Research Co. Ltd. of CCTV during the Olympic Games showed that from August 9-18, Sina led all portal companies in terms of users watching online. The number of computer users watching events through Sina.com surpassed 1 million, or 39.68 percent of the total, peaking at 1.85 million.

"The Beijing Olympic Games not only brought Sina high Internet traffic, but also a large amount of income from advertisements that hit $64.9 million, a year-on-year rise of 58 percent," Cao was quoted as saying by the Economic Observer newspaper.

Sina developed so fast over the past 10 years that its trade volume in the third quarter in 2008 hit a record $105.4 million, a 15 percent rise over the previous quarter.