Despite some rumors going around about Facebook’s plan to buy Chinese social networking site Zanzhuo.com, Facebook spokesperson said there is no offer made and no acquisition is being considered for any company in China.
According to a British newspaper, Facebook has offered Zanzhuo.com $85 million to get hold of its 7 million active users in China. Facebook currently has only 100,000 active users in this country.
“We do not know who the spokeperson is that they are referring to in The Times story and were never contacted by the paper to confirm the accuracy of this story,” wrote Facebook representative in an e-mail.
Although the Chinese market is very risky for any foreign companies given its censorship, the lucrative opportunity is very enticing.
Still, Zanzhuo is a practical deal for the company considering the head start of other social networking sites in this market like the Chinese MySpace.cn and Friendster’s single-site, automatic translation in Chinese language.
Originally posted on November 20, 2007 @ 7:37 pm