Rumor: Tencent Bids for Acquisition of ICQ
Beijing Business Today, 2/10/10
A source claims that Shenzhen-based internet value-added services company Tencent (0700.HK) and three other companies are in a second round of talks to purchase instant-messaging client ICQ from AOL.
The source revealed that the companies competing to acquire ICQ include Tencent, a Russian investment fund, Facebook investor Digital Sky Technologies (DST), South African electronic media company Naspers, Czech portal Seznam, and possibly Russian search portal Yandex.
ICQ receives 40 to 50 mln unique visitors every month, and is the #1 information services company in a number of countries, including Germany, Russia, the Ukraine, and Israel.
Keywords: instant messaging ICQ Internet traffic Internet AOL Tencent 0700.HK M&A