2010-08-05 10:34

Sina Corp, the operator of China's third-most visited website, said second-quarter profit rose 89 percent after the company sold more online advertising in the world's biggest Internet market.

Net income increased to $25.2 million, or 38 cents a share, from $13.3 million, or 23 cents, a year earlier, Sina said in a statement Thursday. That beat the $18.5 million average of six analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Sina raised prices for advertisers by more than 10 percent, capitalizing on demand from companies marketing their products and services in the world's third-biggest economy. The Shanghai- based Internet operator's website trails only Baidu Inc and Tencent Holdings Ltd in popularity among Chinese Internet users.

Revenue rose 10 percent to $99.4 million in the second quarter, helped by a 27 percent increase in online advertising sales, Sina said.

Sina fell 0.4 percent to $42.82 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading Wednesday. The stock has declined 5.2 percent this year, outperforming the Hong Kong-traded shares of Tencent, China's biggest Internet company by market value.

Average prices at Sina rose by a "mid-teen" percentage in the second quarter, Chief Executive Officer Charles Chao said in May. Marketing related to the soccer World Cup and the Shanghai Expo also boosted sales, Chao said then.

More than 14 percent of China's Internet users visit Sina's website, according to China Websites Ranking, a site run by the Internet Society of China, which compiles web traffic information. That compares with more than 57 percent for Baidu, China's biggest online search-engine, according to China Websites Ranking.