Facebook is working on a £41m deal to buy the Chinese social networking site Zhanzuo.com and may close the deal by the end of November, reports Times Online.
Buying their way into the Chinese market is far easier than building up a localised version in an already competitive area, though Facebook China has 100,000 users already. This sums it up neatly: "It would give Facebook a ready-made entry point to the largest internet market outside the United States."
The site recently bought the domain facebook.cn, which might face less battles with Chinese censors than the .com domain, but doing business in China presents a large number of commercial and ethical issues for companies desperate to break that very lucrative market. Yahoo's capitulation to the Chinese government should be example enough.
Source: Times Online
• Update: Facebook has denied any deal in China. Brandee Barker, director of communications said: "No offer has been made to acquire any company in China and Facebook does not have operations in China."
Technorati Tags: China, Facebook, Yahoo, Zhanzuo
