9You, Temasek Make $100 Million Deal With IPO Not Far Off

Filed in archive Internet on March 23, 2008

The Chinese Internet gaming and social network portal 9You has gotten a huge infusion of cash from Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, Temasek Holdings, Pearl Research reported on Friday.

Chris Morrison at Venture Beat describes 9You this way:

9You is something of a portal, offering games in every category (casual, hardcore and mobile) as well as some social networking tools and an assortment of unrelated services. It reports having over 120 million registered users, a bit under half of the country's entire internet population.

The size of Temasek's investment has lead to speculation about a 9You IPO not being far off. If so, it will not be 9You's first try at an IPO...







9You looked set to launch an IPO in Osaka last year. A lawsuit over licensing fees for the online dance game Audition forced 9You to cancel its Osaka IPO in August. Korean game designer T3 Entertainment filed the suit. But 9You and T3 appear to have made up in September, according to a Gamasutra report.

The speculate is that 9You will again try to float an IPO, probably within a year or less...