Hong Kong cable broadband company i-Cable Communications is reportedly in acquisition talks with NetEase, one of three leading portals in the mainland.
NetEase, which hired Goldman Sachs in February to help it find a buyer, has since been linked with possible suitors, including United States giant America Online.
According to press reports, i-Cable will buy NetEase for US$85 million. Chan So-kuen, i-Cable's senior external affairs manager, refused to comment.
However, i-Cable vice-president Benjamin Tong said last week the company was on the look-out to buy Web-site content to boost its portal offering, adding that i-Cable was in talks with various content providers.
In October, i-Cable made a bid for mainland portal Myrice.com, started by Chinadotcom chairman Peter Yip's son, Antony Yip. Myrice.com was finally bought by Lycos Asia, a 50-50 joint venture between Terra Lycos and Singapore Telecommunications, in March for nearly US$13 million.
The long-expected consolidation in China's portal industry appears imminent. Last week, Sina.com reportedly held talks with Hong Kong-based Chinadotcom about a possible merger.
Like Yahoo! and competing portals in China, NetEase is trying to monetise on its 5.9 million users and not to be singularly dependent on advertising for revenue.