DST becomes investor in China's 360buy.com - FT
MOSCOW. March 30 (Interfax) - Digital Sky Technologies Global (DST), which is owned by the main Russian shareholders in Mail.ru, has joined a group of investors already putting hundreds of millions of dollars in the Chinese internet retailer 360buy.com, the Financial Times reported.
Several other companies, including America's Walmart, are participating in this round of investment in 360buy.com. The Chinese company is expected to hold a listing on the stock exchange in the coming years.
The website 360buy has been called the Chinese Amazon. Launched in 2004, the site started off by selling consumer electronics but has now already started covering all types of goods. The company launched a discount service using Groupon as a model.
The company's sales revenue for 2008 came to over $180 million. 360buy.com's main competitor on the Chinese market is the website Taobao, which is owned by Alibaba.
DST Global owns around 10% of the shares in Facebook, as well as stakes in online game producer Zynga and discount service Groupon.