Chinese netizens increase by 6 million per month to 750 million in 2015

According to foreign media reports, data from the China Internet Information Center shows that China has the largest number of Internet users in the world, and currently the number of users has exceeded 500 million. The current number of middle class in China is rapidly increasing. According to this, analysts believe that China's Internet market still has room for further growth. In fact, a recent survey by McKinsey & Co., a market consultancy, predicts that the number of new Internet users in China is around 6 million per month. The survey agency further predicted that by 2015, the number of Internet users in China will increase to 750 million.

Overall, the rapid growth of the number of Chinese netizens has promoted the profit growth of some Chinese websites, such as Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU), Sina (Nasdaq: SINA), Baidu (Nasda). GS Securities: BIDU) and Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME).

Sohu’s diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter was $1.07, which exceeded analysts’ expectations of $0.99; revenue increased by 25% to $173.2 million. The company also expects diluted earnings per share for the first quarter of this year to reach $1.03 to $1.08, and revenue will reach $164.5 million to $169.5 million. Sohu’s revenue growth was mainly due to online games and brand advertising.

Overall, China’s online gaming business is booming. According to data released by the third-party research organization Ereli, the annual compound annual growth rate of online game revenue in China in 2010 is about 50%, reaching 5 billion US dollars.

Last week, Sina, another Chinese Internet portal, also released its fourth-quarter financial report. The financial report shows that Sina’s net loss in the fourth quarter was 100 million U.S. dollars, or a diluted loss of 1.51 U.S. dollars per share; mobile-related revenue fell by 26% to 21 million U.S. dollars; online advertising revenue increased by 30% to 82.5 million U.S. dollars. The increase was mainly due to the increase in the number of Weibo users of the company.

Shanda Games is a company that plays a major role in large-scale multiplayer role-playing networks. The company also recently released its fourth-quarter financial report. The financial report shows that the company’s fourth-quarter diluted earnings per share was US$0.20. For the US$174 million, the company’s share price rose significantly last week as a result of the positive impact of this better financial report.

In addition, benefiting from the good development momentum of China's Internet industry is China's search market. This business can also obtain huge revenue from online advertising business. According to the report of iResearch, in the fourth quarter of last year, China’s Internet search market revenue grew by 67% to 486.8 million U.S. dollars. The biggest benefit was Baidu. From the perspective of revenue, the company controlled the Chinese Internet search market. % of revenue