20081009-Citi-MediAsia Daily

Thursday, 9 October 2008
 NetEase.com (NTES.O): Buy: 3Q08 Preview and Latest Games Update –
NetEase's stock has fallen along with the overall market turmoil and is off more
than 28% since its peak in August 08. Previously, we were a bit cautious on
the upcoming results as historically, 3Q is a challenging quarter for NTES, due
to back-to-school starts in September. This year, online games also had slight
disruption from the Olympics. However, based on our checks, we believe
NTES' games did not see material impact during Olympics weeks and its
seasonally strong online adv revs in 3Q + contribution from TX2 could help to
offset existing games seasonality. Beyond 3Q, we expect very solid gaming
revenues in 4Q08 to contribute from its various expansion packs. Currently
trading at 12.3x and 11.5x our 08E and 09E EPADS estimates, we believe
NTES' improving fundamentals should provide limited downside risks.
 China's Alibaba Group to invest 5bn yuan in Taobao – The parent of China's top
e-commerce firm Alibaba.com (1688) said it would invest 5bn yuan
(HK$5.70bn) in its online auction unit Taobao over five years to build its
business. Reuters
 Baidu Names E-Commerce Platform, UiTV Names COO - Baidu has chosen "Got
It" ("You A" in Pinyin) and youa.com as the brand and domain names for its ecommerce
platform, reports qq.com quoting Baidu E-commerce Department
general manager Li Minyuan. Pacific Epoch
 The 10th Site of World of Warcraft to be Launched on 9 October 2008 - The9
Limited, announced yesterday that the 10th site of World of Warcraft(R): The
Burning Crusade(TM), will be launched on 9 October 2008 to provide more
servers and high-quality services for game plays in China. Press Release
 Monster Buys Rest of ChinaHR Job-Search Company – Monster Worldwide Inc.
completed its acquisition of ChinaHR, paying $174m for the remaining 55%
stake. Monster hopes that the acquisition will give it a stronger foothold in the
job-recruitment business in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. WSJ