Sina Puts Cash Pile to Work in Mecox

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Mecox LogoAn interesting deal coming out of Sina (Nasdaq: SINA), which is using a modest $66 million from its large cash pile to buy 19 percent of fashion e-commerce site Mecox Lane (Nasdaq: MCOX) from venture capital firm Sequoia Capital. (English press release) After thwarting a hostile takeover attempt by Shanda Interactive (Nasdaq: SNDA) several years back and stumbling in its own bid for Focus Media (Nasdaq: FMCN), Sina finally seems to have found success in a hodgepodge formula of building up and partly spinning off side businesses, like it did with its real estate arm, China Real Estate Information Corp (Nasdaq: CRIC), and now buying strategic stakes in other assets. In the course of doing this, Sina, arguably China’s best known Web portal, is quietly building itself into a truly diversified Internet media giant: something many of the country’s other net firms have tried to do but as of yet have been largely unsuccessful. Nice moves, Sina.

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