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Chinese Web IPOs on hold
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May 11, 2000: 5:37 p.m. ET
Two Chinese Web IPOs postponed; AmericanGreeings.com withdraws
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Two Chinese Web portal companies postponed their initial public offerings Thursday due to unfriendly market conditions and after facing difficulties with Chinese regulations.
Sohu.com, which planned to raise about $86 million under the symbol SOHU, decided the Nasdaq roller coaster ride was too uncertain to make its debut.
"It's not the best time to list," Charles Zhan, Sohu's chairman and CEO, told reporters on the sidelines of a Credit Lyonnais Securities forum. Zhan also said that the company does not have approval from the country's Ministry of Information Industries (MII). MII approval in necessary for Internet companies that wish to list overseas.
 "Basically it's two sides - the Chinese side and the market side," Zhan said. "We're in the process, we're working closely with the MII."
Another Web portal, Netease.com, also ran into MII difficulty. The company blamed both regulatory problems and a turbulent Nasdaq for the delay.
Netease.com hoped to raise at most $120 million with 7.5 million shares under the symbol NTES.
In 1999, Netease.com lost more than $6.2 million with revenues of $1.88 million, according to IPO.com, while Sohu.com lost more than $3.4 million with revenues of more than $1.6 million.
However, Chinese Web company Sina.com (SINA: Research, Estimates) debuted on April 13, rose 22 percent on its first day from its price of $17 and has steadily grown from there.
No happy greeting for AmericanGreetings.com
Greeting card company American Greetings (AM: Research, Estimates) withdrew its filing for an AmericanGreetings.com IPO, citing market conditions and adding its name to the e-tailing IPO graveyard.
AmericanGreetings.com filed in August 1999 to raise $60 million and trade under the symbol AMGC.
"I'm not surprised [they withdrew]," said John Fitzgibbon, IPO analyst with WorldFinanceNet.com. "They really didn't have much of a chance."
Fitzgibbon said the heyday of e-tailing stock is certainly over as far as IPOs are concerned.
"The whole complexion of the IPO market has changed and that's because of the Nasdaq composite," he said. 
--from staff and wire reports
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