A very interesting story on the parallels (rather the lack of them) between Chinese net media firms and U.S. “This year alone, Sohu shares are up about 490%, Sina shares have risen 286% and NetEase American depository shares have improved 224%.”

In the U.S. many people don’t pay for their email service, which is either bundled in with their Internet service or available for free at websites like Hotmail. But when people in China use their cellphones to send messages, they pay China Mobile and China Unicom, and the web portals are able to overlay another fee on top of that basic cost. These fees are driving much of the increase in earnings power at the Chinese Internet firms.

Also see, “The Mushrooming Chinese Internet Market”