SHANGHAI, Sep. 28, 2009 (PRNewswire-Asia) -- Focus Media Holding Limited (Nasdaq: FMCN), China's leading multi-platform digital media company, today announced that the Company and SINA Corporation (Nasdaq GS: SINA) have jointly reached a decision to not extend the deadline of the agreement announced on December 22, 2008, by which the Company agreed to sell substantially all of the assets of Focus Media's digital out-of-home advertising networks. The agreement was set to expire if approval from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce was not received by September 30, 2009.
Jason Jiang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company said: "The recently launched special zone for Focus Media's advertisers on the portal of SINA has preliminarily proved the synergy our business might have with SINA. Although we will not move forward with the merger, we will continue further and more intensive strategic cooperation with SINA in the long run, to give full play to the advantages and strengthen the competitiveness both Focus Media and Sina enjoy in our respective media spaces."
About Focus Media Holding Limited
Focus Media Holding Limited (Nasdaq: FMCN) is China's leading multi-platform digital media company, operating the largest out-of-home advertising network in China using audiovisual digital displays, based on the number of locations and number of flat-panel television displays in our network, and is also a leading provider of mobile handset advertising and Internet marketing solutions in China. Through Focus Media's multi-platform digital advertising network, the company reaches urban consumers at strategic locations and point-of-interests over a number of media formats, including audiovisual television displays in buildings and stores, advertising poster frames and other new and innovative media, such as outdoor light-emitting diode or LED digital billboard, mobile handset advertising networks and Internet advertising platforms. As of June 30, 2009, Focus Media's digital out-of-home advertising network had approximately 128,000 LCD display and digital frames in its commercial location network and approximately 285,000 advertising in-elevator poster and digital frames, installed in over 90 cities throughout China, and approximately 130 outdoor LED billboard displays in Shanghai and Beijing.
