Sina Mulls Changes to Focus Media Merger

SHANGHAI (TheStreet) -- Chinese Internet portal Sina(SINA Quote) is considering making changes to the structure of its $1.4 billion deal to acquire Focus Media(FMCN Quote), Sina's CEO said on a conference call.

Sina is talking to Focus about potentially restructuring their deal or extending a Sept. 30 deadline, Sina CEO Charles Chao said, according to a report by Reuters.

Chao said Sina still likes the idea of a merger that would create a media giant in China and Sina is "making every effort to make this deal happen," he said on Tuesday.

"One other option is try to alter the deal structure, to achieve some of the synergies that we talked about and we envisioned when we did the deal but is less than a complete merger" Chao said, Reuters reports.

Chao's comments followed the company's second-quarter earnings report, which saw profits fall 41%. Sina also predicted third-quarter revenue would come in below analysts' expectations.

Chao said the two companies didn't expect to get approval for the merger by the Sept. 30 deadline, but he didn't provide details on how the deal might be altered, Reuters notes.

In December, Sina agreed to acquire most of Focus Media, which has advertising space in office buildings, malls and airports.

-- Reported by Joseph Woelfel in New York .

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