Microsoft China has announced it will purchase 15 million shares of China's Sichuan Changhong Electric, one of the mainland's largest television makers.

The deal, thought to be worth 94.05 million yuan with shares going for 6.27 yuan apiece, will force Microsoft to hold on to the share for at least 36 months from the end of Changhong's non-public offering of 400 million shares, revealed Changhong.

Changhong is currently seeking to raise 2.5 billion yuan through the sales of 400 million shares to develop its plasma display panel (PDP) production line.

Market speculation saw Changhong shares rise by close to 10 percent last week, hitting a high of 9.93 yuan on Thursday.

Friday saw a memorandum of understanding inked between Microsoft and Changhong laying out cooperation for hybrid products which will link televisions to computers and the Internet, according to the statement.

In 2004, Changhong and Microsoft began collaboration with an agreement of cooperation in multimedia, a move said to be of great benefit to Changhong in increasing and developing its market share in China's multimedia market.

(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2007)