eBay, the world's largest e-commerce company, has purchased US$150 million worth of additional shares in China's leading auction website, eachnet.com, making it the company's largest shareholder, according to the Chinese firm.
eachnet.com, a Shanghai-based firm, is the chief operator of business-to-commerce services in China.
eBay began buying shares of eachnet.com in March 2002, when it paid US$30 million for 33 percent of the shares of the US branch of eachnet, and bought the remaining shares through this latest purchase, said eachnet.
The Chinese company did not specify what percentage of its shares is held by eBay.
Users of eBay and eachnet, operating on unconnected platforms for the time being, are currently unable to conduct inter-platform transactions, eachnet said.
(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2003)