MOSCOW, November 8 (RIA Novosti) — Twitter is opening an office in Hong Kong to expand their scale of operation and improve commercial performance by providing advertisement services to Chinese businesses.
Twitter is opening an office in Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2015 with hopes to expand their advertising business in China and Taiwan the company’s vice president of Asia Pacific, Shailesh Rao, the Americas and emerging markets said as quoted by the Wall Street Journal. The social media giant has not yet said how many people it will employ, however, most will be sales positions. China blocked Twitter in 2009, and has shown no willingness to change their stance. However, according to Rao, the microblogging service provider intends to “help (Chinese) advertisers reach the global market” via the Hong Kong office.
"Our long-standing goal has always been to have the platform reach every person on the planet," Rao said as quoted by the WSJ. "That's inclusive of Chinese users as well, one of the largest internet populations in the world. Unfortunately, we're restricted from operating in China. If that changes for the better, of course, we'll be pleased with that."
Twitter must expand their market share, as the company posted a net loss of $175.46 mln in the 3rd quarter, compared to a $64.6 mln net loss in the same period of 2013, according to YCharts statistics.
One of the tools of Twitter’s expansion into China will be their advertisement affiliate MoPub, which places ads inside mobile apps. Beijing-based IT company Lenovo is already advertising on Twitter to reach international audiences. Rao suggests that other Chinese companies like Huawei, Xiaomi or Alibaba could expand their presence globally via advertising on Twitter.
"Helping these companies go global [and] reach audiences through Twitter around the world is going to be our primary focus," he said.
Mainland China has their own equivalent microblogging platform, Weibo, with user base of 400 mln users. Twitter's user base is only 284 mln, roughly 75% of whom are international users. Peter Greenberger, director of sales for Twitter’s Singapore branch, will head the Hong Kong office. He previously was head of Washington political campaign team.
