e20vf
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 20-F
ANNUAL
REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 or 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT
OF
1934 FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED ON DECEMBER 31, 2010
COMMISSION
FILE NUMBER: 001-34862
SouFun Holdings Limited
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
Cayman Islands
(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)
8th Floor, Tower 3, Xihuan Plaza
No. 1 Xizhimenwai Avenue
Xicheng District, Beijing 100044
Peoples Republic of China
(Address of principal executive offices)
Contact Person: Executive Chairman
Telephone: +86-10-5930 6668, Fax: +86-10-5930 6137
(Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile Number of Company Contact Person)
Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
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Title of each class |
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Name of each exchange on which registered |
American Depositary Shares, each
representing one Class A
ordinary share, par value
HK$1.00 each
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The New York Stock Exchange |
Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act: None
Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuers classes of capital or common
stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report:
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Class A ordinary shares, par value HK$1.00 each |
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50,767,426 |
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Class B ordinary shares, par value HK$1.00 each |
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25,298,329 |
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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of
the Securities Act
Yes o No þ
If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not
required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Yes o No þ
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by
Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for
such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports) and (2) has been subject
to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.
Yes þ No o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer,
or non-accelerated filer. See definition of accelerated filer and large accelerated filer in Rule
12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):
Large accelerated filer o Accelerated filer o Non-accelerated filer þ
Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial
statements included in this filing:
U.S. GAAP þ International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International
Accounting Standards Board o Other o
If Other has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which
financial statement item the Registrant has elected to follow:
Item 17 o Item 18 o
If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as
defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).
Yes o No þ
INTRODUCTION
Except where the context otherwise requires and for purposes of this annual report only,
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we, us, Company, our or SouFun refers to SouFun Holdings Limited, SouFun.com
Limited, the name of our Company prior to July 14, 1999, and its PRC subsidiaries as follows: |
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SouFun Media Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., or SouFun Media; |
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Beijing SouFun Network Technology Co., Ltd., or SouFun Network; |
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Beijing SouFun Information Consultancy Co., Ltd., or Beijing Information; |
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Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi Zheng Information Technology Co., Ltd., or Beijing Zhong Zhi
Shi Zheng; |
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Shanghai SouFun Information Co., Ltd., or SouFun Shanghai; |
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SouFun Information (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., or SouFun Shenzhen; |
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SouFun Information (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., or SouFun Tianjin; and |
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SouFun Information (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., or SouFun Guangzhou; |
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and its offshore subsidiaries as follows: |
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China Index Academy Limited, incorporated in Hong Kong, or China Index Academy; |
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Bravo Work Investments Limited, incorporated in Hong Kong, or Bravo Work; |
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Max Impact Investments Limited, incorporated in Hong Kong, or Max Impact; |
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Selovo Investments Limited, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, or Selovo
Investments; |
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Pendiary Investments Limited, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, or
Pendiary Investments; |
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China Home Holdings Limited, incorporated in Cayman Islands; |
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China Home Holdings (BVI) Limited, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands; |
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China Home Holdings (HK) Limited, incorporated in Hong Kong; and |
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China Real Estate Agent University, incorporated in Hong Kong. |
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and, in the context of describing our operations and consolidated financial statements, our
11 consolidated controlled entities in China (also referred to as PRC Domestic Entities in
our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this annual
report) as follows: |
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Beijing SouFun Internet Information Service Co., Ltd., or Beijing Internet; |
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Beijing Jia Tian Xia Advertising Co., Ltd., or Beijing Advertising; |
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Beijing SouFun Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd., or Beijing Technology; |
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Beijing China Index Information Co., Ltd., or Beijing China Index; |
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Shanghai Jia Biao Tang Advertising Co., Ltd., or Shanghai JBT Advertising; |
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Shanghai SouFun Advertising Co., Ltd., or Shanghai Advertising; |
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Beijing Century Jia Tian Xia Technology Development Co., Ltd., or Beijing JTX
Technology; |
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Tianjin Jia Tian Xia Advertising Co., Ltd., or Tianjin JTX Advertising; |
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Shanghai China Index Consultancy Co., Ltd., or Shanghai China Index; |
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Beijing Li Tian Rong Ze Technology Development Co., Ltd., or Beijing Li Tian Rong
Ze; and |
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Tianjin Xin Rui Jia Tian Xia Advertising Co., Ltd., or Tianjin Xin Rui. |
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China or PRC or Chinese refers to the Peoples Republic of China, which, for
geographical and statistical purposes, excludes the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the
Macau Special Administrative Region and Taiwan; |
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GFA refers to gross floor area and sq.m. refers to square meter(s); |
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shares or ordinary shares refers to our ordinary shares, which, includes both Class
A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares; |
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ADSs refers to our American depositary shares, each of which represents one Class A
ordinary share, and ADRs refers to American depositary receipts, which, if issued, evidence
our ADSs; and |
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all references to RMB or Renminbi are to the legal currency of China, all references
to Hong Kong dollars or HK$ are to the legal currency of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region, and all references to U.S. dollars or US$ are to the legal currency
of the United States of America. |
This annual report on Form 20-F includes our audited consolidated statements of operations for
the years ended December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010, our audited consolidated statements of balance
sheet as of December 31, 2009 and 2010, and our audited consolidated statements of cash flow for
the years ended December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
ii
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This annual report contains statements that relate to future events, including our future
operating results and conditions, our prospects and our future financial performance and condition.
These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause
our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. All statements
other than statements of historical fact in this annual report constitute forward-looking
statements. We have used words or phrases such as may, would, will, expect, anticipate,
intend, seek, estimate, plan, believe, is/are likely to or other similar expressions in
this annual report to identify some of these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking
statements, including, among others, those relating to our future business prospects, product
development, revenues, profits, costs, capital expenditures, cash flows and working capital, are
necessarily estimates reflecting the best judgment of directors and management and involve a number
of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
suggested by the forward-looking statements. As a consequence, these forward-looking statements
should be considered in light of various important factors, including those set forth in this
annual report.
Actual results may differ materially from information contained in the forward-looking
statements as a result of a number of uncertainties and factors, including but not limited to:
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any change in the laws, rules and regulations of the central and local governments
in China and the rules, regulations and policies of the Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology (formerly the Ministry of Information Industry), or MIIT, and
other relevant government authorities relating to all aspects of our business; |
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general economic, market and business conditions internationally and in China; |
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macroeconomic policies of the PRC government; |
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changes or volatility in interest rates, foreign exchange rates, equity prices or
other rates or prices; |
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the effects of competition in the Internet industry on the demand for and price of
our services; |
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various business opportunities that we may pursue; and |
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the risk factors discussed in this annual report as well as other factors and
uncertainties beyond our control. |
Since we operate in an emerging and evolving environment and new risk factors emerge from time to
time, you should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The
forward-looking statements contained in this annual report speak only as of the date they are made.
Except as otherwise required by the securities laws of the United States, we undertake no
obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of any new
information, future event or otherwise, to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this a
or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. All forward-looking statements contained in
this annual report are qualified by reference to this cautionary statement.
1
PART I
ITEM 1. IDENTITY OF DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND ADVISERS
Not applicable.
ITEM 2. OFFER STATISTICS AND EXPECTED TIMETABLE
Not applicable.
ITEM 3. KEY INFORMATION
A. Selected financial data
We have derived our selected consolidated statement of operations data (except for ADS
information) for the years ended December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010, our selected consolidated cash
flow data for the years ended December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010, and our selected consolidated
balance sheet data as of December 31, 2009 and 2010, from our audited consolidated financial
statements included in this annual report. Our selected statement of operations data (except for
ADS information) for the year ended December 31, 2006 and 2007, our selected cash flow data
for the year ended December 31, 2007 and our selected balance
sheet data as of December 31, 2006, 2007 and 2008, have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements not included in this
annual report. Our financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting
principles generally accepted in the United States, or U.S. GAAP, and have been audited by Ernst &
Young Hua Ming, an independent registered public accounting firm.
You should read the following information in conjunction with our audited consolidated
financial statements and related notes and Item 5 Operating and Financial Review and Prospects in
this annual report. Our historical operating results presented below are not necessarily indicative
of the results to be expected for any future fiscal period.
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Year ended December 31, |
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2006 |
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2007 |
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2008 |
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2009 |
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2010 |
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(US$ in thousands, except per ordinary share and |
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ADS data) |
Consolidated statement of operations data |
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Revenues |
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Marketing services |
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30,638 |
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46,552 |
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86,252 |
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102,367 |
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167,711 |
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Listing services |
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4,633 |
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9,885 |
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16,070 |
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17,559 |
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40,355 |
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Other value-added services and products |
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3,532 |
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1,439 |
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1,802 |
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7,123 |
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16,424 |
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Total revenues |
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38,803 |
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57,876 |
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104,124 |
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127,049 |
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224,490 |
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Cost of revenues |
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Cost of services |
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(8,214 |
) |
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(12,630 |
) |
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(22,162 |
) |
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(26,484 |
) |
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(49,120 |
) |
Cost of other value-added services and products |
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(4,863 |
) |
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(12,891 |
) |
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Total cost of revenues |
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(8,214 |
) |
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(12,630 |
) |
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(22,162 |
) |
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(31,347 |
) |
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(62,011 |
) |
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Gross profit |
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30,589 |
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45,246 |
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81,962 |
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95,702 |
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162,479 |
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Operating expenses: |
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Selling expenses |
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(9,404 |
) |
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(13,221 |
) |
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(18,708 |
) |
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(25,186 |
) |
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(42,512 |
) |
General and administrative expenses |
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(14,703 |
) |
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(12,158 |
) |
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(19,857 |
) |
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(22,176 |
) |
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(41,547 |
) |
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Operating income: |
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6,482 |
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19,867 |
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43,397 |
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48,340 |
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78,420 |
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Foreign exchange (loss) gain |
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(9 |
) |
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8 |
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(2,826 |
) |
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(59 |
) |
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(462 |
) |
Interest income(1) |
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278 |
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707 |
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1,221 |
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1,205 |
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2,390 |
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Realized gain-trading securities |
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195 |
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282 |
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Government grant |
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114 |
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211 |
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360 |
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730 |
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740 |
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Income before income tax |
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6,865 |
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20,793 |
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42,152 |
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50,411 |
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81,370 |
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Income tax (expense)/benefit |
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(1,340 |
) |
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(8,457 |
) |
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(18,805 |
) |
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2,199 |
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(18,222 |
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Net income |
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5,525 |
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12,336 |
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23,347 |
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52,610 |
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63,148 |
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Net income (loss) attributable to non-controlling interest |
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14 |
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125 |
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(34 |
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(42 |
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40 |
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Net income attributable to SouFun Holdings Limited shareholders |
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5,511 |
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12,211 |
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23,381 |
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52,652 |
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63,108 |
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2
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Year ended December 31, |
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2006 |
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2007 |
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2008 |
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2009 |
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2010 |
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(US$ in thousands, except per ordinary share and ADS data) |
Income per ordinary share |
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Basic |
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0.08 |
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0.16 |
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0.32 |
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0.71 |
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0.85 |
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Diluted(2) |
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0.07 |
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0.16 |
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0.30 |
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0.68 |
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0.79 |
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Dividend declared per ordinary share(3) |
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0.55 |
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0.59 |
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Income per ADS(4) |
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Basic |
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0.32 |
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0.64 |
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1.28 |
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2.84 |
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3.40 |
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Diluted |
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0.28 |
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0.64 |
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1.20 |
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2.72 |
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3.16 |
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Dividend declared per ADS |
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2.20 |
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2.36 |
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Weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding |
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Basic |
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66,353,603 |
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74,020,217 |
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74,020,217 |
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73,986,129 |
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74,683,593 |
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Diluted |
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77,239,648 |
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76,997,410 |
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77,092,197 |
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77,418,960 |
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80,220,663 |
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Weighted average number of ADSs outstanding |
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Basic |
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16,588,401 |
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18,505,054 |
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18,505,054 |
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18,496,532 |
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18,670,898 |
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Diluted |
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19,309,912 |
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19,249,353 |
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19,273,049 |
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19,354,740 |
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20,055,166 |
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Share-based compensation included in: |
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Cost of revenues |
|
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555 |
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|
160 |
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|
268 |
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|
489 |
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|
749 |
|
Selling expenses |
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|
231 |
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|
142 |
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|
323 |
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|
595 |
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|
1,035 |
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General and administrative expenses |
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5,068 |
|
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|
1,915 |
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|
2,126 |
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|
3,056 |
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|
3,291 |
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(1) |
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Interest income includes related party amounts of nil, nil, nil, US$85,000, and US$305,000
in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. |
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(2) |
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Income per ordinary share (diluted) and income per ADS (diluted) for each year from 2006 to
2010 have been computed, after considering the dilutive effect of the shares underlying
employees share options and, as applicable, preferred shares. |
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(3) |
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The dividends have not been fully paid. See Item 8 Financial Information A. Consolidated
Statements and Other Financial Information Dividend Policy |
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(4) |
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All income per ADS does not reflect the adjustment effective February 18, 2011 of the ratio
of our American Depositary Receipts representing Class A ordinary shares from one depositary
share (ADS) for four Class A ordinary shares to one ADS for one Class A ordinary share. |
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As at December 31, |
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2006 |
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2007 |
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2008 |
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2009 |
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2010 |
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(US$ in thousands) |
Consolidated balance sheet data |
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Total current assets |
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31,779 |
|
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|
63,557 |
|
|
|
102,861 |
|
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|
149,224 |
|
|
|
279,527 |
|
Total assets |
|
|
33,057 |
|
|
|
66,757 |
|
|
|
107,246 |
|
|
|
154,494 |
|
|
|
293,767 |
|
Total current liabilities |
|
|
22,092 |
|
|
|
75,343 |
|
|
|
79,867 |
|
|
|
124,306 |
|
|
|
160,881 |
|
Total liabilities |
|
|
22,652 |
|
|
|
82,047 |
|
|
|
93,858 |
|
|
|
129,993 |
|
|
|
171,100 |
|
Total SouFun Holdings Limiteds equity |
|
|
10,391 |
|
|
|
(15,429 |
) |
|
|
13,283 |
|
|
|
24,438 |
|
|
|
122,564 |
|
Non-controlling interests |
|
|
14 |
|
|
|
139 |
|
|
|
105 |
|
|
|
63 |
|
|
|
103 |
|
Total shareholders equity |
|
|
10,405 |
|
|
|
(15,290 |
) |
|
|
13,388 |
|
|
|
24,501 |
|
|
|
122,667 |
|
Total liabilities and shareholders equity |
|
|
33,057 |
|
|
|
66,757 |
|
|
|
107,246 |
|
|
|
154,494 |
|
|
|
293,767 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Year ended December 31, |
|
|
2007 |
|
2008 |
|
2009 |
|
2010 |
|
|
(US$ in thousands) |
Consolidated cash flow data |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net cash generated from operating activities |
|
|
30,493 |
|
|
|
44,568 |
|
|
|
65,966 |
|
|
|
106,510 |
|
Net cash (used in) generated from investing activities |
|
|
(7,596 |
) |
|
|
(2,598 |
) |
|
|
(12,034 |
) |
|
|
(46,096 |
) |
Net cash (used in) generated from financing activities |
|
|
(2,647 |
) |
|
|
(16,210 |
) |
|
|
(24,789 |
) |
|
|
14,404 |
|
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents |
|
|
21,774 |
|
|
|
28,954 |
|
|
|
29,217 |
|
|
|
79,281 |
|
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year |
|
|
12,294 |
|
|
|
34,068 |
|
|
|
63,022 |
|
|
|
92,239 |
|
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year |
|
|
34,068 |
|
|
|
63,022 |
|
|
|
92,239 |
|
|
|
171,520 |
|
3
Exchange Rate Information
Our business is conducted in China and substantially all of our revenues and expenses are
denominated in Renminbi. This annual report contains translations of Renminbi amounts into U.S.
dollars at specified rates solely for the convenience of the readers. For all dates and periods
through December 31, 2008, exchange rates of Renminbi into U.S. dollars are based on the noon
buying rate in The City of New York for cable transfers of Renminbi as certified for customs
purposes by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. For January 1, 2009 and all later dates and
periods, the exchange rate refers to the exchange rate as set forth in the H.10 statistical release
of the Federal Reserve Board. We make no representation that the Renminbi or U.S. dollar amounts
referred to in this annual report could have been or could be converted into U.S. dollars or
Renminbi, as the case may be, at any particular rate or at all.
As of June 3, 2011, the noon buying rate was RMB6.4796 to
US$1.00.
The following table sets forth information concerning exchange rates between the Renminbi and
the U.S. dollars for the periods indicated. These rates are provided solely for your convenience
and are not necessarily the exchange rates that we used in this annual report or will use in the
preparation of our periodic reports or any other information to be provided to you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Noon Buying Rate |
|
|
Period End |
|
Average(1) |
|
Low |
|
High |
|
|
(RMB per US$1.00) |
2005 |
|
|
8.0702 |
|
|
|
8.1826 |
|
|
|
8.2765 |
|
|
|
8.0702 |
|
2006 |
|
|
7.8041 |
|
|
|
7.9579 |
|
|
|
8.0702 |
|
|
|
7.8041 |
|
2007 |
|
|
7.2946 |
|
|
|
7.5806 |
|
|
|
7.8127 |
|
|
|
7.2946 |
|
2008 |
|
|
6.8225 |
|
|
|
6.9193 |
|
|
|
7.2946 |
|
|
|
6.7800 |
|
2009 |
|
|
6.8259 |
|
|
|
6.8295 |
|
|
|
6.8470 |
|
|
|
6.8176 |
|
2010 |
|
|
6.6000 |
|
|
|
6.7696 |
|
|
|
6.8330 |
|
|
|
6.6000 |
|
2011 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
January |
|
|
6.6017 |
|
|
|
6.5964 |
|
|
|
6.6364 |
|
|
|
6.5809 |
|
February |
|
|
6.5713 |
|
|
|
6.5761 |
|
|
|
6.5965 |
|
|
|
6.5520 |
|
March |
|
|
6.5483 |
|
|
|
6.5645 |
|
|
|
6.5743 |
|
|
|
6.5483 |
|
April |
|
|
6.4900 |
|
|
|
6.5267 |
|
|
|
6.5477 |
|
|
|
6.4900 |
|
May |
|
|
6.4786 |
|
|
|
6.4957 |
|
|
|
6.5073 |
|
|
|
6.4786 |
|
June (through
June 3, 2011)
|
|
|
6.4796 |
|
|
|
6.4800 |
|
|
|
6.4824 |
|
|
|
6.4780 |
|
|
|
|
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Federal Reserve Board. |
|
(1) |
|
Annual averages are calculated using the exchange rates on the last day of each
calendar month during that year. Monthly averages are calculated using the average of
the daily exchange rates during that month. |
B. Capitalization and Indebtedness
Not applicable.
C. Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds
Not applicable.
D. Risk Factors
Risks Relating to Our Business
Our business depends substantially on revenues from our marketing services, including
primarily online advertising, and participants in the real estate and home furnishing and
improvement sectors may choose other advertising media over online advertising, which could lead to
loss of our revenues.
All of our marketing service revenues are generated through our website, and we expect to
continue to derive a significant proportion of our revenues from marketing. Marketing represents
our largest source of revenues, accounting for 82.8%, 80.6% and 74.7% of our revenues in 2008, 2009
and 2010, respectively. In particular, our new home business accounted for 87.6%, 85.1% and 82.3%
of our marketing service revenues in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. New home business
4
primarily consists of sales of marketing services to residential property developers and their sales agents
who are in the process of promoting newly developed properties for sale.
Although the online marketing industry in China has been growing, advertisers in the real
estate sector in China have typically relied on traditional forms of advertising media, such as
newspapers, magazines and outdoor advertising. If we are unable to retain and develop our base of
advertising customers, including property developers and home furnishing and improvement product
and service providers, our business may not grow as quickly as we expect. Moreover, advertisers may
not continue to do business with us if they do not perceive our marketing services to be effective
or our user demographics to be desirable.
Our ability to continue to generate and maintain marketing service revenues depends on a
number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, including:
|
|
|
the amount of user traffic on our website, our ability to achieve user demographic
characteristics that are attractive to advertisers, and our ability to demonstrate such
user traffic and demographic characteristics through our website traffic tracking tools
and reporting systems; |
|
|
|
|
potential downward pressure on online marketing pricing due to increased competition
from other online advertisers and traditional online advertising media; and |
|
|
|
|
widespread adoption of technologies that permit Internet users to selectively block
unwanted web views, including advertisements on web pages. |
If we are unable to remain competitive and provide value to our advertisers, they may stop
placing advertisements with us, which would have a material adverse effect on our business,
financial condition and results of operations.
If we are unable to continue to obtain listings from our key customer groups, including
property developers, real estate agents, brokers and property owners and managers, our business,
financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
We derive a significant portion of our revenues from our listing services. In 2008, 2009 and
2010, listing service revenues represented approximately 15.4%, 13.8% and 18.0%, respectively, of
our total revenues. Our strategy includes persuading property developers, real estate agents,
brokers and property owners and managers to list their properties on our website. We believe having
large numbers of high-quality listings from such real estate professionals attracts users to our website, thereby
enhancing our attractiveness to advertisers and other real estate market participants. However,
none of our listing agreements are exclusive. Our listing customers may choose not to continue to
use our listing services and may choose to utilize the services of one or more of our competitors
or alternative means of listing, such as real estate magazines or newspapers. If owners of large
numbers of property listings, such as major developers or large brokers or property owners in key
real estate markets, choose not to renew their existing agreements with us, our website could
become less attractive to users. In turn, if we experience reduced user traffic on our website,
advertisers from whom we derive the largest proportion of our revenues, and other real estate
market participants, may discontinue the use of or be unwilling to pay for our services. In such an
event, our competitive position could be significantly weakened and our business, financial
condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
We derive a substantial portion of our revenues from four major urban centers in China, in
particular, Beijing and Shanghai, and we face market risk due to our concentration in these major
urban areas.
We derive a substantial portion of our revenues from four major urban centers in China, i.e.,
Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. In 2008, 2009 and 2010, we generated revenues of US$54.6
million, US$72.9 million and US$124.6 million, respectively, or 52.4%, 57.4% and 55.5%
respectively, of our revenues, from these four urban centers. In particular, in 2008, 2009 and
2010, Beijing and Shanghai, in aggregate, accounted for US$43.7 million, US$60.5 million and
US$103.5 million, respectively, or 42.0%, 47.6% and 46.1%, respectively, of our revenues. We expect
these four urban centers to continue to be important regional sources of revenues in all of our
revenue categories. If any of these major urban centers experience events which negatively impact
the real estate industry or online advertising, such as a serious economic downturn or contraction,
a natural disaster, or a slower growth due to adverse governmental policies or otherwise, demand
for our services could decline significantly and our revenues and profitability could be materially
reduced.
5
We may fail to compete successfully against current or future competitors, which could
significantly reduce our market share and materially and adversely affect our business, financial
condition and results of operations.
We face competition from other companies in each of our primary business activities. In
particular, online real estate and home furnishing and improvement Internet service market in China
is becoming increasingly competitive. The barriers of entry for establishing Internet-based
businesses are low, thereby allowing new entrants to emerge rapidly. As the online real estate and
home furnishing and improvement Internet service industry in China is relatively new and constantly
evolving, our current or future competitors may be better able to position themselves to compete as
the industry matures. We also face competition from companies in other media that offer online
advertising, online listing and similar services. In particular, any of these competitors may offer
products and services that provide significant advantages over those offered by us in terms of
performance, price, scope, creativity or other advantages. These products and services may achieve
greater market acceptance than our service offerings, and thus weaken our brand. Increased
competition in the online real estate and home furnishing and improvements in the Internet service
industry in China could make it difficult for us to retain existing customers and attract new
customers, and could lead to a reduction in our fees. Furthermore, our current competitors include
major Internet portals in China that provide real estate or home furnishing and improvement
Internet services, such as Sina.com and Sohu.com, which may have more established brand names,
larger visitor numbers and more extensive Internet distribution channels than we do.
In addition, we have faced and may continue to face strong competition from regionally focused
websites providing regional real estate listings together with localized services. Any of our
current or future competitors may also receive investments from or enter into other commercial or
strategic relationships with larger, well-established and well-financed companies and obtain
significantly greater financial, marketing and content licensing and development resources than us.
Furthermore, some of our competitors receive support from local governments, which may place us at
a disadvantage when competing with them in their local markets. We cannot assure you that we will
be able to compete successfully against our
current or future competitors. Any failure to compete effectively in the Internet services
market for real estate and home furnishing and improvement in China would have a material adverse
effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Failure to maintain and enhance brand awareness for our website could lead to loss of existing
customers and qualified personnel.
We believe maintaining and enhancing our brand name as a leading real estate and home
furnishing and improvement Internet company in China is a critical part of our strategy. In
addition to promoting the SouFun brand through our direct sales force, we also intend to continue
to pursue other means to enhance brand awareness, including publication of real estate and home
furnishing and improvement research reports to members of the real estate and home furnishing and
improvement sectors, participation in real estate and home furnishing and improvement research
organizations, event sponsorships, portal collaboration arrangements, and advertising and marketing
activities. We cannot assure you that our efforts will be successful in maintaining or enhancing
our brand awareness. If our brand enhancement strategy is unsuccessful, or if other brands surpass
our brand in customer recognition in one or more cities in which we operate, we may fail to attract
new or retain existing users, customers or qualified personnel, which could materially decrease our
revenues and profitability.
Loss of our right to use the SouFun brand name, or unauthorized use of our intellectual
property by third parties, and the expenses incurred in protecting our intellectual property
rights, may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of
operations and reputation.
We consider our copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, domain names and other intellectual
property as important to our business. Unauthorized use of such intellectual property, whether
owned by us or licensed to us, may materially and adversely affect our business, financial
condition, results of operations, reputation and competitive advantages. We rely on intellectual
property laws and contractual arrangements with our key employees and certain of our customers,
collaborators and others to protect our intellectual property rights. The measures we take to
protect our intellectual property rights may not be adequate and policing the unauthorized use of
our intellectual property is difficult and expensive.
We have applied to register in China the Chinese and English dual-language SouFun trademark
as well as SouFun in English and
![(CHINESE CHARACTERS)](h05125h0512502.gif)
(SouFun in Chinese) individually for use in certain
relevant industry categories. We have successfully registered the dual-language trademarks in
certain industry categories, but our applications for certain other industry categories have encountered conflicts with existing registrations or applications
for similar trademarks by another PRC company in certain industry classes. We are in the process of
resolving these conflicting trademark applications, but we estimate that this process may take
several years to complete. According to CCPIT Patent & Trademark Law Office, our intellectual
property agent, in practice, determination of the title to a trademark is generally made on the
basis of three elements: (i) who has first applied for registration of the trademark in dispute;
(ii) who has first used the trademark in dispute; and (iii) who has the reputation of using such
trademark in the market. CCPIT Patent & Trademark Law Office is of the opinion that we first
applied for and used the relevant trademarks, and our use of such trademarks has been reputable in
the
6
market. However, unless and until we secure the trademark registrations for which we have
applied, we may be unable to effectively enforce our proprietary rights in connection with such
trademarks or prevent the use by others of trademarks identical or similar to ours. Moreover, if
the conflicting trademark applications are not resolved in our favor, we may be unable to use part
or all of our current name or trademarks in our business operations. Our business, financial
condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected if we lose the right
to use the SouFun brand names, or if we are unable to prevent third parties from using our
trademarks, as we would not be able to leverage such brand names to develop our business and
protect the brands reputation and would lose the benefits of brand awareness among Internet users
in China.
In addition, the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property in
Internet-related industries in China is uncertain and still evolving, and could involve substantial
risks. The laws and enforcement procedures in China are not yet well developed, and do not protect
intellectual property rights
to the same extent as laws and enforcement procedures in the United States and other
jurisdictions. Furthermore, litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual
property rights, which could result in substantial costs and diversion of our resources and have a
material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. If we are
unable to adequately protect the intellectual property rights that we own or use, we may lose these
rights and our business, growth prospects and profitability may suffer.
Our business could be materially and adversely affected by fluctuations in, and government
measures influencing, Chinas real estate industry.
We conduct our real estate services business primarily in China, and our business depends
substantially on conditions of the PRC real estate market. In particular, our new home business,
which accounted for 73.3%, 69.7% and 62.3% of our total revenues in 2008, 2009 and 2010,
respectively, depends upon growth in the real estate-related industry nationwide and in specific
regions in China. Demand for private residential property in China has grown rapidly in recent
years, but such growth is often coupled with volatility in market conditions and fluctuation in
property prices. For example, the rapid expansion of the property market in major provinces and
cities in China in the early 1990s, such as Shanghai, Beijing and Guangdong Province, led to an
oversupply in the mid-1990s and a corresponding fall in property values and rentals in the second
half of the decade. Since the late 1990s, property prices and the number of new property
development projects have generally been increasing in major cities. Fluctuations of supply and
demand in Chinas real estate market are caused by economic, social, political and other factors.
To the extent fluctuations in the real estate market adversely affect the demand for real estate
and home furnishing and improvement services and for real estate- and home furnishing and
improvement-related advertising, demand for our products and services, as well as the level of our
growth and profitability, may be materially reduced.
The real estate market in China is typically affected by changes in government policies
affecting the financial markets and related areas. In the past, the PRC government has adopted
various administrative measures to restrain what it perceived as unsustainable growth in the real
estate market, particularly when the real estate market in China has experienced rapid and
significant increases in home sales as well as prices. In 2007, home sales and prices in China rose
rapidly to unprecedented levels, culminating in a housing downturn beginning in late 2007 due to
the PRC governments intervention in the real estate market to stabilize market prices and reduce
market speculation.
The PRC real estate market may experience a downturn in the future, as home sales and prices
in China have experienced a rapid increase since early 2009. In response, the PRC government has
promulgated a series of policies since late 2009 to cool down what is considered to be an
over-heated real estate market, such as restrictions on the provision of loans for buyers upon
their third or subsequent home, raising the minimum down-payment amount and lending rates for
purchasers of second homes, strengthening the supervision of the purchase and financing of land
acquisitions by real estate developers. In April 2010, the PRC government announced further
tightening measures targeted at the PRC property markets nationwide, such as raising the minimum
down-payment to 50% for purchasers of their second homes and to 30% for purchasers of their first
residential properties exceeding specified gross floor areas, and restricting the ability of
developers to finance properties through pre-sales. In response to such policies, certain local PRC
governmental agencies, including agencies in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, which are Chinas
major urban centers where we have operations, introduced implementation rules in April 2010, May
2010 and May 2010, respectively. On September 29, 2010, the Peoples Bank of China and China
Banking Regulatory Commission, or CBRC, jointly issued a notice according to which the minimum down
payment has been raised 30% for all first property purchases, and commercial banks throughout China
are required to suspend mortgage loans for purchasers of a buyers third residential property.
Later in 2010 and in early 2011, the PRC government issued various additional rules, orders and
notices to strengthen the regulation and control of the real estate market. Under these rules,
orders and notices, more stringent measures were implemented in order to effectively curb the rise
of housing prices. In particular:
|
|
|
The minimum down payment for the second housing unit purchased by a family is increased from
50% to 60% and the loan interest rate must be no less than 110% of benchmark lending interest rate; |
7
|
|
|
The business tax is imposed and calculated on the full sales revenues for the sale of all
housing units held for less than five years, and on the difference between the sales revenue and
the amount paid for the housing unit for the sale of non-ordinary housing units which were
purchased five or more years ago; |
|
|
|
|
All municipalities directly under the central government, all provincial capitals and other
cities where the local housing prices are deemed to be too high or to have risen too fast are
required to temporarily suspend the sale of housing units to families with registered local
permanent residences that already own two or more housing units, families without registered local
permanent residences that already own one or more housing units, and families without registered
local permanent residences that cannot provide evidence of their local payment of taxes or social
insurance premiums for a required period; |
|
|
|
|
Real property tax pilot projects were launched in Shanghai and Chongqing. Local regulations
require a real property tax to be imposed on certain local housing units purchased on or after
January 28, 2011, at a current tax rate of 0.6% in Shanghai and at a tax rate ranging from 0.5% to
1.2% in Chongqing. In Chongqing, the real property tax is also imposed on local independent houses
owned by individuals; and |
|
|
|
|
In the circular promulgated by the General Office of the State Council on January 26, 2011,
each citys government is required to appropriately set up and make public its target for
controlling the price of local, newly built, residential housing units in 2011. Accordingly, many
cities, including Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing and Shenzhen, have already announced their
respective price control targets for 2011. |
In addition, due to concerns about inflation, the Peoples Bank of China (PBOC)
significantly increased the reserve requirement ratio for PRC commercial banks beginning in
February 2010. The reserve requirement ratio refers to the amount of funds that PRC banks must hold
in reserve with the PBOC against deposits made by their customers. During the first five months of
2011 (through May 30, 2011), the PBOC increased the reserve requirement ratio four times, each by
50 basis points with the last adjustment effective on May 18, 2011 to 21.0%. Increases in the
reserve requirement ratio may negatively impact the amount of funds available to lend real estate
developers and home buyers by commercial banks in China, which in turn may negatively impact our
business, prospects, financial condition and results of operation.
These policies and rules have aimed to stem rising prices by targeting financing rules,
multiple-unit ownership and tax policy. These or other policies and rules aimed at controlling
growth in the real estate markets in China have affected and could further affect demand for
marketing, listing or other services related to real estate advertising, which could have a
material and adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Any of
the following could cause a decline in home sales and prices, which in turn could affect the demand
for real estate and home furnishing and improvement services and advertising:
|
|
|
restrictive monetary policies adopted by the PRC government, including any
significant increase in interest rates; |
|
|
|
|
adverse developments in the credit markets and/or mortgage financing markets
resulting from PRC government policies; |
|
|
|
|
policies regarding land supply; |
|
|
|
|
significant increases in transaction costs as a result of changes in PRC government
policies regarding real estate transaction taxes, such as the recent announcement
regarding the reinstatement of a sales tax on residential property sales by individuals
within five years of purchase; |
|
|
|
|
adverse changes in PRC government policies regarding the acquisition and/or ownership
of real estate; |
|
|
|
|
adverse changes in PRC national or local government policies or practices regarding
brokerage, referral or franchise business or related fees and commissions; or |
|
|
|
|
other PRC government policies or regulations that burden real estate transactions or
ownership. |
Because such macroeconomic and regulatory measures may not have a significant impact on
investment and consumption patterns until several months after the measures are implemented, it is
too early to determine the extent to which recent monetary, fiscal and other policy measures may
have on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operation. Furthermore, the
level of investment in real estate construction in China may level off or decrease as a results of
these or other measures, which in turn may negatively impact our business, prospects, financial
condition and results of operation.
8
Regulation of the Internet industry in China, including censorship of information distributed
over the Internet, may materially and adversely affect our business.
China has enacted laws, rules and regulations governing Internet access and the distribution
of news, information or other content, as well as products and services, through the Internet. In
the past, the PRC government has prohibited the distribution of information through the Internet
that it deems to be in violation of applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations. In particular,
under regulations promulgated by the State Council, the MIIT, the General Administration of Press
and Publication (formerly the State Press and Publications Administration) and the Ministry of
Culture, Internet content providers and Internet publishers are prohibited from posting or
displaying content over the Internet that, among other things: (i) opposes the fundamental
principles of the PRC constitution; (ii) compromises state security, divulges state secrets,
subverts state power or damages national unity; (iii) disseminates rumors, disturbs social order or
disrupts social stability; (iv) propagates obscenity, pornography, gambling, violence, murder or
fear or incites the commission of crimes; or (v) insults or slanders a third party or infringes
upon the lawful right of a third party.
If any Internet content we offer or will offer through our consolidated controlled entities
were deemed by the PRC government to violate any of such content restrictions, we would not be able
to continue such offerings and could be subject to penalties, including confiscation of illegal
revenues, fines, suspension of business and revocation of required licenses, which could have a
material adverse affect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We may also
be subject to potential liability for any unlawful actions of our customers or affiliates or for
content we distribute that is deemed inappropriate. It may be difficult to determine the type of
content that may result in liability to us, and if we are found to be liable, we may be forced to
cease operation of our website in China.
If any of our consolidated controlled entities fails to maintain the applicable licenses and
approvals held by it under the complex regulatory environment for Internet-based businesses and
online advertising businesses in China, or any of our PRC subsidiaries or consolidated controlled
entities fail to pass its annual government inspection or obtain renewal of its business license,
our business, financial condition and results of operations would be materially and adversely
affected.
The Internet and online advertising industries in China are still at a relatively early stage
of development and are highly regulated by the PRC government. Various regulatory authorities of
the PRC government, such as the State Council, MIIT, the State Administration of Industry and
Commerce, or SAIC, the General Administration of Press and Publication, the State Administration of
Radio, Film and Television, and the Ministry of Public Security, are empowered to issue and
implement regulations governing various aspects of the Internet and advertising industries.
Moreover, new laws, rules and regulations may be adopted, or new interpretations of existing laws,
rules and regulations may be released, to address issues that arise from time to time. As a result,
substantial uncertainties exist regarding the interpretation and implementation of any current and
future PRC laws, rules and regulations applicable to the Internet and online advertising
industries.
Our consolidated controlled entities are required to obtain applicable licenses or approvals
from various regulatory authorities in order to provide advertising and other value-added services
and products. These licenses or approvals are essential to the operation of our business and are generally
subject to annual review by the relevant PRC governmental authorities. For example, each of Beijing
Internet, Beijing Technology, Beijing JTX Technology, Beijing China Index and Beijing Advertising
currently holds an Internet content provider license, or ICP license, as required under the
applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations; and each of Beijing Technology, Beijing JTX Technology,
Beijing China Index and Beijing Advertising currently holds an approval for operating electronic
bulletin board services as required under the applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations. Beijing
Advertising, Beijing Internet, Shanghai Advertising and certain other consolidated controlled
entities are allowed to provide marketing services in accordance with the business scope indicated
in each of their respective business licenses. Each of Beijing Internet, Beijing Technology,
Beijing JTX Technology, Beijing China Index and Beijing Advertising, however, may be required to
obtain additional licenses, including an Internet publication license and/or an Internet news
information service license, as these entities may be deemed by the PRC regulatory authorities to
be engaged in the provision of Internet publication services and Internet news information
services. Since our website includes online residential communities that allow visitors to post
information, including graphics or weblinks to videos, other websites or data in microblogs or
online discussion forums, on our website for discussion with other users, the release of such
information on our website may trigger the requirement for each of Beijing Internet, Beijing
Technology, Beijing JTX Technology, Beijing China Index and Beijing Advertising to obtain an
Internet publication license in China. Similarly, if we or third parties post information that may
be viewed as news information, the release of such information on our website may trigger the
requirement to obtain an Internet news information license in China.
Beijing Technology, Beijing Internet, Beijing JTX Technology, Beijing China Index and Beijing
Advertising have applied to the relevant government authorities for Internet publication licenses
and/or Internet news information service
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licenses in accordance with applicable PRC laws, rules and
regulations. The relevant government authorities have informed us orally on an informal basis that
these applicants do not need to apply for the Internet publication licenses on the basis of their
current business operations. However, such government authorities have not informed us as to when
they will make a formal decision on whether these applicants need to apply for, and, if such
application is required, whether such government authorities will issue, the Internet news
information service licenses on the basis of the current business operations of such applicants. We
are also continuing our discussion with the relevant government authorities on our application for,
and the authorities issuance of, Internet news information service licenses and to provide the
relevant government authorities with supplemental information as requested. We, like many other
similarly-situated business operators, have been operating our businesses without such licenses.
Based on our informal discussions with the relevant government authorities and after completion of
applications for Beijing Internet, Beijing Technology, Beijing JTX Technology, Beijing China Index
and Beijing Advertising, we believe we will comply with the legal requirements to apply for the
licenses. However, King & Wood, our PRC legal counsel, has indicated that it is unable to express an opinion
regarding our compliance with the legal requirements relating to the applications for these
Internet news information service licenses because (1) the relevant PRC regulatory authorities have
significant discretion in interpreting the laws, rules and regulations applicable to the issuance
of Internet publication licenses and Internet news information service licenses, including the
legal requirements stipulated in the relevant laws, rules and regulations; and (2) the relevant PRC
regulatory authorities have broad discretion in determining whether the relevant company has
complied with the legal requirements interpreted by the relevant PRC regulatory and authorities. In
particular, our PRC counsel has informed us that it is unclear whether the PRC regulatory
authorities will request further information or impose stricter standards for successful
application for these licenses. Since we are not a traditional news agency and it is unclear
whether the relevant PRC licensing laws, rules and regulations relating to the provision of
Internet news information services are meant to regulate our business operations, our PRC counsel
has also expressed its inability to provide an opinion as to whether we would be in compliance with
such PRC laws, rules and regulations by continuing to operate our business while applying for such
licenses.
We have not received, nor have we learned that any other similar-situated business operator
has received, any notice from the regulators threatening to suspend such business operations due to
the lack of such licenses. However, despite the oral confirmation by the relevant government
authorities as described above, if the PRC regulators take a more restrictive view or position on
such regulation, then under the applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations, the failure to obtain
and/or maintain an Internet publication license and/or Internet news information service license may subject the entity to various
penalties, including confiscation of revenues, imposition of fines and/or restrictions on their
business operations, or the discontinuation of their operations. Although Beijing Internet, Beijing
Technology, Beijing JTX Technology, Beijing China Index and Beijing Advertising have not received
any revenues directly from Internet publication services or Internet news information services, we
cannot assure you that the PRC regulatory authorities will not impose any such penalties. Any such
disruption in the business operations of our consolidated controlled entities could materially and
adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Unexpected network interruptions or security breaches, including hacking or computer virus
attacks, may cause delays or interruptions of service, resulting in reduced use and performance of
our website and damage our reputation and brands.
Our business depends heavily on the performance and reliability of Chinas Internet
infrastructure, the continued accessibility of bandwidth and servers on our service providers
networks and the continuing performance, reliability and availability of our technology platform.
Any failure to maintain the satisfactory performance, reliability, security and availability of our
computer and hardware systems may cause significant harm to our reputation and our ability to
attract and maintain customers and visitor traffic. Major risks related to our network
infrastructure include:
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any breakdown or system failure resulting in a sustained shutdown of our servers,
including failures which may be attributable to sustained power shutdowns, or efforts to
gain unauthorized access to our systems causing loss or corruption of data or
malfunctions of software or hardware; |
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any disruption or failure in the national backbone network, which would prevent our
customers and users from accessing our website; |
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any damage from fire, flood, earthquake and other natural disasters; and |
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computer viruses, hackings and similar events. |
Computer viruses and hackings may cause delays or other service interruptions and could result
in significant damage to our hardware, software systems and databases, disruptions to our business
activities, such as to our e-mail and other
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communication systems, breaches of security and
inadvertent disclosure of confidential or sensitive information, inadvertent transmissions of
computer viruses and interruptions of access to our website through the use of denial-of-service or
similar attacks. In addition, the inadvertent transmission of computer viruses could expose us to a
material risk of loss or litigation and possible liability. All of our servers and routers,
including back-up servers, are currently hosted by third-party service providers in Beijing and
Shanghai and all information on our website is backed up weekly. Any hacking, security breach or
other system disruption or failure which occurs in between our weekly backup procedures could
disrupt our business or cause us to lose, and be unable to recover, data such as real estate
listings, contact information and other important customer information.
We also do not maintain insurance policies covering losses relating to our systems and do not
have business interruption insurance. Moreover, the low coverage limits of our property insurance
policies may not be adequate to compensate us for all losses, particularly with respect to any loss
of business and reputation that may occur. To improve our performance and to prevent disruption of
our services, we may have to make substantial investments to deploy additional servers or create
one or more copies of our website to mirror our online resources, either of which could increase
our expenses and reduce our net income.
Breaches of security in connection with our website could expose us to potential liability and
harm our reputation.
Ensuring secured transmission of confidential information through public networks is essential
to maintaining the confidence of our customers and users. Our existing security measures may not be
adequate to protect such confidential information. In addition, computer and network systems are
susceptible to breaches by computer hackers. Security breaches could expose us to litigation and
potential liability for failing to secure confidential customer information, and could harm our
reputation and reduce our ability to attract customers and users. Any future security breaches, if
any, may result in a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of
operations and prospects.
The successful operation of our business depends upon the performance and reliability of the
Internet infrastructure and telecommunications networks in China.
Our business depends on the performance and reliability of the Internet infrastructure in
China. Substantially all access to the Internet is maintained through state-controlled
telecommunication operators under the administrative control and regulatory supervision of MIIT. In
addition, the national networks in China are connected to the Internet through international
gateways controlled by the PRC government. These international gateways are generally the only
channels through which a domestic user can connect to the Internet. We cannot assure you that a
more sophisticated Internet infrastructure will be developed in China. We may not have access to
alternative networks in the event of disruptions, failures or other problems with Chinas Internet
infrastructure. In addition, the Internet infrastructure in China may not support the demands
associated with continued growth in Internet usage.
We also rely on China Telecommunications Corporation, or China Telcom, and China United Netcom
(Hong Kong) Ltd, or China Unicom, to provide us with data communications capacity primarily through
local telecommunications lines and Internet data centers to host our servers. We do not have access
to alternative services in the event of disruptions, failures or other problems with the fixed
telecommunications networks of China Telecom and China Unicom, or if China Telecom or China Unicom
otherwise fails to provide such services. Any unscheduled service interruption could disrupt our
operations, damage our reputation and result in a decrease in our revenues. Furthermore, we have no
control over the costs of the services provided by China Telecom and China Unicom. If the prices
that we pay for telecommunications and Internet services rise significantly, our gross margins
could be significantly reduced. In addition, if Internet access fees or other charges to Internet
users increase, our user traffic may decrease, which in turn may cause our revenues to decline.
You should not rely on our quarterly operating results as an indication of our future
performance because our quarterly financial results are subject to fluctuations.
The real estate sector in China is characterized by seasonal fluctuations, which may cause the
growth rate of our revenues to vary from quarter to quarter. The first quarter of each year
generally contributes the smallest portion of our annual revenues due to reduced advertising and
marketing activity of our customers in the PRC real estate industry during and around the Chinese
Lunar New Year holiday, which generally occurs in January or February of each year. Furthermore, as
we are substantially dependent on sales of marketing and listing services, our quarterly revenues
and results of operations are likely to be affected by:
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seasonality of the real estate market and real estate consumers purchasing patterns; |
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our ability to retain existing customers and attract new customers for our marketing
and listing services; |
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the amount and timing of our operating expenses and capital expenditures; |
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the adoption of new, or changes to existing, governmental regulations; |
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a shortfall in our revenues relative to our forecasts and a decline in our operating
results; and |
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economic conditions in general and specific to the real estate industry and to China. |
These factors are difficult to discern in our historical results since our revenues have grown
rapidly in recent years. As a result, you should not rely on our quarter-to-quarter comparisons of
our results of operations as indicators of likely future performance.
Failure to continue to develop and expand our content, service offerings and features, and to
develop or incorporate the technologies that support them, could jeopardize our competitive
position.
As an Internet portal company, we participate in an industry characterized by rapidly changing
technology and new products and services. To remain competitive, we must continue to develop and
expand our content and service offerings. We must also continue to enhance and improve the ease of
use, functionality and features of our website. These efforts may require us to develop internally,
or to license, increasingly complex technologies. In addition, many of our competitors are
continually introducing new Internet-related products, services and technologies, which will
require us to update or modify our own technology to keep pace. Developing and integrating new
products, services and technologies into our existing businesses could be expensive and
time-consuming. Furthermore, such new features, functions and services may not achieve market
acceptance or serve to enhance our brand loyalty. We may not succeed in incorporating new Internet
technologies, or, in order to do so, we may incur substantial expenses. If we fail to develop and
introduce or acquire new features, functions, services or technologies effectively and on a timely
basis, we may not continue to attract new users and may be unable to retain our existing users,
which could affect our marketability as a popular advertising and listing media. If we are not
successful in incorporating new Internet technologies, our future profitability and growth could be
materially and adversely affected.
Our revenues and profitability could suffer if we are unable to successfully implement our
growth strategies or manage our growth effectively.
We intend to grow our business by rolling out our full suite of services, including marketing
and listing services for our new home, secondary and rental properties and home furnishing and
improvement businesses, from the 44 cities where we provide all our currently available services as
of December 31, 2010 to more cities across China where we currently offer primarily real estate and
home furnishing and improvement content coverage through our localized website portals. We also
plan to expand into new geographic areas and sectors. However, some of our growth strategies relate
to new services and technologies for which there are no established markets in China or relate to
services, technologies, new geographic markets or new businesses in which we have limited or no
experience. Moreover, due to the breadth and diversity of the PRC real estate and home furnishing
and improvement market, our business model may not be successful in new and untested markets as
demand and preferences may vary significantly by region. As a result, we may not be able to
leverage our experience to expand into other parts of China or to enter into businesses with
respect to new products or services. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully grow
our secondary and rental property and home furnishing and improvement businesses in our existing
cities. There can be no assurance that we will be able to enter new geographic markets or deliver
new services and technologies on a commercially viable basis or in a timely manner, or at all. If
we are unable to successfully implement our growth strategies, our revenues and profitability may
not grow as we expect, and our competitiveness may be materially and adversely affected.
Increases in the volume of our website traffic as a result of our expansion into new
geographic regions could also strain the capacity of our existing computer systems, which could
lead to slower response times or system failures. This would cause the number of real estate search
inquiries, advertising impressions, other revenue producing offerings and our informational
offerings to decline, any of which could significantly reduce our revenue growth and our brand
loyalty. We may need to incur additional costs to upgrade our computer systems in order to
accommodate increased demand if our systems cannot handle current or higher volumes of traffic.
Mismanagement of any of our services in new or existing markets or the deterioration of the quality
of our services could significantly damage our brand names and reputation and adversely impact our
ability to attract and retain customers and visitor traffic.
Our growth plans place a significant demand on our management, systems and other resources. In
addition to training and managing a growing workforce, we will need to continue to develop and
improve our financial and management controls
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and our reporting systems and procedures. We cannot
assure you that we will be able to efficiently or effectively manage the growth of our operations,
and any failure to do so may limit our future growth and have a material adverse effect on our
business, financial condition and results of operations.
The
members of our senior management team, in particular,
Mr. Vincent Tianquan Mo (Mr. Mo), our founding shareholder,
director and executive chairman, have played an important role in the growth and development of our
business, and if we are unable to continue to retain their services, our business, financial
condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
Our future success is significantly dependent upon the continued services of our senior
management. In particular, Mr. Mo has played an important role in the growth and development of our
business. To date, we have relied heavily on the expertise and experience of Mr. Mo and other
senior management personnel in our business operations, including their extensive knowledge of the
PRC real estate market, their strong reputation in the PRC real estate industry, and their
relationships with our employees, relevant regulatory authorities and many of our customers. If Mr.
Mo or other senior management personnel are unable or unwilling to continue in their present
positions, we may not be able to locate suitable or qualified replacements and may incur additional
expenses to identify their successors. In addition, if Mr. Mo or other senior management personnel
join a competitor or form a competing company, we may lose our customers, and our collaboration
arrangements may be disrupted, which would have a material adverse effect on our business,
financial condition, results of operations and prospects. We do not maintain key-man insurance for
Mr. Mo or other senior management personnel.
Failure to attract and retain qualified personnel could jeopardize our competitive position.
As our industry is characterized by high demand and intense competition for talent, we may
need to offer higher compensation and other benefits in order to attract and retain quality sales,
technical and other operational personnel in the future. We have from time to time in the past
experienced, and we expect in the future to continue to experience, difficulty in hiring and
retaining highly skilled employees with appropriate qualifications. We cannot assure you we will be
able to attract or retain the quality personnel that we need to achieve our business objectives. If
we fail to successfully attract new personnel or retain and motivate our current personnel, we may
lose competitiveness and our business, growth, profitability and prospects could be materially and
adversely affected.
We may be subject to intellectual property infringement or misappropriation claims by third
parties, which may force us to incur substantial legal expenses and, if determined adversely
against us, could materially disrupt our business.
We cannot be certain that our services and information provided on our website do not or will
not infringe patents, copyrights or other intellectual property rights held by third parties. From
time to time, we may be subject to legal proceedings and claims alleging infringement of patents,
trademarks or copyrights, or misappropriation of creative ideas or formats, or other infringement
of proprietary intellectual property rights.
In particular, if our current applications for registering our trademarks in certain relevant
industry categories are unsuccessful and we continue to use such trademarks after these or similar
trademarks have been registered by another entity, or if a holder of any registered trademark
similar to ours claims that we are infringing its trademark rights, we could potentially be subject
to civil liability for damages and faces fines, penalties or other sanctions, including forfeiture
of profits earned from illegal use of the trademark. See Loss of our right to use the SouFun
brand name, or unauthorized use of our intellectual property by third parties, and the expenses
incurred in protecting our intellectual property rights, may materially and adversely affect our
business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation. In addition, Beijing China
Index was fined RMB10,000 in 2008 by the local branch of SAIC in connection with the use of the
trade name China Index Research Institution for providing consulting services on our website. If
we continue to do so, we could be subject to additional fines, penalties or other sanctions. In
addition, we have previously been involved in disputes arising from alleged infringement of third
parties copyrights on our website, such as the use of photos or articles to which we did not have
the rights, which led to judgments against us. We could be subject to similar claims, suits or
judgments in the future if we post information to which we do not have the rights. Any such claims,
regardless of merit, may involve us in time-consuming and costly litigation or investigation and
divert significant management and staff resources. If we are found to have violated the
intellectual property rights of others, we may be enjoined from using such intellectual property
and may also be ordered to pay fines or monetary damages. As a result, we would be required to
enter into expensive royalty or licensing arrangements or to develop alternative technologies,
business methods, content or other intellectual property. We expect that the likelihood of such
claims may increase as the number of competitors in our markets grows and as related patents and
trademarks are registered and copyrights are obtained by such competitors. In addition, as we have
expanded, and may continue to expand, our business into new geographical markets, we may be exposed
to such claims in jurisdictions other than China and the scope of intellectual property protection
in these overseas jurisdictions may be different from or greater than that in China. The
intellectual property laws in
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overseas jurisdictions may also impose more stringent compliance
requirements and cause more potential damages or penalties than those in China. Such claims in
overseas jurisdictions, if successful, could require us to pay significant compensatory and
punitive damage awards as well as expose us to costly and time-consuming litigation or
investigations, all of which could materially disrupt our business and have a material adverse
effect on our growth and profitability.
We are exposed to potential liability for information on our website and for products and
services sold over the Internet and we may incur significant costs and damage to our reputation as
a result of defending against such potential liability.
We provide third-party content on our website such as real estate listings, links to
third-party websites, advertisements and content provided by users of our community-oriented
services. We could be exposed to liability with respect to such third-party information. Among
other things, we may face assertions that, by directly or indirectly providing such third-party
content or links to other websites, we should be liable for defamation, negligence, copyright or
trademark infringement, or other actions by parties providing such content or operating those
websites. We may also face assertions that content on our website, including statistics or other
data we compile internally, or information contained in websites linked to our website contains
errors or omissions, and users could seek damages for losses incurred as a result of their reliance
upon incorrect information. In addition, our website could be used as a platform for fraudulent
transactions. The measures we take to guard against liability for third-party content or
information may not be adequate to exonerate us from relevant civil and other liabilities.
Any such claims, with or without merit, could be time-consuming to defend and result in
litigation and significant diversion of managements attention and resources. Even if these claims
do not result in liability to us, we could incur significant costs in investigating and defending
against these claims and suffer damage to our reputation. Our general liability insurance may not
cover all potential claims to which we are exposed to and may not be adequate to indemnify us for
all liability that may be imposed.
Potential acquisitions, which form part of our strategy, may disrupt our ability to manage our
business effectively, including our ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses into our
existing operations.
Potential acquisitions form part of our strategy to further expand our business. Future
acquisitions and the subsequent integration of new companies or businesses will require significant
attention from our management, in particular to ensure that the acquisition does not disrupt any
existing collaborations, or affect our users opinion and perception of our services and customer
support. In addition, our management will need to ensure that the acquired business is effectively
integrated into our existing operations. The diversion of our managements attention and any
difficulties encountered in integration could have a material adverse effect on our ability to
manage our business. In addition, future acquisitions could expose us to potential risks,
including:
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risks associated with the assimilation of new operations, services, technologies and
personnel; |
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unforeseen or hidden liabilities; |
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the diversion of resources from our existing businesses and technologies; |
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the inability to generate sufficient revenues to offset the costs and expenses of
acquisitions; and |
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potential loss of, or harm to, relationships with employees, customers and users as a
result of the integration of new businesses. |
We have experienced problems with our internal controls over financial reporting. If we fail
to develop and maintain an effective system of internal controls, we may be unable to accurately
report our financial results or prevent fraud, which could result in harm to our business, loss of
investor confidence in our financial reporting and a lower trading price of our ADSs.
Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide accurate and timely financial
reports and effectively prevent fraud. We discovered in the past, and may in the future discover,
areas of our internal controls involving deficiencies, significant deficiencies or material
weaknesses that have required or will require improvements in our procedures on the preparation,
review, approval and disclosure of financial reports.
We are subject to reporting obligations under the U.S. securities laws. The SEC, as required
by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, adopted rules requiring every public company to
include a management report on such companys
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internal control over financial reporting in its
annual report, which contains managements assessment of the effectiveness of the companys
internal control over financial reporting. In addition, an independent registered public accounting
firm must attest to and report on managements assessment of the effectiveness of the companys
internal control over financial reporting. These requirements will first apply to our annual report
on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2011. Our management may conclude that our
internal control over our financial reporting is not effective. Moreover, even if our management
concludes that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, our independent
registered public accounting firm may still decline to attest to our managements assessment or may
issue a report that is qualified if it is not satisfied with our controls or the level at which our
controls are documented, designed, operated or reviewed, or if it interprets the relevant
requirements differently from us.
In
connection with the audit of our financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2010,
our independent registered public accounting firm, Ernst & Young
Hua Ming identified the following as a
material weakness involving internal control over financial
reporting: we did not have sufficient accounting personnel with an appropriate level of
knowledge, experience and training in U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting matters to properly identify,
analyze and conclude on accounting issues and to prepare financial statements in accordance with
U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting requirements. Ernst & Young Hua Ming
also identified the following as
deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting: (1) a lack of formal documentation
on transfer pricing policy; (2) a lack of formal approval and
documentation for cash management and investment activities; and (3) ineffective information
technology control environment for accounting and key business systems.
We are taking steps to remediate all significant deficiencies identified by Ernst & Young
Hua Ming. However, if we fail to timely achieve disclosure controls
and procedures on and maintain
effective internal control over financial reporting, we and our independent registered public
accounting firm may not be able to conclude that we have effective
disclosure controls
and procedures on internal control over financial reporting at a reasonable assurance level. This could in turn
result in the loss of investor confidence in the reliability of our financial statements and
negatively impact the trading price of our ADSs. In addition, if we fail to maintain the adequacy
of our internal controls, as such standards are modified, supplemented or amended from time to
time, we may not be able to provide accurate financial statements, which could cause us to fail to
meet our reporting obligations or provide accurate financial statements, and cause investors to
lose confidence in our reported financial information and have a negative effect on the trading
price of our ADSs.
Our Chairman may be forbidden from acting as a director, supervisor or as a member of senior
management of our PRC subsidiaries and consolidated controlled entities.
Due to a change in our business strategy in Tianjin and after our contribution of US$49,900
out of US$500,000 of the registered capital in 2001, we ceased business operations at SouFun
Tianjin and did not complete the contribution of registered capital to SouFun Tianjin. Failure to
contribute such registered capital is a violation of SouFun Tianjins constitutive or
organizational documents. In January 2008, the relevant SAIC authorities withdrew the business
license of SouFun Tianjin. Based on our communications with the relevant SAIC authorities, SouFun
Tianjins business license was withdrawn due to our failure to fully contribute to our committed
capital. We are currently discussing with the relevant SAIC authorities in Tianjin to dissolve
SouFun Tianjin. According to applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations, if a person, as the legal
representative of a PRC company, i.e., a member of the companys senior management so designated
in the companys constitutive documents, who bears the most corporate fiduciary duty in the
company, is liable for the revocation of the business license of such company for its illegal
conduct, such person may not serve as any PRC companys director, supervisor or senior management
personnel for a three-year period commencing from the date of such revocation of the business
license. Since Mr. Mo, our founding
shareholder, director and executive chairman, was chairman of the board of directors, general manager and legal representative of
SouFun Tianjin since its inception. Accordingly, if Mr. Mo is deemed by the relevant PRC
regulatory authorities to bear personal responsibility for this failure to fully pay such
registered capital, he may be forbidden from acting as a director, supervisor or as a member of
senior management of all our PRC subsidiaries and consolidated controlled entities for three years
up to January 2011. As of the date of this annual report, Mr. Mo has not received any notice to
that effect from any PRC regulatory authorities and his service as the director and/or as a member
of senior management of our PRC subsidiaries and consolidated controlled entities has not been
impacted or challenged by any PRC regulatory authorities. However, we cannot assure you that SAIC
will not issue such a notice or make a contrary determination as SAIC has considerable discretion
in interpreting such PRC laws, rules and regulations. Should SAIC issue such a notice or make a
contrary determination, we may not be able to locate suitable or qualified replacements and may
incur additional expenses to identify Mr. Mos successor.
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Our customers may not repay commitment deposits we have provided to them or may fail to honor
the related exclusive online marketing or listing agreements with us.
As of December 31, 2010,
we provided commitment deposits of RMB50.0 million (US$7.6 million)
to Beijing Wei Ye Hang Real Estate Agent Company (Wei Ye Hang), an independent third party in
exchange for being appointed the exclusive online marketing/listing service provider for a property
development in Hainan, China. The deposit was interest-free and was not secured by any collateral
or security interest. The deposit was to be repaid within six months after the date of receipt of
the deposit by Wei Ye Hang. Wei Ye Hang repaid the commitment deposit in full on February 1, 2011.
Going forward, we may continue to provide commitment deposits to independent third parties,
provided that the commitment deposits paid to our customers must be applied toward the specified
real estate development projects to fund their development, sales and marketing activities and
general working capital, and may not be used to pay for marketing or listing services provided by
us. Property development is a capital-intensive business and subject to various risks and
uncertainties, including those disclosed in the risk factor titled Our business could be
materially and adversely affected by fluctuations in, and government measures influencing, Chinas
real estate industry. Therefore, the ability of commitment deposit recipients to repay our
deposits at maturity will be subject to the risks associated with the property market in general
and the subject property projects in particular. Should we be unable to recover our commitment
deposits, whether due to the recipients failure to honor our contractual arrangements, such
partys bankruptcy, contractual disputes, or otherwise, we could suffer the loss of our commitment
deposits and may be unable to secure exclusive rights for the provision of online marketing or
listing services for that customers property project.
Certain of our leased property interests may be defective and we may be forced to relocate
operations affected by such defects, which could cause significant disruption to our business.
As
of March 31, 2011, we had 80 leased properties in China with an aggregate GFA of
approximately 50,854.93 sq.m. Approximately 60 of our leased properties, representing approximately
24,924 sq.m., all of which were used as offices, contained defects in the leasehold interests. Such
defects included the lack of proper title or right to lease and the landlords failure to duly
register the lease with the relevant PRC government authority.
According to PRC laws, rules and regulations, in situations where a tenant lacks evidence of
the landlords title or right to lease, the relevant lease agreement may not be valid or
enforceable under PRC laws, rules and regulations, and may also be subject to challenge by third
parties. In addition, according to PRC laws, rules and regulations, the failure to register the
lease agreement will not affect its effectiveness between the tenant and the landlord, however,
such lease agreement may be subject to challenge by and unenforceable against a third party who
leases the same property from the landlord and has duly registered the lease with the competent PRC
government authority. Furthermore, the landlord and the tenant may be subject to administrative
fines for such failure to register the lease.
We have initiated steps to cause our landlords to procure valid evidence as to the title or
right to lease, as well as to complete the lease registration procedures. However, we cannot assure
you that such defects will be cured in a timely manner or at all. Our business may be interrupted
and additional relocation costs may be incurred if we are required to relocate operations affected
by such defects. Moreover, if our lease agreements are challenged by third parties, it could result
in diversion of management attention and cause us to incur costs associated with defending such
actions, even if such challenges are ultimately determined in our favor.
We have limited business insurance coverage in China.
The insurance industry in China is still at an early stage of development and PRC insurance
companies offer only limited business insurance products. As a result, we do not have any business
disruption insurance or litigation insurance coverage for our operations in China. Any business
disruption, litigation or natural disaster may cause us to incur substantial costs and result in
the diversion of our resources, as well as significantly disrupt our operations, and have a material adverse affect
on our business and prospects.
Risks Relating to Our Corporate Structure
If the PRC government determines that the Structure Contracts that establish the structure for
our business operations do not comply with applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations, we could be
subject to severe penalties or be forced to restructure our ownership structure.
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As we are a Cayman Islands company and our PRC subsidiaries and their branch companies in
China are treated as foreign-invested enterprises under applicable PRC laws, we are subject to
ownership limitations as well as special approval requirements on foreign investment. Specifically,
foreign entities are not allowed to own more than a 50% equity interest in any PRC company
operating an ICP business and are only allowed to directly own 100% of the equity interest of a PRC
company operating an advertising business if such foreign entity has at least three years of direct
experience operating an advertising business outside China, or less than 100% of the equity
interest in the advertising business if the foreign investor has at least two years of direct
experience operating an advertising business outside China. Currently, we do not directly operate
an advertising business outside China and cannot qualify under PRC laws, rules and regulations to
invest directly in a PRC entity that provides advertising services in China and our PRC
foreign-invested subsidiaries may be prohibited from providing advertising services.
To comply with applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations, we conduct our operations in China
through a series of contractual arrangements entered into among two of our PRC subsidiaries, SouFun
Media and SouFun Network, our 11 consolidated controlled entities, and their respective
shareholders, which consist of exclusive technical consultancy and service agreements, equity
pledge agreements, operating agreements, shareholders proxy agreements, loan agreements, exclusive
call option agreements, and intra-group memoranda of understanding, each as amended. See Item 7
Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions Related Party TransactionsStructure
Contracts. As a result of these contractual arrangements, we demonstrate the ability to control
the consolidated controlled entities through our rights to all the residual benefits of the
consolidated controlled entities and our obligation to fund the losses of the consolidated
controlled entities. Accordingly, we consolidate their results in our financial statements. Our
consolidated controlled entities hold the licenses and approvals that are essential to the
operation of our Internet content distribution and advertising businesses. As certain agreements
with our customers for Internet content distribution and advertising services were entered into
directly with our PRC subsidiaries and not our consolidated controlled entities, there can be no
assurance that the PRC government will not deem our Internet content distribution and advertising
business to be in violation of applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations.
On July 26, 2006, MIIT publicly released the Notice on Strengthening the Administration of
Foreign Investment in Operating Value-Added Telecommunications Business, or the MIIT Notice, which
reiterates certain provisions under Chinas Administrative Rules on Foreign-Invested
Telecommunications Enterprises prohibiting, among others, the renting, transferring or sale of a
telecommunications license to foreign investors in any form. Under the MIIT Notice, holders of
valued-added telecommunications business operating licenses, or their shareholders, must also
directly own the domain names and trademarks used by such license holders in their daily
operations. To comply with this requirement under the MIIT Notice, we terminated the trademark
license agreements and domain name license agreements between Beijing Advertising and us as well as
those between Beijing Internet and us in August 2006. As of December 31, 2010, we have assigned all
registered trademarks, trademark applications and domain names relating to SouFun and Jia Tian
Xia to the relevant consolidated controlled entities in order to maintain their respective ICP
licenses to operate as value-added telecommunication service providers. Since there is currently no
official interpretation or implementation practice under the MIIT Notice, it remains uncertain how
the MIIT Notice will be enforced and whether or to what extent the MIIT Notice may affect the
legality of the corporate structures and contractual arrangements adopted by foreign-invested
Internet companies, such as ours, that operate in China. See Item 7 Major Shareholders and Related
Party TransactionsRelated Party Transactions.
If the past or current ownership structures, Structure Contracts and businesses of our
Company, our PRC subsidiaries and our consolidated controlled entities are found to be in violation
of any existing or future PRC laws, rules or regulations, MIIT and other relevant PRC regulatory
authorities would have broad discretion in dealing with such violations, including:
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revoking the business and operating licenses of our PRC subsidiaries or consolidated
controlled entities, whose business and operating licenses are essential to the
operation of our business; |
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levying fines of the greater of RMB500,000 or an amount up to five times the revenues
generated from operating activities violating the relevant regulations; |
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confiscating our income or the income of our PRC subsidiaries and/or consolidated
controlled entities; |
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shutting down our servers or blocking our website; |
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discontinuing or restricting our operations or the operations of our PRC subsidiaries
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imposing conditions or requirements with which we, our PRC subsidiaries and/or
consolidated controlled entities may not be able to comply; |
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requiring us, our PRC subsidiaries and/or consolidated controlled entities to
restructure the relevant ownership structure, operations or contractual arrangements;
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taking other regulatory or enforcement actions that could be harmful to our business. |
We cannot assure you that the relevant PRC regulatory authorities will not require that we
restructure our Structure Contracts to comply with the MIIT Notice or that we can restructure our
ownership structure without material disruption to our business. In addition, new PRC laws, rules
and regulations may be introduced to impose additional requirements that may be applicable to our
corporate structure and contractual arrangements. The imposition of any of these penalties and the
effect of any new PRC laws, rules and regulations applicable to our corporate structure and
contractual arrangements could materially disrupt our ability to conduct our business and have a
material adverse affect on our financial condition and results of operations.
We may lose the ability to utilize assets held by our consolidated controlled entities that
are important to the operation of our business if any of these entities goes bankrupt or becomes
subject to a dissolution or liquidation proceeding.
Our wholly-owned subsidiaries, SouFun Media and SouFun Network, are considered
foreign-invested enterprises in China and are, therefore, not permitted under the current PRC laws,
rules and regulations to hold the ICP licenses and to operate the advertising businesses that are
critical to our operations. As a result, our consolidated controlled entities are the holders of
the ICP licenses required for operating our website and our advertising business in China. We do
not have any direct or indirect shareholding interests in these consolidated controlled entities.
They are instead held directly or indirectly by Mr. Mo, our founder and executive chairman, and
Richard Jiangong Dai (Mr. Dai), our president and chief executive officer who is our director of
our Company. Mr. Dai is a nephew of Mr. Mo. Both Mr. Mo and Mr. Dai are PRC citizens. Through the
Structure Contracts, we demonstrate management, financial and voting control over these
consolidated controlled entities through our rights to all the residual benefits of the
consolidated controlled entities and our obligation to fund losses of the consolidated controlled
entities and also have a contractual right, to the extent permitted by PRC laws, rules and
regulations, to acquire the equity interests in these entities. Consequently, if any of these
consolidated controlled entities goes bankrupt and all or part of its assets become subject to
liens or rights of third-party creditors, we may be unable to continue some or all of our business activities, which could materially and
adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. If any of our
consolidated controlled entities undergoes a voluntary or involuntary liquidation proceeding, the
shareholders or unrelated third-party creditors may claim rights to some or all of these assets,
thereby hindering our ability to operate our business, which could materially and adversely affect
our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Contractual or other arrangements among our affiliates may be subject to scrutiny by PRC tax
authorities, and a finding that we or our affiliates owe additional taxes could substantially
reduce our profitability and the value of your investment.
As a result of the Structure Contracts, we are entitled to substantially all of the economic
benefits of ownership of the consolidated controlled entities and also bear substantially all of
the economic risks associated with consolidated controlled entities. If the PRC tax authorities
determine that the economic terms, including pricing, of our arrangements with our consolidated
controlled entities were not determined on an arms length basis, we could be subject to
significant additional tax liabilities. In particular, the PRC tax authorities may perform a
transfer pricing adjustment, which could result in a reduction, for PRC tax purposes, of deductions
recorded by our consolidated controlled entities. Such a reduction could increase the tax
liabilities of our consolidated controlled entities without reducing the tax liabilities of our PRC
subsidiaries. This increased tax liability could further result in late payment fees and other
penalties to our consolidated controlled entities for underpaid taxes. Ernst & Young Hua Ming, our
registered independent public accounting firm, in their audit of our financial statements included
in this annual report, have also identified our lack of formal documentation on such transfer
pricing policy to be a deficiency in our internal control over financial reporting. See Risks
Relating to Our Business We have experienced problems with our internal controls over financial
reporting. If we fail to develop and maintain an effective system of internal controls, we may be
unable to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud, which could result in harm to
our business, loss of investor confidence in our financial reporting and a lower trading price of
our ADSs. Any payments we make under these arrangements or any adjustments in payments under these
arrangements that we may make in the future will be subject to the same risk. Any of these events
could materially reduce our net income.
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Contractual arrangements, including voting proxies, with our consolidated controlled entities
for our Internet content distribution and marketing businesses may not be as effective in providing
operational control as direct or indirect ownership.
Since the applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations restrict foreign ownership in the
Internet content distribution and marketing businesses, we conduct our Internet content
distribution and advertising businesses and derive related revenues through the Structure Contracts
with our consolidated controlled entities. As we have no direct or indirect ownership interest in
our consolidated controlled entities, these Structure Contracts, including the voting proxies
granted to us, may not be as effective in providing us with control over these companies as direct
or indirect ownership. If we were the controlling shareholders of these companies with direct or
indirect ownership, we would be able to exercise our rights as shareholders to effect changes in
the board of directors, which in turn could effect change, subject to any applicable fiduciary
obligations, at the management level. However, pursuant to the Structure Contracts, if any of our
consolidated controlled entities or their shareholders fail to perform their obligations under
these contractual arrangements, we may be forced to (i) incur substantial costs and resources to
enforce such arrangements, including the voting proxies, and (ii) rely on legal remedies available
under PRC law, including exercising our call option right over the equity interests in our
consolidated controlled entities, seeking specific performance or injunctive relief, and claiming
monetary damages. In addition, pursuant to these Structure Contracts, if Mr. Mo or Mr. Dai were to
terminate their employment with us, they would be obligated to transfer their respective share
ownership in any of our consolidated controlled entities to us or our designee. If Mr. Mo or Mr.
Dai were to refuse to effect such a transfer, or if they were otherwise to act in bad faith toward
us, then we may have to take legal action to compel them to fulfill their contractual obligations.
In the event that we are unable to enforce these contractual arrangements, or if we suffer
significant time delays or other obstacles in the process of enforcing these contractual
arrangements, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and
adversely affected.
We are controlled by our significant shareholders and their affiliated entities, whose
interests may differ from our other shareholders.
As of December 31, 2010, Media Partner Technology Limited, or Media Partner, also one of our
corporate shareholders whose shares are held in an irrevocable discretionary trust established by
Mr. Mo, and Next Decade together hold approximately 29.5% of our outstanding share capital and
approximately 71.4% of our voting power under our dual-class ordinary share structure, and are our
largest shareholders. General Atlantic and Apax each holds approximately 20.2% of our outstanding
share capital and approximately 5.1% of our voting power immediately following the completion of
our initial public offering. In addition, Next Decade has also entered into a call option agreement
with General Atlantic and a call option agreement with Apax pursuant to which Next Decade has the
option to purchase 987,656 Class A ordinary shares from each of them at any time during the
two-year period after the closing of our initial public offering. Media Partner and Next Decade
together, as our largest shareholders, could exert substantial influence over the outcome of any
corporate transaction or other matters submitted to the shareholders for approval, including
mergers, consolidations, the sale of all or substantially all of our assets, election of directors
and other significant corporate actions. This concentration of ownership may also discourage, delay
or prevent a change in control of our Company, which could deprive our shareholders of an
opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our Company and might reduce
the price of our ADSs. These actions may be taken even if they are opposed by our other
shareholders, including the investors in the ADSs.
The continuing cooperation of our significant shareholders on an on-going basis, including
Media Partner and Next Decade, is important to our businesses. Without their consent or
cooperation, we could be prevented from entering into transactions or conducting business that
could be beneficial to us. We cannot assure you, however, that the interests of our significant
shareholders would not differ from the interests of our other shareholders, including investors in
the ADSs.
Risks Relating to China
Chinas economic, political and social conditions, as well as government policies, could have
a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business and operations are primarily conducted in China. Accordingly, our financial
condition and results of operations have been, and are expected to continue to be, affected by the
economic, political and social developments in relation to the Internet, online marketing and real
estate industries in China. A slowdown of economic growth in China could reduce the sale of real
estate and related products and services, which in turn could materially and adversely affect our
business, financial condition and results of operations.
The PRC economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects,
including: a higher level of government involvement; the on-going development of a market-oriented
economy; a rapid growth rate; a higher level of control over foreign exchange; and a less efficient
allocation of resources.
While the PRC economy has experienced significant growth since the late 1970s, growth has been
uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy. The PRC government has
implemented various measures to
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encourage economic growth and guide the allocation of resources. These measures are intended to benefit the overall PRC economy, but may also have a negative effect
on us. For example, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely
affected by PRC government control over capital investments or changes in tax regulations that are
applicable to us.
The PRC economy has been transitioning from a centrally-planned economy to a more
market-oriented economy. Although the PRC government has implemented measures since the late 1970s
which emphasize the utilization of market forces for economic reform, the PRC government continues
to play a significant role in regulating industry development by imposing industrial policies. The
PRC government also exercises significant control over Chinas economic growth through the allocation of
resources, controlling payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy
and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies.
The discontinuation of any of the preferential tax treatments currently available to us in
China could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations
Prior to January 1, 2008, our PRC subsidiaries were governed by the PRC Enterprise Income Tax
Law Concerning Foreign-Invested Enterprises and Foreign Enterprises, or the Old EIT Law, and
generally subject to enterprise income taxes at a statutory rate of 33.0%, which consists of a
30.0% national income tax and 3.0% local income tax. Under the PRC enterprise income tax law that
existed prior to January 1, 2008, or the Old EIT Law, some of our subsidiaries were qualified for
preferential tax treatment upon satisfying certain criteria. For example, SouFun Media and SouFun
Network each obtained a new and high technology enterprise certificate, which entitled them to a
preferential income tax rate of 15.0% and an exemption from foreign enterprise income tax for three
years starting from the calendar years of 2003 and 2006, respectively. These companies are also
entitled to a 50.0% tax reduction for the three years beginning from 2006 and 2009, respectively.
In March 2007, the National Peoples Congress of China enacted the PRC Enterprise Income Tax
Law, or the New EIT Law, which became effective on January 1, 2008. Under the New EIT Law, all
foreign-invested enterprises and domestic enterprises, including our subsidiaries and consolidated
controlled entities, are subject to enterprise income tax at a uniform rate of 25.0% if no
preferential tax policy is applicable. The New EIT Law also provided for a transition period
commencing January 1, 2008 for those enterprises which were established before the promulgation of
the New EIT Law and were entitled to preferential tax treatment such as a reduced tax rate or a tax
holiday. Based on the transitional rule, foreign-invested enterprises located in Shenzhen Special
Economic Zone and Shanghai Zhangjiang High Technology Park, such as SouFun Shenzhen and SouFun
Shanghai, which previously enjoyed a preferential tax rate of 15.0%, are eligible for a five-year
transition period during which the income tax rate will be gradually increased to the unified rate
of 25.0%. The applicable rates for SouFun Shenzhen and SouFun Shanghai would be 18.0%, 20.0%,
22.0%, 24.0% and 25.0% in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, respectively, and 25.0% thereafter. As a
result of these changes in tax rates, our profitability, net income and earnings per share may be
affected by the increase in the enterprise income tax rate.
In April 2008, the relevant PRC governmental authorities released qualification criteria and
application and assessment procedures for high and new technology enterprises strongly supported
by the state, which would be entitled to a statutory tax rate of 15.0%. Currently, five of our PRC
subsidiaries or consolidated controlled entities are qualified as high and new technology
enterprises strongly supported by the state. We cannot assure you that our PRC subsidiaries or
consolidated controlled entities will continue to be entitled to preferential tax rates as
qualified high and new technology enterprises strongly supported by the state under the New EIT
Law. We also cannot assure you that the tax authorities will not, in the future, discontinue any of
our preferential tax treatments, potentially with retroactive effect. In the event that
preferential tax treatment for any of our subsidiaries or consolidated controlled entities is
discontinued, the affected entity will become subject to a 25.0% standard enterprise income tax
rate, which would increase our income tax expenses and could materially reduce our net income and
profitability.
On April 21, 2010, the State Administration of Taxation, or SAT, issued Circular 157, or
Circular 157, which stated that enterprises recognized as high and new technology enterprises
strongly supported by the state and eligible to enjoy the grandfathering treatments such as a
two-year exemption from enterprise income tax followed by a three-year half reduction of enterprise
income tax under a 2007 circular No. 39, or Circular 39, may choose (i) the reduced tax rate of
15.0% applicable to high and new technology enterprises strongly supported by the state or (ii)
the tax exemption/reduction based on the tax rates in the grandfathering period as stated in
Circular 39. They are not allowed to enjoy the 50.0% reduction of enterprise income tax calculated
based on the preferential tax rate for high and new technology enterprises strongly supported by
the state of 15.0%. Circular 157 applies retroactively from January 1, 2008.
As a consequence of Circular 157, the income tax rates we used in our audited consolidated
financial statements for SouFun Network, Beijing Technology and Beijing JTX Technology, as high and new technology enterprises strongly supported by the state, were 10.0%,
10.0% and 0% for 2009, respectively, and 11.0%, 11.0% and 11.0% for 2010, respectively, instead of 7.5%, 7.5% and 0% for 2009,
respectively, and 7.5%, 7.5% and 7.5% for 2010, respectively. As we believe Circular 157 is similar to a
change in tax law and should be retroactive from January 1, 2009 an additional tax expense of US$7.5 million was recognized in the year
2010 to account for the cumulative effect of Circular 157 for the two years ended December 31, 2010. This additional tax expense consists of
current income tax expense of US$4.8 million and deferred tax expense of US$2.7 million. We are in the process of discussing the
settlement procedures for the additional tax required under Circular 157.
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We may be treated as a resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes under the New EIT Law and
therefore be subject to PRC taxation on our worldwide income.
We are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. Under the New EIT Law and its
implementation rules, an enterprise incorporated in a foreign country or region may be classified
as either a non-resident enterprise or a resident enterprise. If any enterprise incorporated in
a foreign country or region has its de facto management bodies located within the PRC territory,
such enterprise will be considered a PRC tax resident enterprise and thus will normally be subject
to enterprise income tax at the rate of 25.0% on its worldwide income. The relevant implementing
rules provide that de facto management bodies means the bodies which exercise substantial and
overall management and control over the manufacturing and business operation, personnel,
accounting, properties and other factors of an enterprise. In April 2009, SAT issued a Notice
Regarding the Determination of Chinese-Controlled Offshore-Incorporated Enterprises as PRC Tax
Resident Enterprises on the Basis of De Facto Management Bodies, or Circular 82, which sets forth
certain specific criteria for determining whether the de facto management body of a
Chinese-controlled offshore-incorporated enterprise is located in China. However, Circular 82 only
applies to offshore enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises and not those controlled by PRC
individuals or foreigners in China, such as our Company. See Item 10 Additional
InformationTaxationRegulation of Foreign Exchange, Taxation and Dividend DistributionTaxation
and Dividend Distribution. Substantially all of the members of our management are currently
located in China and we expect them to continue to be located in China. Due to the lack of clear
guidance on the criteria pursuant to which the PRC tax authorities will determine our tax residency
under the New EIT Law, it remains unclear whether the PRC tax authorities will treat us as a PRC
resident enterprise. As a result, King & Wood, our PRC legal
counsel, is unable to express an opinion as to the
likelihood that we will be subject to the tax applicable to resident enterprises or non-resident
enterprises under the New EIT Law. If we are deemed to be a PRC tax resident enterprise, we will be
subject to an enterprise income tax rate of 25.0% on our worldwide income. The New EIT Law provides
that dividend income between qualified resident enterprises is exempted income, which the
implementing rules have clarified to mean a dividend derived by a resident enterprise on equity
interest it directly owns in another resident enterprise. It is possible, therefore, that dividends
we receive through Bravo Work and Max Impact from SouFun Media, SouFun Network and Beijing Zhong
Zhi Shi Zheng, would be exempt income under the New EIT Law and its implementing rules if each of
Bravo Work and Max Impact is deemed to be a resident enterprise. If we are deemed to be a PRC tax
resident enterprise, we would then be obliged to withhold PRC withholding income tax on the gross
amount of dividends we pay to shareholders who are non-PRC tax residents. The withholding income
tax rate is 10.0%, unless otherwise provided under the applicable double tax treaties between China
and the governments of other jurisdictions. If the PRC tax authority determines that we and some of
other subsidiaries, such as Bravo Work and Max Impact are PRC resident enterprises, we and such
subsidiaries may be subject to enterprise income tax at the rate of 25.0% as to our global income,
which could have an impact on our effective tax rate and an adverse effect on our net income and
results of operations.
We rely primarily on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our subsidiaries, and
any limitation on the ability of our subsidiaries to make payments to us could have a material
adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business as well as our liquidity.
As a holding company, we rely primarily on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by
our subsidiaries for our cash and financing requirements, which include funds necessary to pay
dividends and other cash distributions to our shareholders, service any debt we may incur and to
pay our operating expenses. If our subsidiaries incur debt in the future, the instruments governing
the debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends or make other distributions to us.
Our subsidiaries are entities incorporated and established in China and therefore, are subject
to certain limitations with respect to dividend payments. PRC regulations currently allow payment
of dividends only out of accumulated profits determined in accordance with accounting standards and
regulations in China. Each year, Beijing Information, which is a joint venture and one of our
subsidiaries, is required to set aside a percentage, as decided by its board of directors, of its
after-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards, to its reserve fund, enterprise development
fund and employee incentive and welfare fund. Each of our other subsidiaries in China and our
consolidated controlled entities are also required to allocate a portion of their after-tax profits
to their respective reserve funds, until the reserve reaches 50.0% of the companys registered
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capital. Allocations to these reserves and funds can only be used for specific purposes and are not
transferable to us in the form of loans, advances or cash dividends. Such restrictions on the
ability of our subsidiaries and consolidated controlled entities to transfer funds to us could
adversely limit our ability to grow, pay dividends, make investments or acquisitions that could
benefit our businesses or otherwise fund and conduct our businesses.
Under the relevant PRC tax law applicable to us prior to January 1, 2008, dividend payments to
foreign investors made by foreign-invested enterprises were exempted from PRC withholding tax.
However, under the New EIT Law and its implementing rules, non-resident enterprises without an
establishment in China, or whose income has no connection with their institutions and establishment
inside China, are subject to withholding tax at the rate of 10.0% with respect to their PRC-sourced
dividend income, subject to applicable tax agreements or treaties between the PRC and other tax
jurisdictions. Similarly, any gains realized on the transfer of shares by such investors are also
subject to a 10.0% PRC income tax if such gains are regarded as income from sources within China.
According to the Mainland and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Arrangement on the
Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income,
or the Tax Agreement, dividends paid by a foreign-invested enterprise in mainland China to its
corporate shareholder in Hong Kong will be subject to withholding tax at a maximum rate of 5.0%,
provided however that such Hong Kong company directly owns at least 25.0% of the equity interest in
the mainland foreign-invested enterprise. However, under the New EIT Law and its implementation
rules, as well as Circular No. 601 issued by SAT in October 2009, or Circular 601, dividends from
our PRC subsidiaries paid to us through our Hong Kong subsidiaries may be subject to withholding
tax at a rate of 10.0% if our Hong Kong subsidiaries cannot be considered as a beneficial owner.
Bravo Work, a company we incorporated in Hong Kong in October 2007, currently holds all the
equity interest in SouFun Media and SouFun Network. Max Impact, a company we incorporated in Hong
Kong in October 2007, currently holds all the equity interest in Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi Zheng.
Neither we nor King & Wood, our PRC legal counsel, is certain as to whether it is more likely than not that PRC
tax authorities would require or permit Bravo Work and Max Impact, our Hong Kong subsidiaries, to
be treated as PRC resident enterprises. To the extent that Bravo Work and Max Impact are each
considered a non-resident enterprise under the Tax Agreement, dividends paid by SouFun Media,
SouFun Network and Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi Zheng, to Bravo Work and Max Impact, respectively, may be
subject to a maximum withholding tax rate of 10.0%. See Item 10 Additional
InformationTaxationRegulation of Foreign Exchange, Taxation and Dividend DistributionTaxation
and Dividend Distribution.
The discontinuation of the previously available exemption from withholding tax as a result of
the New EIT Law and its implementing rules have and will increase our income tax expenses and
reduce our net income, and may materially reduce our profitability.
SouFun Media, SouFun Network, Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi Zheng and the relevant consolidated
controlled entities may be subject to fines and legal or administrative sanctions in connection
with dividend distributions we made between December 2007 and June 2009.
On
December 12, 2007, our then board of directors adopted resolutions to declare dividends in the
aggregate of RMB350.0 million to our shareholders. Our then
existing shareholders subsequently agreed that the
amount of the dividends be reduced to RMB300.0 million. In addition, on February 20, 2009, our
then board of directors adopted additional resolutions to declare additional dividends in the aggregate
of RMB300.0 million to our shareholders. Following these resolutions, between December 2007 and
June 2009, we directed our wholly-owned subsidiaries, SouFun Media and SouFun Network, and the
entities authorized by SouFun Media or SouFun Network, as the case may be, including Beijing Zhong
Zhi Shi Zheng and consolidated controlled entities such as Beijing Internet, Beijing Technology,
Beijing China Index, Beijing Advertising and Beijing JTX Technology, to pay an aggregate of
RMB300.2 million in dividends payable by us to accounts in China designated by our then existing
shareholders for the receipt of such dividend payments. The RMB 300.2 million dividend payments
were recorded on SouFun Medias and SouFun Networks accounts as other receivables due from us and
are deemed as non-interest bearing loans from SouFun Media or SouFun Network to us, which are
treated in China as loans to an overseas borrower. The dividend payments paid through Beijing Zhong
Zhi Shi Zheng or consolidated controlled entities were recorded on SouFun Medias and SouFun
Networks accounts as other payables to Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi Zheng and such consolidated
controlled entities, which are treated in China as loans to domestic borrowers.
Pursuant to the General Lending Code implemented in August 1996 by the Peoples Bank of China,
or PBOC, the central bank of China, commercial lending in China must be made by or through a
PRC-qualified financial institution as defined under the General Lending Code. As none of the
payors is or was at the relevant time a PRC-qualified financial institution as defined under the
General Lending Code, PBOC may impose a fine for non-compliance on each of the payors in
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an amount
equal to one to five times the value of any income received from its non-compliance, and the payors
may be required to terminate such loans. If PBOC instructs these entities to terminate such
overseas loans and domestic loans, we have to fully repay the overseas loans from SouFun Media and
SouFun Network, and SouFun Media and SouFun Network have to fully repay the domestic loans to
Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi Zheng and such consolidated controlled entities.
Moreover, pursuant to the PRC Foreign Currency Administration Regulations promulgated by the
State Council in January 1996, as amended, a PRC entity is required to apply for PRC SAFE, approval
prior to extending commercial loans to offshore entities such as our Company. As there is no
specific definition of commercial loans under the Foreign Currency Administration Regulations and
PRC governmental authorities have not issued any implementation rules with respect to the provision
of commercial loans to offshore entities. Accordingly, it is not clear whether such provision will
be applied to the non-interest bearing loans described above. According to the Foreign Currency
Administration Regulations, an entity may be required to correct the violation and be subject to a
warning and/or a fine of up to RMB300,000 for the violation of the foreign registration
administrative regulations. If SAFE determines that the PRC Foreign Currency Administration
Regulations do apply to us, it may require SouFun Media and SouFun Network to register the overseas
loans to us and require us to rectify any prior non-compliance by properly obtaining SAFE approval.
SAFE may also impose a warning and/or fine of up to RMB300,000 based on the PRC Foreign Currency
Administration Regulations. We cannot assure you that SouFun Media and SouFun Network will be able
to complete the necessary registration and filing procedures required by the PRC Foreign Currency
Administration Regulations. In addition, it is not clear whether SAFE may consider the making of
payments in Renminbi which should have been made in foreign currency to be foreign currency
arbitrage, which may be deemed a violation and may subject a violator to warnings, penalties or
other sanctions. Due to a general uncertainty over the interpretation and implementation of the PRC
Foreign Currency Administration Regulations as well as the broad enforcement discretion granted to
SAFE, we cannot ensure that we, SouFun Media or SouFun Network will not be subject to such
warnings, penalties or other administrative penalties resulting from the overseas loans.
According to the New EIT Law, loan arrangements between related parties without interest are
not considered arms-length transactions. Therefore, the PRC taxation authorities could impose
enterprise income and business taxes on SouFun Media, SouFun Network, Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi Zheng and the
relevant consolidated controlled entities for the deemed interest income with regard to the
arrangements for the overseas and domestic loans. The deemed interest rate would be determined by
reference to the lending rate over the relevant period published by PBOC. We intend to fully repay
such loans to SouFun Media and SouFun Network before June 30, 2011, but we cannot assure you that
we will not be subject to fines, or legal or administrative sanctions as a result of non-compliance
with the General Lending Code and the Foreign Currency Administration Regulations. Further, we
cannot assure you that the PRC taxation authorities will not impose enterprise income and business
taxes on SouFun Media, SouFun Network, Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi Zheng and the relevant variable
interest entities for any deemed interest income with respect to these loans.
King
& Wood, our PRC legal counsel, has advised us that SouFun Media, SouFun Network, Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi
Zheng and our consolidated controlled entities may be subject to fines and legal or administrative
sanctions in connection with any dividend distributions they make. However, because the applicable
PRC laws, rules and regulations do not provide clear definitions for several key terms and because
the relevant PRC regulatory authorities have significant discretion on the interpretation of such
matters, neither we nor King & Wood, our PRC legal counsel, are able to predict the likelihood that the risks
described here will be realized.
The PRC legal system embodies uncertainties, which could limit the legal protections available
to you and us.
In 1979, the PRC government began to promulgate a comprehensive system of laws and regulations
governing economic matters in general. The overall effect of legislation over the past 30 years has
significantly enhanced the protections afforded to various forms of foreign investment in China.
Our PRC operating subsidiaries include one Sino-foreign equity joint venture and several
wholly-foreign-owned enterprises, including SouFun Media and SouFun Network, which are each
wholly-owned by Bravo Work, a company incorporated in Hong Kong. These PRC subsidiaries are subject
to laws and regulations applicable to foreign-invested enterprises in China. In particular, they
are subject to PRC laws, rules and regulations governing foreign companies ownership and operation
of Internet content distribution and advertising businesses as well as of the real estate sector.
Such laws and regulations are subject to change, and their interpretation and enforcement involve
uncertainties, which could limit the legal protections available to us and our investors. In
addition, we cannot predict the effect of future developments in the PRC legal system, including
the promulgation of new laws, changes to existing laws or the interpretation or enforcement of such
laws, or the preemption of local regulations by PRC laws, rules and regulations.
Moreover, China has a civil law system based on written statutes, which, unlike common law
systems, is a system in which decided judicial cases have little precedential value. Furthermore,
interpretation of statutes and regulations may be subject to government policies reflecting
domestic political changes. The relative inexperience of Chinas judiciary in many cases creates
additional uncertainty as to the outcome of litigation. In addition, enforcement of existing laws
or contracts based
23
on existing laws may be uncertain and sporadic, and it may be difficult to
obtain swift and equitable enforcement within China. All such uncertainties could materially and
adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Government control of currency conversion may limit our ability to utilize our revenues
effectively.
Substantially all of our revenues and operating expenses are denominated in Renminbi. Under
applicable PRC law, the Renminbi is freely convertible to foreign currencies with respect to
current account transactions, but not with respect to capital account transactions. Current
account transactions include ordinary course import or export transactions, payments for services
rendered and payments of license fees, royalties, interest on loans and dividends. Capital account
transactions include cross-border investments and repayments of the principal of loans.
Our PRC subsidiaries currently may purchase foreign currencies for settlement of current
account transactions, including payment of dividends to us. As of December 31, 2010, we had
dividends totaling RMB299.8 million (US$39.6 million), which remain outstanding. If we endeavor to fund the
payment of these outstanding dividends to our shareholders through license fees from our operating
income or from the distribution of dividends from our PRC subsidiaries, our PRC subsidiaries may
also need to purchase foreign currencies for settlement of current account transactions. See Item 5
Operating and Financial Review and ProspectsLiquidity and Capital Resources. Our PRC
subsidiaries may also retain foreign exchange in their current accounts, subject to a ceiling
approved by SAFE, to satisfy foreign exchange liabilities or to pay dividends. However, we cannot
assure you that the relevant PRC governmental authorities will not limit or eliminate the ability
of our PRC subsidiaries to purchase and retain foreign currencies in the future.
Foreign exchange transactions under the capital account are still subject to limitations and
require approvals from or registration with SAFE. This could affect our PRC subsidiaries ability
to obtain debt or equity financing from outside China, including by means of loans or capital
contributions from us.
Since substantially all of our future revenues will be denominated in Renminbi, including fees
and payments from our PRC consolidated controlled entities pursuant to the Structure Contracts,
existing and future restrictions on currency exchange may limit our ability to utilize revenues
generated in Renminbi to fund expenditures denominated in foreign currencies, including any
dividends that our PRC subsidiaries may pay to us in the future.
If SAFE determines that its foreign exchange regulations apply to us and our shareholding
structure, a failure by our shareholders who are PRC citizens or residents to comply with these
regulations may restrict our ability to distribute profits, restrict our overseas and cross-border
investment activities or subject us to liability under PRC laws, which may materially and adversely
affect our business and prospects.
In October 2005, SAFE issued the Notice on Issues Relating to the Administration of Foreign
Exchange in Fundraising and Return Investment Activities of Domestic Residents Conducted via
Offshore Special Purpose Companies, which became effective as of November 1, 2005, which was
supplemented by an implementing notice issued on November 24, 2005. We refer to them collectively
as Notice 75. Under Notice 75, PRC residents and citizens must register with the relevant local
SAFE branch prior to their establishment or control of an offshore entity established for the
purpose of an overseas equity financing involving onshore assets or equity interests held by them,
and must also make filings with SAFE thereafter upon the occurrence of certain material capital
changes. The registration and filing procedures under Notice 75 are prerequisites for other
approval and registration procedures necessary for capital inflow from the offshore entity, such as
inbound investments or shareholders loans, or capital outflow to the offshore entity, such as the
payment of profits or dividends, liquidating distributions, equity sale proceeds or the return of
funds upon a capital reduction.
For example, the shares of Media Partner and Next Decade, two of our direct shareholders, are
held in irrevocable discretionary family trusts established by Mr. Mo. Mr. Mo completed the
transfer of his equity ownership to these irrevocable discretionary family trusts, of which Mr. Mo
has represented that none of the trustees and beneficial owners is a PRC resident. We have been
unable to obtain confirmation from SAFE as to whether Notice 75, in fact, applies to us or our
shareholders due to the fact that, in the case of Mr. Mo, before the establishment of the family
trusts, Mr. Mo was our indirect shareholder. Due to the uncertainty over how Notice 75 will be
interpreted and implemented, we cannot predict how it will affect our business operations or future
strategies. In addition, if SAFE determines that Notice 75 does apply to us, our present and
prospective PRC subsidiaries ability to conduct foreign exchange activities, such as any
remittance of dividends or foreign currency-denominated borrowings, may be subject to compliance
with Notice 75 requirements of our PRC resident shareholders. We cannot assure you that our PRC
resident shareholders will be able to complete the necessary registration and filing procedures
required by Notice 75. If Notice 75 is determined to apply to us or any of our PRC resident
shareholders, a failure by any of our shareholders or beneficiary owners to comply with Notice 75
may subject the relevant shareholders or beneficiaries to penalties under PRC foreign exchange
administrative regulations, and may subject us to fines or legal
24
sanctions, restrict our overseas
or cross-border investment activities, limit our subsidiaries ability to make distributions or pay
dividends or affect our ownership structure, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and
liquidity as well as our ability to pay dividends or make other distributions to our shareholders.
We may be subject to fines and legal or administrative sanctions if we or our PRC citizen
employees fail to comply with PRC regulations with respect to the registration of such employees
share options and restricted share units.
Pursuant to the Implementation Rules of the Administration Measure for Individual Foreign
Exchange, issued in January 2007 by SAFE and the relevant guidance issued by SAFE in March 2007,
PRC domestic individuals who have been granted shares or share options by an overseas listed
company according to its employee share option or share incentive plan are required, through the
PRC subsidiary of such overseas-listed company or other qualified PRC agents, to register with SAFE
and complete certain other procedures related to the share option or other share incentive plan.
Accordingly, our employees who are PRC nationals resident in China that have been granted share
options will be subject to these rules upon the listing of our ADSs on the New York Stock Exchange
and their foreign exchange income from the sale of shares or dividends distributed by us as an
overseas-listed company must be remitted into China. In addition, we, our PRC subsidiaries or other
qualified PRC agent are required to appoint an asset manager or administrator and a custodian bank,
as well as to open a foreign currency account to handle transactions relating to the share option
or other share incentive plan. If we or our PRC option holders fail to comply with these rules, we
may be subject to fines up to RMB300,000 and other legal or administrative sanctions. See Item 4
Information on the CompanyBusiness OverviewRegulationRegulations relating to Employee Share
Options.
Fluctuations in the exchange rates of the Renminbi could materially and adversely affect the
value of our shares or ADSs and result in foreign currency exchange losses.
Substantially all of our revenues, cash and cash equivalent assets, costs and expenses, are
denominated in Renminbi, while a portion of our expenditures are denominated in foreign currencies,
primarily the U.S. dollar. Although, in general, our exposure to foreign exchange risks should be
limited, the value of your investment in our ADSs will be affected by the foreign exchange rate
between U.S. dollars and Renminbi as substantially all of our revenues and expenses are denominated
in Renminbi and the functional currency of our principal operating subsidiaries and consolidated
controlled entities is the Renminbi, although we use the U.S. dollar as our functional and
reporting currency and the ADSs will be traded in U.S. dollars. As a result, fluctuations in
exchange rates, particularly those involving the U.S. dollar, may affect our costs and operating
margins. Where our operations conducted in Renminbi are reported in U.S. dollars, appreciation or
depreciation in the value of the Renminbi relative to the U.S. dollar and other foreign currencies
without giving effect to any underlying change in our business or results of operations.
The exchange rates between the Renminbi and the U.S. dollar and other foreign currencies are
affected by, among other things, changes in Chinas political and economic conditions. In July
2005, the PRC government discontinued pegging the Renminbi to the U.S. dollar. However, PBOC
regularly intervenes in the foreign exchange market to prevent significant short-term fluctuations
in the exchange rate. Nevertheless, under Chinas current exchange rate regime, the Renminbi may
appreciate or depreciate significantly in value against the U.S. dollar in the medium to long term.
Moreover, it is possible that in the future the PRC authorities may lift restrictions on
fluctuations in the Renminbi exchange rate and lessen intervention in the foreign exchange market.
Fluctuations in the exchange rate will also affect the relative value of any dividend we declare
and distribute that will be exchanged into U.S. dollars and earnings from and the value of any U.S.
dollar-denominated investments we make in the future. To the extent that we need to convert future
financing proceeds into Renminbi for our operations, any appreciation of the Renminbi against the
relevant foreign currencies would materially reduce the Renminbi amounts we would receive from the
conversion. On the other hand, if we decide to convert our Renminbi into U.S. dollars for the
purpose of making payments of dividends on our shares or for other business purposes when the U.S.
dollar appreciates against the Renminbi, the amounts of U.S. dollars we would receive from such
conversion would be reduced. In addition, any depreciation of our U.S. dollar-denominated monetary
assets could result in a charge to our income statement and a reduction in the value of our assets.
In addition, very limited hedging transactions are available in China to reduce our exposure
to exchange rate fluctuations. To date, we have not entered into any hedging transactions to reduce
our exposure to foreign currency exchange risk. While we may decide to enter into hedging
transactions in the future, the availability and effectiveness of these hedging transactions may be
limited and we may not be able to successfully hedge our exposure at all. In addition, our currency
exchange losses may be magnified by PRC exchange control regulations that restrict our ability to
convert Renminbi into foreign currency.
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You may experience difficulties in effecting service of legal process, enforcing foreign
judgments or bringing original actions in China based on United States or other foreign laws
against us or our management..
We are a company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. We conduct our operations
in China and substantially all of our assets are located in China. In addition, certain of our
directors and executive officers reside within China, and most of the assets of these persons are
located within China. As a result, it may not be possible to effect service of process within the
United States or elsewhere outside China upon these directors, and executive officers, including
with respect to matters arising under U.S. federal securities laws or applicable state securities
laws. Moreover, King & Wood, our PRC legal counsel, has advised us that China does not have treaties with the
United States or most other countries providing for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of
judicial judgments. As a result, recognition and enforcement in China of judgments of a court in
the United States or any other jurisdiction in relation to any matter not subject to a binding
arbitration provision may be difficult. Furthermore, an original action may be brought in China
against our directors, or executive officers only if the actions are not required to be arbitrated
by PRC law and upon satisfaction of the conditions for institution of a cause of action pursuant to
the PRC Civil Procedure Law. For example, pursuant to the PRC Civil Procedure Law, the facts
alleged in the complaint must give rise to a cause of action under PRC law and the action must fall
within the jurisdiction of the PRC courts. As a result of the conditions set forth in the PRC Civil
Procedure Law and the discretion of the PRC court to determine whether the conditions are satisfied
and whether to accept the action for adjudication, there remains some uncertainty as to whether an
investor will be able to bring an original action in a PRC court based on U.S. federal securities
laws.
We face risks related to natural disasters, health epidemics and other outbreaks of contagious
diseases, including avian flu, SARS and H1N1 flu.
Our business could be adversely affected by natural disasters, avian flu, SARS, H1N1 flu, also
known as swine flu, or other epidemics or outbreaks of contagious diseases. In May 2008, China
experienced an earthquake with a reported magnitude of 8.0 on the Richter scale in Sichuan
Province, resulting in the death of tens of thousands of people. There have been recent reports of
outbreaks of a highly pathogenic avian flu caused by the H5N1 virus, in certain regions of Asia and
Europe. In 2005 and 2006, there were reports on the occurrences of avian flu in various parts of
China, including a few confirmed human cases. Since April 2009, there have been reports on the
occurrences of H1N1 flu in Mexico, the United States, China and certain other countries and regions
around the world. An outbreak of avian flu or H1N1 flu in the human population could result in a
widespread health crisis that could adversely affect the economies and financial markets of many
countries, particularly in Asia. In addition, any recurrence of SARS, a highly contagious form of
atypical pneumonia, similar to the occurrence in 2003 that affected China, Hong Kong and certain
other countries and regions, would also have similar adverse effects. These natural disasters,
outbreaks of contagious diseases and other adverse public health developments in China could
severely disrupt our business operations or the real estate and home furnishing and improvement
markets in China and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. We have
not adopted any written preventive measures or contingency plans to combat any future natural
disasters or outbreaks of avian flu, H1N1 flu, SARS or any other epidemic.
Risks Relating to Our ADSs
The market price movement of our ADSs may be volatile.
The market price of our ADSs may be volatile and subject to wide fluctuations. Among the
factors that could affect the price of our ADSs are risk factors described in this section and
other factors, including:
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announcements of competitive developments; |
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regulatory developments in our target markets which affect us, our users, our
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actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly results of operations; |
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failure of our quarterly financial and results of operations to meet market
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changes in financial estimates by securities research analysts; |
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changes in the economic performance or market valuations of other Internet or online
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additions or departures of our executive officers and other key personnel; |
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announcements regarding intellectual property litigation (or potential litigation)
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fluctuations in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the Renminbi; |
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release or expiration of the underwriters post-offering lock-up or other transfer
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In addition, the securities markets have from time to time experienced significant price and
volume fluctuations that are not related to the operating performance of particular industries or
companies. For example, the capital and credit markets have experienced significant volatility and
disruption in recent years. In September 2008, such volatility and disruption reached extreme
levels and developed into a global crisis. As a result, stock prices of a broad range of companies
worldwide, whether or not they were related to financial services, declined significantly. Future
market fluctuations may also have a material adverse effect on the market price of our ADSs.
The sale or availability for sale of substantial amounts of our ADSs or ordinary shares could
adversely affect their market price.
Sales of substantial amounts of our ADSs or ordinary shares in the public market, or the
perception that these sales could occur, could adversely affect the market price of our ADSs and
could materially impair our future ability to raise capital through offerings of our ADSs. As of
December 31, 2010, we had 76,065,755 ordinary shares outstanding, including 13,492,896 Class A
ordinary shares represented by ADSs. In addition, as of December 31, 2010, there were outstanding
options to purchase 12,323,800 of our ordinary shares, including exercisable options to purchase
6,446,020 ordinary shares. All of the ADSs sold in our initial public offering will be freely
tradable without any restriction or further registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, or the Securities Act, unless held by our affiliates as that term is defined in Rule 144
under the Securities Act. All of our shares outstanding prior to in our initial public offering are
restricted securities as defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act and, in the absence of
registration, may not be sold other than in accordance with Rule 144 under the Securities Act or
another exemption from registration. Certain of our shareholders or their transferees and assignees
will have the right to cause us to register the sale of their shares under the Securities Act upon
the occurrence of certain circumstances. See Item 6 Directors, Senior Management and
EmployeesShare OwnershipShareholders Agreement and Item 7 Major Shareholders and Related Party
TransactionsRelated Party Transactions. Registration of these ordinary shares under the
Securities Act would result in such shares becoming freely tradable without any restriction under
the Securities Act immediately upon the effectiveness of the registration. Sales of these
registered ordinary shares in the public market could cause the price of our ADSs to decline.
We may need additional capital, and the sale of additional ADSs or other equity securities
could result in additional dilution to our shareholders, while the incurrence of debt may impose
restrictions on our operations.
We believe that our current cash and cash equivalents and anticipated cash flow from
operations will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for the foreseeable future. We
may, however, require additional cash resources due to changed business conditions or other future
developments, including any investments or acquisitions we may decide to pursue. If these resources
are insufficient to satisfy our cash requirements, we may seek to sell equity or debt securities or
obtain a credit facility. The sale of equity securities would result in dilution to our
shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and
could require us to agree to operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations.
We cannot assure you that financing will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if
at all.
As a foreign private issuer, we are permitted to, and we will, rely on exemptions from certain
NYSE corporate governance standards applicable to U.S. issuers, including the requirement that a
majority of an issuers directors consist of independent directors. This may afford less protection
to holders of our ordinary shares and ADSs.
Section 303A of the NYSE Listing Rules requires listed companies to have, among other things,
a majority of its board members to be independent, and to have independent director oversight of
executive compensation and nomination of directors. As a foreign private issuer, however, we are
permitted to, and we will, follow home country practice in lieu of the above requirements. The
corporate governance practice in our home country, the Cayman Islands, does not require a majority
of our board to consist of independent directors or the implementation of a nominating and
corporate governance committee. Since a majority of our board of directors will not consist of
independent directors as long as we rely on the foreign private issuer
27
exemption, fewer board
members will be exercising independent judgment and the level of board oversight on the management
of our Company may decrease as a result.
As a foreign private issuer, we are exempt from certain disclosure requirements under the U.S.
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, which may afford less protection
to our shareholders than they would enjoy if we were a U.S. company.
As a foreign private issuer, we are exempt from, among other things, the rules prescribing the
furnishing and content of proxy statements under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended, or the Exchange Act. In addition, our executive officers, directors and principal
shareholders are exempt from the reporting and short-swing profit and recovery provisions contained
in Section 16 of the Exchange Act. We are also not required under the Exchange Act to file periodic
reports and financial statements with the SEC as frequently or as promptly as U.S. companies whose
securities are registered under the Exchange Act. As a result, our shareholders may be afforded
less protection than they would under the Exchange Act rules applicable to U.S. companies.
We may become a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, which could result in adverse
U.S. tax consequences to U.S. investors.
A non-U.S. corporation is deemed a PFIC for any taxable year if either (i) at least 75% of its
gross income for such year is passive income or (ii) at least 50% of the value of its assets (based
on an average of the quarterly values of the assets) during such year is attributable to assets
that produce passive income or are held for the production of passive income. We operate an active
real estate and home furnishing and improvement Internet portal in China. Based on the market price
of our ADSs, the value of our assets, and the composition of our income and assets, we do not
believe that we were a PFIC for the taxable year ended December 31, 2010. The determination of
whether a non-U.S. corporation is a PFIC is made on an annual basis after the close of each taxable
year. There can be no assurance that we were not a PFIC for our taxable year ended December 31,
2010 or any future taxable year. The most consequential factor affecting the outcome of annual PFIC
determination in 2011 and future taxable years will be our market capitalization. Because items of
working capital are generally treated as passive assets for PFIC purposes, accumulating cash, cash
equivalents and other assets that are readily convertible into cash increases the risk that we will
be classified as a PFIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes. A determination that we are a PFIC
could result in adverse U.S. tax consequences to you if you are a U.S. investor, in the form of
increased tax liabilities and burdensome reporting requirements. For example, if we were a PFIC,
you would generally be taxed at the higher ordinary income rates, rather than the lower capital
gain rates, if you dispose of ADSs at a gain in a later year, even if we are not a PFIC in that
year. In addition, a portion of the tax imposed on your gain would be increased by an interest
charge. Also, if we were classified as a PFIC in any taxable year, you would not be able to benefit
from any preferential tax rate with respect to any dividend distribution that you may receive from
us in that year or in the following year. Since our business and assets may evolve over time in
ways that are different from what we currently anticipate, we cannot assure you that we will not be
a PFIC for any future taxable year. For more information on the tax consequences to you if we were
treated as a PFIC, see Item 10 Additional InformationTaxationUnited States Federal Income
TaxationU.S. HoldersStatus as a PFIC.
Since shareholder rights under Cayman Islands law differ from those under U.S. law, you may
have difficulty protecting your shareholder rights.
Our corporate affairs are governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of
association, the Companies Law of the Cayman Islands, or the Cayman Companies Law, and the common
law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take action against our directors, actions
by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us and to our
shareholders under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the
Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited
judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, which has persuasive,
but not binding, authority on a court in the Cayman Islands.
The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under
Cayman Islands law are not as clearly established as they are under statutes or judicial precedent
in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a less developed
body of securities laws as compared to the United States, and some states, such as Delaware, have
more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law. In addition, shareholders
of Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholder derivative action in a
federal court of the United States.
As a result, public shareholders of Cayman Islands companies may have more difficulty in
protecting their interests in connection with actions taken by management, members of the board of
directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a U.S. company.
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The voting rights of holders of ADSs are limited by the terms of the deposit agreement.
A holder of our ADSs may only exercise the voting rights with respect to the underlying
ordinary shares in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Upon receipt of voting
instructions of a holder of ADSs in the manner set forth in the deposit agreement, the depositary
will endeavor to vote the underlying ordinary shares in accordance with these instructions. Under
our amended and restated articles of association and Cayman Islands law, the minimum notice period
required for convening a general meeting is 10 days. When a general meeting is convened, you may
not receive sufficient notice to permit you to withdraw your ordinary shares and allow you to cast
your vote as a direct shareholder with respect to any specific matter. In addition, the depositary
and its agents may not be able to send voting instructions to you or carry out your voting
instructions in a timely manner. We will make all reasonable efforts to cause the depositary to
extend voting rights to you in a timely manner, but we cannot assure you that you will receive the
voting materials in time to ensure that you can instruct the depositary to vote your shares. Furthermore, the depositary and its agents will not be responsible for any failure to carry
out any instructions to vote, for the manner in which any vote is cast or for the effect of any
such vote. As a result, you may not be able to exercise your right to vote and you may lack
recourse if the ordinary shares underlying your ADSs are not voted as you requested.
You may not be able to participate in rights offerings and may experience dilution of your
holdings.
We may, from time to time, distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire
securities. We cannot offer or sell securities in the United States unless we register those
securities under the Securities Act or unless an exemption from the registration requirements of
the Securities Act is available. Under the deposit agreement, the depositary will not distribute
rights to holders of ADSs unless the distribution and sale of rights and the securities to which
these rights relate are either exempt from registration under the Securities Act with respect to
all holders of ADSs, or are registered under the Securities Act. The depositary may, but is not
required to, attempt to sell such undistributed rights to third parties in this situation. We can
give no assurances that we will be able to establish an exemption from registration under the
Securities Act, and we are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to
these rights or underlying securities or to endeavor to have a registration statement declared
effective. Accordingly, holders of ADSs may be unable to participate in any rights offerings and
may experience dilution of their holdings as a result.
If the depositary is unable to sell rights that are not exercised or not distributed or if the
sale is not lawful or reasonably practicable, it will allow the rights to lapse, in which case you
will receive no value for these rights.
You may not receive distributions on ordinary shares or any value for them if it is illegal or
impractical to make them available to you.
The depositary for our ADSs has agreed to pay to you the cash dividends or other distributions
it or its custodian receives on ordinary shares or other deposited securities after deducting its
fees and expenses. You will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of ordinary
shares your ADSs represent. However, the depositary is not required to make such distributions if
it decides that it is unlawful or impractical to make a distribution available to any holder of
ADSs. For example, it would be unlawful to make a distribution to holders of ADSs if it consisted
of securities that required registration under the Securities Act, but were not properly registered
or distributed pursuant to an applicable exemption from registration. It could also be
impracticable to make a distribution if doing so would entail fees and expenses that would exceed
the value of the distribution or the distribution consisted of property that could not be
transported or transferred. We have not undertaken any obligation to register under U.S. securities
laws any ADSs, ordinary shares, rights or other securities that may be distributed to our
shareholders. We also have not undertaken any obligation to take any other action to permit the
distribution of ADSs, ordinary shares, rights or anything else to holders of ADSs. This means that
you may not receive any distribution we make on our ordinary shares or any value for it if it is
illegal or impractical for us to make such distribution available to you, such as if an exemption
from registration under the U.S. securities laws is not available. These restrictions may decrease
the value of your ADSs.
We may be required to withhold PRC income tax on any dividend we pay you, and any gain you
realize on the transfer of our ordinary shares and/or ADSs may also be subject to PRC withholding
tax.
Pursuant to the New EIT Law, we, Bravo Work or Max Impact may be treated as a PRC resident
enterprise for PRC tax purposes. See Risks Relating to ChinaWe rely primarily on dividends and
other distributions on equity paid by our subsidiaries, and any limitation on the ability of our
subsidiaries to make payments to us could have a material adverse effect on our ability to conduct
our business as well as our liquidity. If we, Bravo Work or Max Impact are so treated by the PRC
tax authorities, we would be obligated to withhold a 10.0% PRC withholding tax or, a withholding
tax at a reduced rate as provided
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under the applicable double tax treaty between China and the
governments of other jurisdictions subject to completion of the record-filing procedures and approval from the relevant tax authorities,
pursuant to a Circular No. 124 issued by SAT in August 2009, or Circular 124.
In addition, any gain realized by any investors who are non-resident enterprises of China from
the transfer of our ordinary shares and/or ADSs could be regarded as being derived from sources
within China and be subject to a 10.0% PRC withholding tax. Such PRC withholding tax would reduce
your investment return on our ordinary shares and/or ADSs and may also materially and adversely
affect the price of our ordinary shares and/or ADSs.
Our dual-class ordinary share structure with different voting rights could discourage others
from pursuing any change of control transactions that holders of our Class A ordinary shares and
ADSs may view as beneficial.
Our shareholders have amended and restated our memorandum and articles of association to
provide for a dual-class ordinary share structure. Our ordinary shares are divided into Class A
ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Holders of Class A ordinary shares are entitled to one
vote per share, while holders of Class B ordinary shares are entitled to 10 votes per share. The
selling shareholders are selling Class A ordinary shares represented by our ADSs in our initial
public offering. Most of our existing shareholders, including our founders, directors, and
officers, hold Class B ordinary shares. We intend to maintain the dual-class ordinary share
structure. Each Class B ordinary share is convertible into one Class A ordinary share at any time
by its holder and Class A ordinary shares are be convertible into Class B ordinary shares under any
circumstances. Upon any transfer of Class B ordinary shares by a Class B ordinary shareholder to
any person or entity which is not an affiliate of such holder, such Class B ordinary shares will be
automatically and immediately converted into the equal number of Class A ordinary shares.
Due to the disparate voting powers attached to these classes of shares, our existing
shareholders will have significant voting power over matters requiring shareholder approval,
including election of directors and significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or sale of
our Company or our assets. This concentrated control could discourage others from pursuing any
potential merger, takeover or other change-of-control transactions that holders of Class A ordinary
shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.
Our articles of association contain anti-takeover provisions that could adversely affect the
rights of holders of our ordinary shares and ADSs. We have included certain provisions in our new
articles of association that would limit the ability of others to acquire control of our Company.
These provisions could deprive our shareholders of the opportunity to sell their ordinary shares at
a premium over the prevailing market price by discouraging third parties from seeking to obtain
control of our Company in a tender offer or similar transactions.
The following provisions in our current articles of association may have the effect of
delaying or preventing a change of control of our Company:
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Our articles of association provide for a dual-class ordinary share structure; and |
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Our articles of association permit our board of directors, without further action by
our shareholders, to issue preferred shares with special voting rights compared to our
ordinary shares. |
ITEM 4. INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY
A. History and Development of the Company
We were incorporated on June 18, 1999 as Fly High Holdings Limited under the laws of the
British Virgin Islands, and on July 14, 1999 changed our name to SouFun.com Limited. On June 17,
2004, we changed our corporate domicile to the Cayman Islands, becoming a Cayman Islands exempted
company with limited liability. On June 22, 2004, we changed our name to SouFun Holdings Limited.
In 1999, we established Beijing Information, a PRC equity joint venture, together as an equity
partner with Beijing Zhongfangzhi Data Consultancy Co., Ltd., or Beijing Zhongfangzhi, a PRC real
estate information company, with us holding a 90.0% equity interest and Beijing Zhongfangzhi
holding a 10.0% equity interest. Beijing Information currently provides real estate information
services including database services and research reports. From 2000 to 2002, we established four
wholly-owned subsidiaries, namely SouFun Shanghai, SouFun Shenzhen, SouFun Guangzhou and SouFun
Tianjin, to focus our operations in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Tianjin, respectively. In
2002, we also established SouFun Media, a
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wholly-owned subsidiaries, namely SouFun Shanghai, SouFun Shenzhen, SouFun Guangzhou and
SouFun Tianjin, to focus our operations in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Tianjin, respectively.
In 2002, we also established SouFun Media, a wholly-owned subsidiary. In 2006, we established
SouFun Network, a wholly-owned subsidiary as another operational arm. In August 2006, Telstra
International Holdings Ltd., or Telstra International, an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of
Telstra Corporation Limited, or Telstra, one of the global Fortune 500 companies, became one of our
significant shareholders by purchasing 40,726,162 ordinary shares in our Company from existing
shareholders for US$254.0 million.
On September 17, 2010, we completed our initial public offering and listing of 2,933,238 ADSs,
each representing four Class A ordinary shares, on the New York Stock Exchange, which are traded
under the symbol of SFUN. On February 18, 2011, we changed the ratio of our ADSs from one ADS for
four Class A ordinary share to one ADS for one Class A ordinary share.
As of March 31, 2011, we had real estate-related content, search services, marketing and
listing coverage of 310 cities across China and have what we believe is one of the largest and most
comprehensive nationwide databases of online listings for new, secondary and rental properties as
well as home furnishing and improvement products and services in China as measured by geographic
coverage.
Overview
We operate the leading real estate Internet portal in China in terms of the number of page
views and visitors to our website in 2010, according to a report issued in February 2011 by
CR-Nielsen, an independent market research institution, commissioned by us. We are also a leading
home furnishing and improvement website in terms of unique visitors according to research from
CR-Nielsen. Through our website, we provide marketing, listing and other value-added services and
products for Chinas fast-growing real estate and home furnishing and improvement sectors. Our
user-friendly website supports an active online community and network of users seeking information
on, and other value-added services and products for, the real estate and home furnishing and
improvement sectors in China. Our current and forthcoming service offerings include:
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Marketing services: We offer marketing services on our website, mainly through
advertisements, to real estate developers in the marketing phase of new property
developments as well as to real estate agencies and other home furnishing and
improvement vendors who wish to promote their products and services, including home
furnishing and improvement products and services, furniture, electronics and other
products. We also intend to integrate paid priority placement of customer links in
keyword search results into our current search and search ranking services. The
substantial majority of our revenues are derived from marketing services; |
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Listing services: We offer basic and special listing services. Basic listing services
are mainly offered to real estate agents, brokers, property developers, property owners
and managers and providers of home furnishing and improvement products and services, and
allow them to post information on properties, home furnishing and improvement and other
related products and services on our website. Special listings consist of a customized
marketing program primarily involving the coordination and promotion of offline themed
events; |
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Other value-added services and products: We offer subscription-based access to our
information database, research reports and total web solution services, which
integrate our customers services and products into our website, and also include
website design services; and |
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E-commerce services: Since the beginning of 2011, we initiated our e-commerce
business on home furnishing and improvement through our portal www.jiatx.com. We offer
an online transaction platform and related e-commerce services to suppliers of home furnishing and
improvement products and services. Products sold on www.jiatx.com include basic raw
materials, furniture, home decoration items, hardwares, bathroom accessories and kitchen
utensils. Our revenue from e-commerce services reached US$94,925.3 for the first
quarter of 2011. |
We have built a large and active community of users who are attracted by the comprehensive
real estate and home furnishing and improvement content available on our portal that forms the
foundation of our service offerings. We currently maintain 80 offices to focus on local market
needs.
Our user base has also attracted numerous customers, which include real estate developers,
real estate agents and brokers, property owners, property managers, mortgage brokers, lenders and
suppliers of home furnishing and improvement products and services. Our diverse offerings and broad
geographic coverage have resulted in an active and dynamic online community that provides an
effective and targeted channel for advertisers to market their products and services, and serves as
a
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centralized source of information, products and services for consumers interested in the real
estate and home furnishing and improvement markets.
In 2008, 2009 and 2010, we had revenues of US$104.1 million, US$127.0 million and US$224.5
million, respectively. During the same periods, our net income attributable to our shareholders was
US$23.4 million, US$52.7 million and US$63.1 million, respectively. Marketing, listing and other
value-added services and products accounted for 80.6%, 13.8% and 5.6%, respectively, of our
revenues in 2009 and 74.7%, 18.0% and 7.3%, respectively, of our revenues in 2010. According to
CR-Nielsen, in 2008, 2009 and 2010, our website, www.soufun.com, received a weekly average of over
8.2 million, 9.8 million and 10.9 million unique visitors, respectively, and generated a weekly
average of over 12.0 million, 12.3 million and 18.2 million website visits, respectively.
Our Services
We provide (i) marketing services, (ii) listing services, (iii) other value-added services and
products, and (iv) e-commerce services to participants in the PRC real estate and home furnishing
and improvement sectors primarily through our website.
Marketing Services
We target our marketing services toward participants in Chinas real estate and home
furnishing and improvement sectors. Marketing is our most important business and represented 82.8%,
80.6% and 74.7% of our revenues in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. Our marketing services are
delivered through our website and include traditional Internet advertisements such as banners,
links, logos and floating signs, as well as featured promotions, which are specially-tailored
packages of traditional online advertising tools, such as Internet advertisements combined with our
other services. Customers of our marketing services include participants in the real estate market
and providers of a broad range of real estate and home furnishing and improvement services in
China, such as:
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real estate developers; |
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real estate professionals, such as agents and brokers; |
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retailers and other suppliers of home furnishing and improvement products and
services; |
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home design, decoration and re-modeling companies; and |
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banks offering residential mortgage loan products. |
A typical advertising campaign includes simple banner advertisements using the customers
graphics and logos with the fee based primarily on the location of the banner on our website, the
geographical market, the number of web pages containing the banner and the length of time that the banner
remains on the website. A more complex advertising campaign may employ a wider array of website
advertising tools, such as the addition of floating signs, deeper penetration of the website
through placements in multiple sections based upon the relevance of the sections to the customers
products and services, advertising design and campaign consultation and more complex graphics.
Individual advertising campaigns typically last from several days to more than one year, but may be
extended for longer periods to meet customer requirements.
We also combine these traditional online advertising tools with our other services to create
featured promotion packages for our customers. Using the inherent flexibility of website
advertising, we create customized marketing and promotional packages customized with additional
features at the request of our customers to meet the different needs of various customers operating
in diverse geographic markets in China. Additional revenues could often be generated by adding
features without incurring significant additional costs. Marketing services have been and will
continue to be a growth area for us, as we believe that participants in Chinas real estate and
home furnishing and improvement sectors are increasingly looking to the Internet as an additional
vehicle through which to attract customers.
We generally enter into two main types of marketing contracts with our customers. The first
type is a framework contract with payment due on a monthly basis. The second type is a general
contract in which payment must be made on either a quarterly or semi-annual basis or with 50% of
the contract amount payable within seven days of the date of entry into the contract and the
remainder payable within seven days of the expiration of the contract. We typically offer discounts
to our largest customers based primarily on the monetary value of their marketing contracts with
us. Such discounts are agreed with our customers at the time of entry into marketing contracts in
accordance with guidelines established by our management on an
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annual basis for each geographic
market based on the package of features and services requested, the duration of the marketing
campaign, as well as our overall marketing relationship with each such customer. Our marketing
contracts are typically one year in duration. Some of our marketing customers may enter into
multiple contracts with us during the course of a year for different property developments.
Listing Services
Our listing services include basic listing services and special listing services. In 2008,
2009 and 2010, our listing services generated 15.4%, 13.8% and 18.0% of our revenues, respectively.
Since 2005, we have also expanded our listings to the home furnishing and improvement sector,
enabling suppliers of home furnishing and improvement products and services to participate in
special listing programs tailored to their needs, and developing a basic listing database that
allows visitors of our website to search for such product suppliers and service providers in
Chinas home furnishing and improvement sector.
Basic Listing Services. Basic listing services, which are offered to agents, brokers,
property developers, property owners, property managers and others seeking to sell or rent new and
secondary properties, generated approximately 53.5%, 65.6% and 80.0% of our listing service
revenues in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively.
Property developers, owners, agents, brokers, managers and suppliers of home furnishing and
improvement products and services subscribe to our basic listing services. Their subscription fees
entitle them to posting multiple listings for properties or home furnishing and improvement
products and services over the subscription period. The subscription fees are generally fixed and
vary from city to city. For example, subscribers in Beijing are generally permitted to post up to
60 individual listings per day for 30 days. These listings may be refreshed or replaced with new
listings up to 1,800 times per month. At the time of entering into subscription contracts, we also
offer discounts to certain subscribers based on factors such as the total number of listings
purchased, the contract amount and our overall relationship with the subscriber, according to
guidelines established by our management annually for each geographical market. In certain
circumstances, we may adjust our standard discounts based on our overall relationship with such
subscriber. We and our customers agree to any applicable discount at the time of entry into online
listing subscription contracts.
Our basic listing subscription contracts are typically one to three months in duration and are
renewable upon expiration upon mutual agreement of the parties. We typically collect payments for
subscriptions for our basic listing services upon the signing of a subscription contract. The
remainder of the contract is payable in installments every three months until the end of the
contract term. Some of our basic listing customers may enter into contracts with us for multiple
online listing subscription accounts during the course of a year.
We provide subscribers with a simple software program to assist them to complete and submit
their listing information in a standardized format. Information submitted by basic listing
subscribers is uploaded to our website by our staff. Alternatively, subscribers may also provide a
link to the listings covered by the subscription contract and located on their own website or
database.
Once a listing has been uploaded to our website, it can be viewed for free by visitors to our
website. All visitors to our website have access to listing information free of charge, 24-hours a
day. For online listings submitted by agents or brokers, their names or the names of their
companies will appear as links that allow visitors to click through to additional listings promoted
by the same agents or brokers. This overall structure, with some variations, applies to basic
listings for new, secondary and rental properties as well as home furnishing and improvement
products and services.
Individual property owners may also list their own properties for sale or rent on our property
listing sections without charge. Such free listings do not enjoy prime positioning and are strictly
limited to individual, non-real estate professional home owners. To help prevent real estate
professionals from abusing the individual property owner basic listing service, we have created a
customer hotline for our users to report any abuse.
In late 2008, we began to offer free trials of our basic listing services. These free trials
allow users to preview our basic listing services and gain exposure to our high user traffic. While
there is no time restriction on our free trials, we believe there are significant incentives for
free trial users to upgrade their free trial accounts to paid subscriptions for our basic listing
services. For example, because listings posted through free trial accounts are featured in less
prominent positions and rankings than those of subscribers, we believe free trial users are
incentivized to upgrade to a subscription package in order to ensure maximum exposure for their
listings. As of December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010, we had 50,549, 89,826 and 183,473 paid online
listing subscription accounts through which our basic listing customers could post property
listings. As of December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010, we had 78,225, 384,553 and 932,719 free online
listing subscription accounts through which basic listing trial account users could post property
listings.
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Our basic listing service helps us build our comprehensive database of information regarding
new, secondary and rental properties as well as home furnishing and improvement products and
services in major urban centers across China. The increasing amount of our basic listings results
in increased user traffic on our website, which we believe can be leveraged to yield more
advertising and special listing customers and higher marketing and special listing fees from our
institutional customers.
We update the listing data on our website on a daily basis through our proprietary content
management process and software. This proprietary content management process is monitored by our
listing monitoring team and allows agents, brokers, property developers, property owners and
managers and others to submit new, secondary and rental property listing information in a specific
format. During the course of periodic checks and verifications of listing information by our
listing monitoring team, our team may encounter false listing information, including, among others,
listings in which (i) a real estate agent or broker poses as an individual property owner in order
to take advantage of free basic listing services offered to such property owners, and (ii) real
estate agents or brokers post false listings of properties for sale or rent, false information on
the sale or rental price of a property and duplicate listings of a same property. While we are
unable to verify all information posted on our website, to help us identify and limit unreliable
data, our listing monitoring team, with the assistance of our proprietary software program,
periodically checks all listing information uploaded to our website to search for common anomalies
in posted information. We motivate our listing monitoring team to locate and rectify false listing
information by offering bonuses to team members who are able to identify the most false listing
information. To encourage proper handling of false listing information by our listing monitoring
team, and to reward our listing monitoring team members on a merit basis, we also maintain a point
system in which we assign bonus points to staff for rectifying false listing information within 24
hours and penalty points for each instance in which misconduct in posting false listing information
is not identified and handled on a timely basis. Once we discover false information in a listing,
we liaise with the real estate agent or broker to rectify the listing immediately. If such listing
information is not revised on a timely basis, we will move it into a database that cannot be
accessed by our users.
Special Listing Services. Special listing services are a specialized form of marketing
program or event provided primarily to property developers marketing new property developments.
Special listing services represented approximately 46.5%, 34.4% and 20.0% of our listing service
revenues in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively.
Through collaboration among our research, product development and sales personnel, we identify
property developments with similar attributes and create a plan for collectively promoting such
property developments in a special listing, typically in the form of an offline event. Once we
determine a theme for a special listing program and identify suitable property developments for the
program, our marketing and sales staff directly contact the targeted developers to solicit their
participation in the special listing program. Each participating project developer pays a specified
fee to list its development in our special listing section for the duration of the program, which
generally ranges from three months to one year. Some examples of our special listings include
events and promotions for the top 100 PRC property developers and the China Villa Festival. We
organized and hosted, both online and offline, seven consecutive China Villa Festivals from 2004 to
2010, which is an annual event that attracts media and real estate professionals, economists and
industry academics. This special listing event was coupled with a marketing program which promoted
and advertised various villa projects across 100 cities in China. We believe growth in new property
developments will continue in order to meet the needs of Chinas growing and increasingly affluent
urban population, providing a steady market for this type of listing service.
Other Value-added Services and Products
In addition to marketing and listing services, we also provide other value-added services and
products, including online content subscriptions, research and total web solution services. Other
value-added services and products represented 1.8%, 5.6% and 7.3% of our revenues in 2008, 2009 and
2010, respectively.
Online Content Subscription and Research Services. We utilize our extensive PRC real estate
database and research capabilities to provide online content relating to the real estate sector
through our website. We categorize our online content subscription and research services into four
key areas: real estate database access, research services, real estate industry and
company-specific research reports and home furnishing and improvement-related research. Our
customers include PRC real estate enterprises as well as government entities. Our research group,
China Index Academy, combines our research department resources with an advisory panel of leading
real estate experts and industry professionals. The advisory panel provides strategic research
guidance, identifies key issues facing the PRC real estate market and acts as an advisory board to
the China Index Academy and us.
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We provide online content subscription services on either a flat-fee subscription basis for
database access or a per-project basis for our research services. We charge subscription fees based
on the number of databases that the subscriber would like to access.
Total Web Solution Services. Total web solution services include assistance integrating
customers services and products into our websites as well as website design services. Customers
interested in targeting consumers in the real estate and home furnishing and improvement sectors
often request our assistance with website management, establishing website traffic tracking tools
and electronic bulletin board services, a type of online information service that offers a shared
environment where visitors to the website can leave messages, retrieve messages, engage in online
discussions and exchange information with other visitors. We believe our total web solution services enable us to enhance our
relationship with our customers, by providing an additional avenue through which we can cross-sell
other services, such as marketing and special listing services. We believe our total web solution
services also serve as an effective tool to educate and train our customers in marketing
strategies. Such training is particularly important for smaller cities where local Internet
penetration and sophistication may be lower than the larger and more developed cities in China.
Beginning in 2009, we also began providing marketing services to home furnishing and
improvement vendors in exchange for prepaid cards issued by such vendors due to the financial
crisis impact on the ability of our customers to pay for our services. The prepaid cards contain
monetary value in denominations varying from RMB20 to RMB2,000 that can only be used to purchase
certain products from the vendors specified stores and are not redeemable for cash. We sell the
prepaid cards, typically at a discount to their stated monetary value, to external parties. We
discontinued the acceptance of prepaid cards in exchange for our marketing services in July 2010
and sold all the remaining prepaid cards by the end of 2010. As of December 31, 2009 and 2010,
revenue from prepaid card business reached US$5.4 million and US$13.5 million, respectively.
E-commerce Services
Since the beginning of 2011, we initiated our e-commerce business on home furnishing and
improvement through our portal www.jiatx.com. We offer an online transaction platform and related
e-commerce services to suppliers of home furnishing and improvement products and services.
Products sold on www.jiatx.com include basic raw materials, furniture, home decoration items,
hardwares, bathroom accessories and kitchen utensils. Our revenue from e-commerce services reached
US$94,925.3 for the first quarter of 2011.
Our Website
Our website, www.soufun.com, is a leading real estate and home furnishing and improvement
Internet portal in China in terms of:
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Visitor traffic: According to CR-Nielsen, our website received a weekly average of
over 8.2 million, 9.8 million and 10.9 million unique visitors in 2008, 2009 and 2010,
respectively; and |
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Members: As of December 31, 2010, we had over 19.5 million registered members of our
website and had 3.0 million registered members of our SouFun membership card. |
As of March 31, 2011, our website contained links to our local websites covering 310 cities
across China, as well as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Vancouver, Canada. Our website also
contains links to other specialized real estate and home furnishing and improvement websites,
including www.jiatx.com.
Our primary interface with users is our website. We believe user satisfaction ultimately rests
on the appeal, attraction and functionality of our website. Our Internet technology and sales and
marketing teams spend considerable time and resources upgrading and enhancing our website based on
market trends and feedback from users and our marketing and listing customers. We distinguish
ourselves from other real estate- and home furnishing and improvement-focused websites through the
quality and breadth of our real estate and home furnishing and improvement content. We also
maintain a centralized customer service hotline and e-mail report forms through which users can
obtain assistance or otherwise contact us.
Our website covers a wide spectrum of PRC real estate and home furnishing and improvement
information and constitutes the foundation and gateway for our primary business activities. Our
content, which is generally free to our website visitors, is designed to assist visitors with each
step of the real estate and home furnishing and improvement transaction process. We believe
providing a central forum of reliable information regarding Chinas real estate and home furnishing
and improvement market is helpful to participants in the real estate and home furnishing and
improvement transaction process. Our
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extensive home-related content and information is organized into the following sections and categories
on our website, which are intended to address the individual needs of our users.
Online Property Listings and Search Engines for New Home and Secondary and Rental Properties
Our website contains databases for new home, secondary and rental properties, and provides
search engines on such properties in our databases.
With our on-the-ground capabilities in 80 offices in China, we devote significant resources to
collect first-hand real estate market intelligence and listing information in such markets and to
update such information on a regular basis. Our user-friendly search engines and website interfaces
allow users to tailor their searches to specific types of properties by using search criteria.
Users seeking information on properties in specific geographic locations can narrow their searches
to a specific city and often to specific districts or areas in the vicinity of a particular subway
line within that city by using pull-down menus. Users can further refine their searches using
selection criteria, including price range, type of property, number of rooms and size. After
selecting search parameters, visitors are directed to a page listing available properties as well
as basic information about each individual property, including location, price, number of rooms and
the source of the listing.
Information on Home Furnishing and Improvement Products and Services
Our website contains information regarding design firms, contractors, do-it-yourself projects,
building materials and a wide range of products and services relevant to home decoration and
re-modeling, furniture and other home furnishing and services. We provide an efficient platform for
companies in the home furnishing and improvement sector, which are usually small in size, to
promote their brands and establish their presence on the Internet. We also provide search tools
enabling visitors to search for specific businesses by area of expertise, product or service
category. For example, a visitor interested in searching for suppliers and installers of window
products in Beijing can use our pull-down search tools to focus their search for businesses
providing such products and services.
Other pull-down menus allow visitors to view numerous design concepts, model interior
decoration plans or other home improvement ideas. After selecting search parameters, visitors are
directed to a page listing applicable home furnishing and improvement products and services as well
as basic information about each home furnishing and improvement product or service, including
price, product and service information and the source of the information. Much of the content,
pictures and graphics are provided by other users of the website, which allows people interested in
home decoration and furnishing to share ideas and information online. For example, by clicking on
the childrens room menu, visitors are able to view a wide variety of relevant pictures and plans
for design and furnishing. Visitors can also use this section to find and compare the work and
experience of architects and interior designers.
Real Estate Database and Information
Supported by our research group, China Index Academy, our website provides an extensive
database for visitors to search real estate information, as well as general research reports
regarding the PRC real estate industry at both the national and regional levels.
The research section of our website provides relevant real estate research coverage of
different topics within the PRC real estate industry. For example, our research database contains
10 specific databases with information on topics such as real estate projects, land information,
real estate financing information, real estate-related laws and regulations and real estate public
company information. Our databases are also organized into categories, such as commercial
properties, residential properties, villa-style homes, apartments, new homes, secondary properties,
rental properties or home furnishing and improvement information.
We believe our research section serves to raise our profile as experts on the PRC real estate
industry. The combination of university professors specializing in research on the PRC real estate
industry, leading developers with their practical market experience and relevant PRC government
researchers that serve on the advisory panel to the research section of our website, together with
the support of our research group, results in a collective body of knowledge that we believe is
well-known in the PRC real estate industry.
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Online Residential Communities
We offer online residential community services through our website, www.soufun.com. Such
online residential community services provide a forum for visitors to share personal views,
anecdotes and other information regarding different aspects of the PRC real estate market, specific
property developments and residential communities and other subjects. They also provide a platform
for conducting real estate and home furnishing and improvement transactions online. We believe our
electronic bulletin board fora, SouFun blogs and other online community-oriented services are
valuable means for enhancing loyalty and brand awareness among visitors to our website by creating
virtual communities of users sharing a common interest in PRC real estate and home furnishing and
improvement topics. In addition to using such fora to increase website traffic, we are also
exploring ways to generate new revenue streams from our online fora and community-oriented
services.
Our National Coverage
Currently we provide real estate-related content, search services, marketing and listing
coverage of 310 cities across China and have on-the-ground personnel located in 80 offices across
China. We believe this extensive nationwide coverage enhances our national brand image, and enables
us to deliver consistent and quality marketing and listing services to customers. The real estate
industry is inherently a local industry, and online marketing and online listing services targeted
at the real estate industry are most effective when delivered by personnel familiar with and
experienced in the relevant local markets. Our local personnel also provide our central office
staff with valuable data regarding these local real estate markets, which contributes to our
knowledge and expertise about real estate markets throughout China. In addition, our network of
branch offices helps us to tailor our marketing and listing services to local conditions and the
needs of local property developers and real estate professionals, and to provide close after-sale
support and services.
We have established a strong presence in 11 major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai,
which are our level 1 cities, and Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Wuhan,
Chengdu, Suzhou and Nanjing, which are our level 2 cities. We entered these cities in the early
stages of our development, and these cities have contributed and are expected to continue to
contribute a majority of our revenues in the near future. In most of these cities, we offer our
full line of services and target a full range of customers, including new home developers, agents,
brokers, property managers and suppliers of home furnishing and improvement products and services.
As a result of our expansion in the past several years, we cover most provincial capitals and
important cities in China and have further solidified our position as a leading real estate
Internet portal and home furnishing and improvement website in China by providing nationwide
coverage of real estate listings in China. We also offer limited listing and other information
relating to the real estate markets in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Vancouver, Canada, but
these markets do not constitute a material part of our business. The following map sets forth the cities we currently cover in mainland
China:
As part of our growth strategy, we also intend to expand our coverage areas to include
additional cities across China. The expansion will focus on cities with populations of over one
million, strong potential for GDP growth and housing development, high attractiveness for real
estate and home furnishing and improvement investment, as measured by the scale of property
development, and stable Internet infrastructure. We believe this expansion could further solidify
our reputation as one of Chinas leading real estate and home furnishing and improvement Internet
companies, as well as provide us with new markets for our marketing, listing and other value-added
services and products.
Brand Awareness and Marketing
We believe our comprehensive listing database has made SouFun a leading destination website
for real estate participants in China. In addition, we seek to promote the SouFun brand through our
directed selling efforts and other means, including our support for research, academic
organizations and the publication of various research reports, event sponsorships, portal
collaboration arrangements and marketing alliances. As a result, we believe the SouFun brand has
become commonly associated with Chinas growing real estate and home furnishing and improvement
sectors.
Real Estate Research and Reports
We believe our knowledge of Chinas real estate and home furnishing and improvement sectors
provides a valuable competitive advantage and helps promote our brand name in the PRC real estate
and furnishing and improvement market. The attractiveness of our marketing and listing services is
rooted in our ability to commercialize various aspects of our databases and industry knowledge to
create new and innovative services for our marketing and listing customers. To maintain and extend
our leading position in this area, we attempt to recruit and retain people knowledgeable about
Chinas real estate and home
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furnishing and improvement sectors through a variety of incentive
measures, including share-based compensation plans. Members of our research department produce
research reports and provide other information services that help promote our reputation as an
informed participant in Chinas real estate and home furnishing and improvement sectors.
Event Sponsorships
Maintaining and improving our industry reputation is important to our continued success. We
regularly sponsor real estate and home furnishing and improvement events attended by industry
participants. For example, in March 2010, we hosted our seventh annual conference in Beijing to
announce the Top 100 Property Developers in China together with the Enterprise Economic Research
Institute of the Development Research Center of the PRC State Council and the Institute of Real
Estate Studies of Tsinghua University, two of Chinas leading research institutions. Many PRC real
estate developers and government agencies involved in the PRC real estate sector attended this
conference. The event also attracted broad media attention and interest from the public in each of
the past six years that we held the event.
Portal Collaboration Arrangements
In our early years, we relied heavily on portal collaboration arrangements with
Chinese-language Internet portals to drive visitors to our website. Although our brand recognition
and reputation among PRC real estate consumers have now achieved such a level that most visitors
reach our website directly, we continue to work with well-known Internet portals to drive
additional users to our website. Our portal collaboration arrangements typically have terms ranging
from one to three years, with fees paid to our portal collaboration partners in installments every
three months.
We currently have portal collaboration arrangements with some of Chinas larger
Chinese-language portals to generate user traffic to our website.
Advertising and Marketing
We conduct general marketing and advertising activities to promote awareness of the SouFun
brand. We have also used outdoor advertisements in the Beijing Capital International Airport, bus
bulletin boards and subway stations.
Arrangements to Promote Future Exclusive Marketing and Listing Business
Occasionally, our marketing or listing customers may request that we provide commitment
deposits to them in exchange for being appointed as their exclusive online
marketing or listing service provider. Recently, we have observed instances in China where real
estate sales agents provided commitment deposits to property developers in order to secure a role
as the exclusive sales agent for specific projects of the property developers. We have occasionally
provided commitment deposits to selected customers after careful evaluation. We typically consider
only direct requests from customers for such commitment deposits based on an evaluation of the
following criteria: (i) the potential scope and amount of the marketing or listing contract; (ii)
whether exclusive rights will be granted and the duration of such exclusive rights; (iii) the
financial strength of the customer and viability of the target property projects at the time of our
entry into the commitment deposit arrangement in order to assess the customers ability to pay for
our marketing or listing service contracts and the risk of non-repayment of our commitment deposit
amount at maturity; and (iv) our historical relationship with the customer. We may enter into
commitment deposit arrangements directly with property developers, or with their third-party sales
agents to the extent such third party sales agents have the authority to grant us exclusive rights
for the provision of online marketing or listing services on behalf of the property developers, on
the condition that they actually retain us as such exclusive online marketing or listing service
provider and agree to pay us fees in accordance with their respective marketing or listing
contracts with us. These third-party sales agents are typically employed by property developers to
provide services such as data analysis, advertising and marketing, sales and consulting services,
and they charge fees to the developers based on services they provide. Commitment deposit
arrangements are typically entered into with respect to individual property projects, and the
deposits are paid to the developers either directly or through their sales agents. Although we have
not historically specified the permissible scope of use of commitment deposits provided to our
customers within the contracts granting these commitment deposits, we have not provided any
commitment deposits to the developers specifically for the purpose of paying amounts owed under our
marketing or listing contracts. The amounts owed under such marketing or listing contracts are
typically paid out of the proceeds of property sales of target real estate projects or from the
working capital of the developers that is separate from the commitment deposits. We generally
require repayment of the commitment deposit amount within six months and generally do not require
interest or security for the commitment deposit amount.
We may enter into commitment deposit arrangements with independent clients, in exchange for
being appointed to the exclusive marketing service provider role. These commitment deposits are set
forth in a service contract for exclusive online
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marketing or listing services at our standard
market prices with our customary contract terms. We do not believe that any of our commitment
deposits has been used to pay any amount incurred under any marketing or listing contracts with us
or other online advertisers.
Due to increasing competition in the online marketing and listing services industry in China
in recent years, we believe securing the exclusive provision of online marketing or listing
services is helpful for us to maintain or increase our market share. We also endeavor to enter into
arrangements that allow us to generate revenues of at least 10.0% of the commitment deposits
provided to such customers. Although we plan to continue to selectively enter into such
arrangements only with unrelated third parties when our management believes that it is commercially
advisable and beneficial to do so, we do not expect to rely on such arrangements to compete for our
business opportunities in any extensive manner and do not expect the commitment deposit
arrangements to have a substantial impact on our business or prospects.
Our Sales Force
We have built a sales and marketing team that is experienced in the online advertising,
Internet and real estate industries. Currently, our sales and marketing team consist of
approximately 2,300 persons located in 80 offices across China. We also occasionally engage sales
agents for collecting information on local markets or for specific business lines within local
markets. Our sales and marketing team, together with these sales agents, work closely with our
customers in local markets and help us gain insight into developments in these local markets, the
competitive landscape and new market opportunities, which helps us to set our prices and strategies
for each locality.
Our sales and marketing personnel are divided into the new home group, secondary and rental
properties group, home furnishing and improvement group and research group. This structure allows
our sales and marketing personnel to gain expertise with a specific subset of customers within the
market sectors that we target, and to effectively design and market tailored services to customers
within each subset.
To motivate our sales and marketing personnel, a majority of their compensation consists of
performance incentives such as commissions and bonuses. Sales quotas are assigned to all sales
personnel according to monthly, quarterly and annual sales plans. In addition, we apply a system of
promotions and demotions as a further motivational tool for our sales personnel. We categorize all
members of our sales and marketing team by rank, including sales director, vice sales director,
senior sales manager, sales manager and deputy sales manager. Our sales directors also lead teams
of sales and marketing personnel within each sales and marketing group.
Promotion and demotion among the above levels occurs on a regular basis, with sales and
marketing personnel at the sales manager and senior sales manager levels being evaluated on a
quarterly basis and those at the sales director level being evaluated on an annual basis.
Because sales of online marketing services are highly competitive, we strongly emphasize
training programs designed to improve the sales and marketing skills of our staff. We provide three
types of training to our sales and marketing personnel: (i) required entrance training for each new
sales and marketing employee during a three-month probationary period; (ii) rotation training that
aims to place every sales and marketing employee in different posts for a certain period of time;
and (iii) regular training in which weekly seminars and case studies are conducted for sales and
marketing personnel. Our combination of training, performance-based compensation and a system of
promotion and demotion has been effective in identifying, motivating and retaining strong
performers.
We also have key account sales representatives in Beijing that serve our approximately 50 key
account customers, which are identified based on their reputation and the scope of their operations
as well as the amount of their contracts with us. Key account customers in our new home business
are generally entitled to more benefits than our other customers, such as preferential service fee
discounts and preferential positioning within our nationwide real estate listings. We also prepare
press articles and reports for our key account customers and appoint one specific contact person to
serve each key account customer.
Information Technology Systems and Infrastructure
We maintain most of our servers and backup servers in Beijing and Shanghai. We believe our
server hosting partners provide significant operating advantages, including high-quality bandwidth,
constant room temperature and an enhanced ability to protect our systems from power loss, break-ins
and other external causes of service interruption. We have not experienced any material system
failures over the past 10 years.
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To better serve our website visitors, we have utilized our key proprietary technologies and
developed a technology platform that is specifically used for our real estate and home furnishing
and improvement Internet portal services. The key components of our technology platform include:
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Search Platform. Our search platform is designed to support targeted searches of our
listing databases. Besides the key word search function, our search platform provides
additional search functions that improve search accuracy with various search criteria,
including searches based on the location, price and type of the property. In addition,
our search engine is able to refine the search by conditional filtering and aggregation
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Large-Scale System Infrastructure. With a combination of proprietary in-house and
third-party solutions, we have designed our system to handle large amounts of data flow
with a high degree of scalability and reliability. Our distributed architecture uses
parallel computing technology and clusters of low-cost computers to handle high-volume
visitor traffic and process large amounts of information. |
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Anti-Fraud and Anti-Spam Technology. We have also developed a proprietary anti-fraud
and anti-spam system through which we detect and monitor fraudulent activities and
identify and filter spam messages. We attempt to continuously improve the accuracy and
effectiveness of this technology through machine-learning capability and customizable
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Competition
We face competition from other companies in each of our primary business activities. We
compete with these companies principally on the basis of website traffic volume, the quality and
quantity of real estate and home furnishing and improvement listings and other information content,
geographic coverage, service offerings and marketing and listing customers. We also compete for
qualified employees with sales, real estate, home furnishing and improvement products and services
and Internet industry experience. We monitor our market share in the online advertising industry in
China through market information gathered internally as well as from independent market research
institutions such as CR-Nielsen and Data Center of China Internet. Due to the nature of online
residential real estate listings and the fact that the PRC market for residential real estate is a
developing industry, there is limited independent third-party information on the market share of
websites that provide residential real estate listings. To help assess our competitiveness and
market position, our listing services division gathers information on the number and prices of paid
online listing subscription accounts and similar information on our competitors from public sources
for our internal records. Based on these internal records, we believe we are currently one of the
leading Internet portals for residential real estate listings in China and have gained significant
market share in most of the important cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing,
Shenzhen, Wuhan, Chengdu and Nanjing, as measured by the total number of online listing
subscription accounts and total listing revenues.
Some of our competitors may have greater access to capital markets, more financial and other
resources and a longer operating history than us. For instance, major general-purpose Internet
portals, such as Sina.com and Sohu.com, which provide real estate and home furnishing and
improvement information services, may have an advantage over us due to their more established brand
name, larger user base and extensive Internet distribution channels.
Other existing and potential competitors include:
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Real estate and home furnishing and improvement websites offering listing and
marketing services in China including real estate websites sponsored or supported by
local governments in China, which may be able to use such government connections to
develop relationships with locally-active real estate developers; |
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traditional advertising media such as general-purpose and real estate-focused
newspapers, magazines, television and outdoor advertising that compete for overall
advertising spending; |
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websites focused on real estate research services in China; and |
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online listing service providers, whether general-purpose Internet portals or
regional websites dedicated to online listing. We believe some of the key players in
the markets for online real estate marketing and listing services in China include Sina
Corporations China Real Estate Information Corporation, Sohu.com Inc.s focus.cn,
Anjuke.com, Tencents fangqq.com and Szhome.com |
Although the barriers to entry for establishing many types of Internet-based businesses are
low, we believe that certain key features of our marketing and listing businesses, together with
the complexity of Chinas real estate and home furnishing
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and improvement market, make it difficult
for competitors to grow quickly and compete successfully against us. Specifically, we believe our
brand name in Chinas real estate and home furnishing and improvement Internet industry, the size
and growth of our average daily user traffic, our customized marketing, listing and other
value-added service offerings, our ownership of what we believe is one of the largest online real
estate listing databases in China in terms of geographical coverage, including content coverage of
310 urban real estate markets in China as of March 31, 2011, and our relationships and in-depth
knowledge of the real estate and home furnishing and improvement sectors provide us with an
advantage over our competitors.
We believe that we and other domestic operators are likely to have a competitive advantage
over international service providers who lack operational infrastructure and experience in China.
We cannot assure you, however, that this competitive advantage will continue to exist, particularly
if international operators establish joint ventures with, form alliances with or acquire domestic
operators.
Intellectual Property
We regard our copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, domain names and other intellectual
property as important to our business. We rely on intellectual property laws and contractual
arrangements with our key employees and certain of our customers, collaborators and others to
protect our intellectual property rights. Despite these measures, we cannot assure you that we will
be able to prevent unauthorized use of our intellectual property, which would adversely affect our
business.
We own 90 copyrights, each of which we have registered with the PRC State Copyright Bureau. We
own or have licensed 99 trademarks, each in various categories, each of which we have registered
with the PRC Trademark Office, and have 46 trademark applications, each in various categories,
pending with the PRC Trademark Office. We have applied to register in China the Chinese and English
dual-language SouFun trademark as well as SouFun in English and in Chinese individually for use
in certain relevant industry categories. We have successfully registered the dual-language
trademark in certain industry categories, but our applications for certain other industry
categories have encountered conflicts with existing registrations of or applications for similar
trademarks. We are in the process of resolving these conflicting trademark applications, but we
estimate that this process may take several years or longer. Unless and until we secure the
trademark registrations for which we have applied, we may not be able to effectively enforce our
proprietary rights in connection with such trademarks or prevent the use by others of trademarks
identical or similar to ours. Moreover, if our current applications for registering our trademarks
in certain relevant industry categories are unsuccessful and we continue to use such trademarks
after these or similar trademarks have been registered by another entity, or if a holder of any
registered trademark similar to ours claims that we are infringing its trademark rights, we could
potentially be prevented from using part or all of our current names or trademarks for part or all
of our business operations and face civil liability for damages, including forfeiture of profits
earned from illegal use of the trademark. See Risk FactorsRisks Relating to Our BusinessLoss
of our right to use the SouFun brand name, or unauthorized use of our intellectual property by
third parties, and the expenses incurred in protecting our intellectual property rights, may
materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and
reputation and We may be subject to intellectual property infringement or misappropriation
claims by third parties, which may force us to incur substantial legal expenses and, if determined
adversely against us, could materially disrupt our business.
We have also filed applications to register certain trademarks in a number of other
jurisdictions, including Hong Kong.
We currently own or have licensed 241 registered domain names, including our official website,
www.soufun.com, and domain names registered in connection with www.jiatx.com and www.landlist.cn.
Facilities
Our principal executive offices are located in approximately 8,410.01 square meters of office
space on 8th to 11th floors and part of the 19th floor, Tower 3, Xihuan Plaza, No. 1 Xizhimenwai
Avenue, Xicheng District, Beijing 100044, China under a lease that expires on December 31, 2012. As
of March 31, 2011, we leased 80 properties with an aggregate GFA of approximately 50,854.93 sq.m.
in 80 offices across China. Our leased properties mainly consist of office premises, all of which
are leased from independent third parties. We believe our existing leased premises are adequate for
our current business operations and that additional space can be obtained on commercially
reasonable terms to meet our future requirements.
With respect to 60 of our leased properties in China with an aggregate GFA of approximately
24,294 sq.m., the relevant lessors either have not provided us with the valid title certificates or
documents evidencing their requisite rights to lease such properties or have not completed the
lease registration as required under the PRC laws. These properties comprise approximately 50.7% of
our total leased properties in terms of GFA and principally consist of office premises. We are not
aware of any challenges being made by any third party on our leasehold interests to any of our
leased properties. In the event a dispute arises, we may not be able to continue to use the leased
properties and may be required to relocate. See Risk
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FactorsRisks Relating to Our
BusinessCertain of our leased property interests may be defective and we may be forced to
relocate operations affected by such defects, which could cause significant disruption to our
business.
On December 23, 2010, we entered into an agreement with Sahn Eagle LLC to purchase the former
AIG training center in New York for a consideration of US$46.0 million. We plan to use it as our
global training center. The acquisition is expected to complete by the end of
June 2011 and we plan to use our own cash and bank loan financing in U.S. dollars to fund this acquisition.
Insurance
We maintain property insurance to cover potential damages to a portion of our property. In
addition, we provide medical, unemployment and other insurance to our employees in compliance with
applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations. We do not maintain insurance policies covering losses
relating to our systems and do not have business interruption insurance.
Legal Proceedings
We are currently not involved in any material legal or arbitration proceeding. From time to
time, we may be subject to claims and legal actions arising in the ordinary course of business,
most of which are alleged intellectual property infringement claims against us for use of others
articles or photographs. Such claims or legal actions, even if without merit, could result in the
expenditure of significant financial and management resources and potentially result in civil
liability for damages. See Risk FactorsRisks Relating to Our BusinessWe may be subject to
intellectual property infringement or misappropriation claims by third parties, which may force us
to incur substantial legal expenses and, if determined adversely against us, could materially
disrupt our business.
Regulation
Our business is subject to substantial regulation by the PRC government. This section sets
forth a summary of certain significant PRC regulations that affect our business and the industries
within which we operate.
General
The telecommunications industry, including Internet information services and Internet access
services, is highly regulated by the PRC government. Regulations issued or implemented by the State
Council, MIIT and other relevant government authorities cover virtually every aspect of
telecommunications network operations, including entry into the telecommunications industry, the
scope of permissible business activities, interconnection and transmission line arrangements,
tariff policy and foreign investment.
MIIT, under the leadership of the State Council, is responsible for, among other things:
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formulating and enforcing telecommunications industry policy, standards and
regulations; |
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granting licenses to provide telecommunications and Internet services; |
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formulating tariff and service charge policies for telecommunications and Internet
services; |
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supervising the operations of telecommunications and Internet service providers; and |
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maintaining fair and orderly market competition among operators. |
In addition to the regulations promulgated by the central PRC government, some local
governments have also promulgated local rules applicable to Internet companies operating within
their respective jurisdictions.
In 1994, the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress promulgated the PRC
Advertising Law. In addition, SAIC and other ministries and agencies have issued regulations that
further regulate our advertising business, as discussed below.
Restrictions on Foreign Ownership in the Online Advertising Industry
Internet Content Provision and Wireless Value-Added Services
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In September 2000, the State Council promulgated the Telecommunications Regulations, which
categorize all telecommunications businesses in China as either basic telecommunications businesses
or value-added telecommunications businesses. In February 2003, MIIT amended the original
classification of telecommunications business with Internet content provision services and wireless
value-added services being classified as value-added telecommunications businesses. The
Telecommunications Regulations also set forth extensive guidelines with respect to different
aspects of telecommunications operations in China.
In order to comply with Chinas commitments with respect to its entry into the World Trade
Organization, the State Council promulgated the Administrative Rules on Foreign-invested
Telecommunications Enterprises in December 2001, as amended in September 2008. The Administrative
Rules on Foreign-invested Telecommunications Enterprises set forth detailed requirements with
respect to capitalization, investor qualifications and application procedures in connection with
the establishment of a foreign-invested telecommunications enterprise. Pursuant to these
administrative rules, the ultimate capital contribution ratio of the foreign investor or investors
in a foreign-invested telecommunications enterprise that aims to provide value-added
telecommunications services may not exceed 50.0%. In addition, pursuant to the Foreign Investment
Industrial Guidance Catalog issued by the PRC government, the permitted foreign investment in
value-added telecommunications service providers may not be more than 50.0%. However, for a foreign
investor to acquire any equity interest in a value-added telecommunications business in China, it
must satisfy a number of stringent performance and operational experience requirements, including
demonstrating a track record and experience in operating a value-added telecommunications business
overseas. Moreover, foreign investors that meet these requirements must obtain approvals from MIIT
and MOFCOM or their authorized local counterparts, which retain considerable discretion in granting
approvals.
In July 2006, MIIT publicly released the Notice on Strengthening the Administration of Foreign
Investment in Operating Value-added Telecommunications Business, or the MIIT Notice, which
reiterates certain provisions under the 2002 Administrative Rules on Foreign-invested
Telecommunications Enterprises. According to the MIIT Notice, if any foreign investor intends to
invest in a PRC telecommunications business, a foreign-invested telecommunications enterprise must
be established and such enterprise must apply for the relevant telecommunications business
licenses. Under the MIIT Notice, domestic telecommunications enterprises may not rent, transfer or
sell a telecommunications license to foreign investors in any form, nor may they provide any
resources, premises, facilities and other assistance in any form to foreign investors for their
illegal operation of any telecommunications business in China.
Advertising Services
The principal regulations governing foreign ownership in advertising businesses in China
include:
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The Foreign Investment Industrial Guidance Catalog; |
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The Administrative Regulations on Foreign-invested Advertising Enterprises; and |
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The Circular Regarding Investment in the Advertising Industry by Foreign Investors
through Equity Acquisition. |
These regulations require foreign entities that directly invest in the PRC advertising
industry to have at least a two-year track record with a principal business in the advertising
industry outside China. Since December 2005, foreign investors have been permitted to directly own
a 100% interest in advertising companies in China, but such foreign investors are also required to
have at least a three-year track record with a principal business in the advertising industry
outside China. PRC laws, rules and regulations do not permit the transfer of any approvals or
licenses, including business licenses containing a scope of business that permits engagement in the
advertising business. In the event we are able to qualify to acquire the equity interest in Beijing
Advertising, Beijing Internet, Beijing Technology, Beijing JTX Technology, Shanghai Advertising,
Shanghai JBT Advertising, Beijing China Index, Shanghai China Index, Tianjin JTX Advertising,
Beijing Li Tian Rong Ze and Tianjin Xin Rui under the rules allowing complete foreign ownership,
these PRC operating companies would continue to exist as the operators of our advertising business
consistent with the current regulatory requirements. However, as a holding company, we have not
been involved in advertising outside China for the required number of years.
As a result of current PRC laws, rules and regulations that impose substantial restrictions on
foreign investment in the Internet and advertising businesses in China, we conduct this portion of
our operations through a series of contractual arrangements among our PRC subsidiaries and our
consolidated controlled entities.
In
the opinion of, King & Wood, our PRC legal counsel:
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each of the Structure Contracts is legal, valid and binding on the contracting
parties under applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations; |
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the execution, delivery, effectiveness, enforceability and performance of each of the
Structure Contracts do not violate any published PRC laws, rules and regulations
currently in force and effect; |
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none of our Structure Contracts contravenes any published PRC laws, rules and
regulations currently in force and effect; and |
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no filings, registrations, consents, approvals, permits, authorizations, certificates
and licenses of any PRC government authorities are currently required in connection with
the execution, delivery, effectiveness, performance and enforceability of each Structure Contract,
provided that the pledges of equity interests under the Structure Contracts should be
registered with competent PRC government authorities, and provided further that the
exercise of the call option in the future must be approved and registered by competent
PRC government authorities. |
However, there are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of
current or future PRC laws, rules and regulations, including the laws and regulations governing the
enforcement and performance of our Structure Contracts in the event of any imposition of statutory
liens, bankruptcy and criminal proceedings. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that the PRC
regulatory authorities will not ultimately take a contrary view from
that of King & Wood, our PRC legal counsel.
Regulation relating to Our Business
Internet Content Provision Services
The provision of real estate and home furnishing and improvement and other content on Internet
websites is subject to applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations relating to the
telecommunications industry and the Internet, and regulated by various government authorities,
including MIIT and SAIC. The principal regulations governing the telecommunications industry and
the Internet include:
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The Telecommunications Regulations (2000); |
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The Catalog of Classes of Telecommunications Business; |
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The Administrative Measures for Telecommunications Business Operating Licenses; and |
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The Internet Information Services Administrative Measures. |
Under these regulations, Internet content provision services are classified as value-added
telecommunications businesses, and a commercial operator must obtain a telecommunications and
information services operating license, or ICP license, from the appropriate telecommunications
authority in order to carry out commercial Internet content provision operations in China. If an
Internet content provider is not engaged in commercial Internet content operations, it is only
required to file a record with the appropriate telecommunications authority. In addition, the
regulations also provide that operators involved in Internet content provision in sensitive and
strategic sectors, including news, publishing, education, health care, medicine and medical
devices, must obtain additional approvals from the relevant authorities in relation to those
sectors.
One of our consolidated controlled entities, Beijing Internet, currently holds an ICP license
issued by the Beijing Telecommunications Administration Bureau (the municipal branch of MIIT) on
December 5, 2008, which is valid until December 4, 2013, subject to annual reviews.
Beijing China Index also holds an ICP license issued by the Beijing Telecommunications
Administration Bureau on November 4, 2005, which is valid for five years, subject to annual
reviews. Each of Beijing Technology and Beijing JTX Technology has also obtained an ICP license
from the Beijing Telecommunications Administration Bureau on September 8, 2006 and June 12, 2007,
respectively, which are valid until September 7, 2011 and June 11, 2012, respectively, subject to
annual reviews.
The MIIT Notice requires that a value-added telecommunications business operator (or its
shareholders) must own domain names and trademarks used by it in the value-added telecommunications
business, and have premises and facilities appropriate for such business. To comply with the MIIT
Notice, Beijing Technology, a consolidated controlled entity, has been
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registered as the owner or
is applying to be the owner of the Chinese and English dual-language SouFun trademark in several
categories and obtained the www.soufun.com domain name. Beijing China Index, another consolidated
controlled entity, has also been registered as the owner or is applying to be the owner of the
trademark for the Chinese characters of DiGua in several categories and obtained the www.landlist.cn domain name. All
of our trademarks and domain names will be owned directly by our consolidated controlled entities.
Furthermore, according to the Tentative Measures of Internet Publication Administration,
jointly issued by the General Administration of Press and Publication and MIIT in June 2002, all
entities that are engaged in Internet publication in China must obtain an approval from the General
Administration of Press and Publication. Internet publication is broadly defined in the Tentative
Measures for Internet Publication Administration to include any act of online dissemination whereby
any Internet content provision service provider selects, edits and processes information (including
content from books, newspaper, periodicals, audio and video products and electronic publications
that have already been formally published or information that has been made public in other media)
created by themselves or others and subsequently posts such information on the Internet or
transmits it to users via the Internet for browsing, reading, use or downloading by the public.
Advertising Services
SAIC is responsible for regulating advertising activities in China. The principal regulations
governing advertising in China, including online advertising, include:
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The Advertising Law; |
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The Administration of Advertising Regulations; and |
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The Implementation Rules for the Administration of Advertising Regulations. |
These regulations stipulate that companies that engage in advertising activities in China must
obtain from SAIC or its local branches a business license which specifically includes operating an
advertising business within its business scope. Companies conducting advertising activities without
such a license may be subject to penalties, including fines, confiscation of illegal revenues and
orders to cease advertising operations. The business license of an advertising company is valid for
the duration of its existence, unless the license is suspended or revoked due to a violation of any
relevant law or regulation.
The business scope of each of Beijing Advertising, Beijing Technology, Beijing JTX Technology,
Shanghai Advertising, Beijing China Index, Beijing Internet, Tianjin JTX Advertising, Tianjin Xin
Rui and Shanghai JBT Advertising includes operating an advertising business, which allows them to
engage in the advertising business.
Electronic Bulletin Board Services
In October 2000, MIIT adopted the Administrative Regulations on Internet Electronic Bulletin
Board Services, requiring an Internet content service provider that provides online bulletin board
services to register with, and obtain approval from, local telecommunications authorities.
Currently, Beijing China Index is operating electronic bulletin board services on www.landlist.cn.
Beijing Technology is operating on www.soufun.com. On November 11, 2005 and November 6, 2006,
respectively, the Beijing Telecommunications Administration Bureau issued to Beijing China Index
and Beijing Technology, respectively, an approval for operating electronic bulletin board services
on www.landlist.cn and www.soufun.com, respectively. Beijing JTX Technology and Beijing Advertising
also obtained approval for operating electronic bulletin board services on www.jiatx.com on June
15, 2007. These approvals each has an original validity which is keyed to the corresponding ICP
license and their continued validity is subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions and
qualifications.
Regulations relating to Information Security and Confidentiality of User Identity and
Information
Internet content in China is also regulated and restricted from a state security standpoint.
Based on a law enacted by the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress, any effort to
undertake the following actions may be subject to criminal punishment in China:
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leak government secrets; |
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spread false commercial information; or |
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infringe intellectual property rights. |
The Ministry of Public Security has also promulgated measures that prohibit the use of the
Internet in ways that, among other things, result in the leakage of government secrets or the
spread of socially destabilizing content. The Ministry of Public Security has supervision and
inspection powers in this regard, and we may be subject to the jurisdiction of the local security
bureaus. If an ICP license holder violates these measures, the PRC government may revoke its
license and shut down its website.
The security and confidentiality of information on the identity of Internet users are also
regulated in China. The Internet Information Service Administrative Measures promulgated by the PRC
State Council in September 2000 require Internet content service providers to maintain an adequate
system that protects the security of user information, and the Administrative Regulations on
Internet Bulletin Board Services adopted by MIIT in October 2000 require Internet electronic
bulletin board service providers to protect the security and confidentiality of the personal
information of users who use bulletin board services. In December 2005, the Ministry of Public
Security promulgated the Regulations on Technical Measures of Internet Security Protection,
requiring Internet service providers to utilize standard technical measures for Internet security
protection. We have been advised by King & Wood, our PRC legal
counsel, that both requirements are for the
protection of information on the identity of Internet users.
Regulations relating to Trademarks
Both the PRC Trademark Law and the Implementation Regulation of the PRC Trademark Law, as
currently in effect, provide protection to the holders of registered trademarks and trade names.
The PRC Trademark Office handles trademark registrations and grants a renewable term of rights of
10 years to registered trademarks. In addition, trademark license agreements must be filed with the
Trademark Office.
After receiving a trademark registration application, the PRC Trademark Office will make a
public announcement with respect to the proposed trademark registration application if the relevant
trademark passes the preliminary examination. Any person may, within three months after such public
announcement, object to such trademark application. The PRC Trademark Office will then decide who
is entitled to the trademark registration, and its decisions may be appealed to the PRC Trademark
Review and Adjudication Board, whose decision may be further appealed through judicial proceedings.
If no objection is filed within three months after the public announcement period or if the
objection has been overruled, the PRC Trademark Office will approve the registration and issue a
registration certificate, upon which the trademark is registered and will be effective for a
renewable 10-year period, unless otherwise revoked.
Regulations relating to Employee Share Options
Pursuant to the Implementation Rules of the Administrative Measure for Individual Foreign
Exchange, or the Individual Foreign Exchange Rule, issued by SAFE in January 2007, PRC citizens who
are granted shares or share options by an overseas-listed company according to its employee share
incentive plan or option plan must, through the PRC subsidiary of such overseas listed company or
other qualified PRC agent, completed the required procedures with SAFE before they may exercise
their rights on the shares or share options. Such individuals foreign exchange income received
from the sale of shares or dividends distributed by the overseas listed company must be remitted
into a collective foreign currency account opened and managed by the PRC subsidiary of the overseas
listed company or the PRC agent first before distributing them to such individuals in foreign
exchange or in Renminbi. Our PRC citizen employees, who have been granted share options or incentive shares, or PRC Optionees, will be
subject to the Individual Foreign Exchange Rule when we become an overseas listed company. If we or
our PRC Optionees fail to comply with these regulations, we or our PRC Optionees may be subject to
fines and legal sanctions.
Regulations Relating to Foreign Investment in Value-Added Telecommunications Industry
According to the Administrative Rules for Foreign Investment in Telecommunications Enterprises
issued by the State Council effective in January 2002, as amended in September 2008, a foreign
investor may hold no more than a 50% equity interest in a value-added telecommunications services
provider in China and such foreign investor must have experience operating in such industry.
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C. Organizational Structure
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Affiliates of IDG Technology Venture Investment Inc. include
IDG-Accel China Capital L.P. and IDG-Accel China Capital Investors L.P. |
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Refers to the following three entities affiliated with Apax
Partners LLP: Hunt 7-A Guernsey L.P. Inc, Hunt 7-B Guernsey L.P Inc
and Hunt 6-A Guernsey L.P. Inc. |
D. Property, Plant and Equipment
See Item 4 Information on the CompanyBusiness OverviewFacilities.
ITEM 4A. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Not applicable.
ITEM 5. OPERATING AND FINANCIAL REVIEW AND PROSPECTS
The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations is based upon
and should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and their related
notes included elsewhere in this annual report. This discussion contains forward-looking statements
within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. See Forward-Looking Statements. In
evaluating our business, you should carefully consider the information provided under Item 3. Key
InformationRisk Factors. We caution you that our businesses and financial performance are
subject to substantial risks and uncertainties.
A. Operating Results
Overview
We operate the leading real estate Internet portal in China in terms of the number of page
views and visitors to our website in 2010, according to a report issued in February 2011 by
CR-Nielsen, an independent market research institution, commissioned by us. We are also a leading
home furnishing and improvement website in terms of unique visitors according to research from
CR-Nielsen. Through our website, we provide marketing, listing and other value-added services and
products for Chinas fast-growing real estate and home furnishing and improvement sectors.
Our user-friendly website supports an active online community and network of users seeking information
on, and other
value-added services and products for, the real estate and home furnishing and improvement sectors in
China.
Our
current and forthcoming service offerings include:
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Marketing services: We offer marketing services on our website, mainly through
advertisements, to real estate developers in the marketing phase of new property
developments as well as to real estate agencies and other home furnishing and
improvement vendors who wish to promote their products and services, including home
furnishing and improvement products and services, furniture, electronics and other
products. The substantial majority of our revenues are derived from marketing services; |
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Listing services: We offer basic and special listing services. Basic listing services
are mainly offered to real estate agents, brokers, property developers, property owners
and managers and providers of home furnishing and improvement products and services, and
allow them to post information on properties, home furnishing and improvement and other
related products and services on our website. Special listings consist of a customized
marketing program primarily involving the coordination and promotion of offline themed
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Other value-added services and products: We offer subscription-based access to our
information database, research reports and total web solution services, which
integrate our customers services and products into our website, and also include
website design services; and |
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E-commerce services: Since the beginning of 2011, we initiated our e-commerce
business on home furnishing and improvement through our portal www.jiatx.com. We offer
an online transaction platform and related e-commerce services to suppliers of home
furnishing and improvement products and services. Products sold on www.jiatx.com
include basic raw materials, furniture, home decoration items, hardwares, bathroom
accessories and kitchen utensils. Our revenue from e-commerce services reached
US$94,925.3 for the first quarter of 2011. |
We have built a large and active community of users who are attracted by the comprehensive
real estate and home furnishing and improvement content available on our portal that forms the
foundation of our service offerings. We currently maintain 80 offices to focus on local market
needs.
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Our revenue and net income attributable to our shareholders for 2010 was US$224.5.0 million
and US$63.1 million, respectively. Marketing, listing and other value-added services and products
accounted 74.7%, 18.0% and 7.3%, respectively, of our revenues in 2010. According to CR-Nielsen, in
2010, our website, www.soufun.com, received a weekly average of over 10.9 million unique visitors
and generated a weekly average of over 18.2 million website visits.
Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations
Economic growth in China and in the PRC real estate market
We conduct substantially all of our business and operations in China. Accordingly, our results
of operations have been, and are expected to continue to be, affected by the general performance of
Chinas economy. As a leading real estate and home furnishing and improvement Internet portal, our
financial results have also been affected by the performance of the real estate and home furnishing
and improvement sectors in China.
Growth in Chinas Internet and online marketing sectors
We are an Internet portal company and a significant portion of our revenues is generated from
our marketing services. As such, our results of operations are heavily dependent on the successful
and continued development of Chinas Internet and online marketing sectors. The Internet has
emerged as an increasingly attractive and cost-effective advertising channel in China, especially
as the number of Internet users, disposable income of urban households and network infrastructure
in China have increased.
Competition in Chinas online real estate and home furnishing and improvement Internet
services
We face competition from other companies in each of our primary business activities. In
particular, the online real estate and home furnishing and improvement Internet service market in
China has become increasingly competitive, and such competition may continue to increase in future
periods. As the barriers to entry for establishing Internet-based businesses are typically low, it
is possible for new entrants to emerge and rapidly scale their operations. We expect additional
companies to enter the online real estate and home furnishing and improvement Internet service industry in China and a wider range of
online real estate and home furnishing and improvement Internet services to be introduced.
Performance of certain geographic areas and urban centers in China
A substantial portion of our revenues is concentrated in four of Chinas major urban centers,
Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Although our percentage of revenues from these four
urban centers has decreased as we expanded our operations elsewhere in China, we expect these four
urban centers to continue to represent a significant portion of our revenues in the near term. In
addition, as of March 31, 2011, we had established real estate-related content, search services,
marketing and listing coverage of 310 cities across China, and intend to grow our business by
rolling out our full suite of services, including for our secondary and rental properties and home
furnishing and improvement businesses through our localized website portals. We also plan to expand
into new geographic areas and sectors. The financial performance of newly penetrated cities will
have a substantial impact on our results of operations as we expand into new markets, as we may
incur significant additional operating expenses, including hiring new sales and other personnel, in
order to expand our operations.
PRC regulations affecting the Internet, online marketing and real estate industries
The PRC government regulates the Internet, online marketing and real estate industries in
China extensively. PRC laws, rules and regulations cover virtually every aspect of these
industries, including entry into the industry, the scope of permissible business activities and
foreign investment. The PRC government also exerts considerable direct and indirect influence over
these industries by imposing industry policies and other economic measures. Many of these
regulations have recently been implemented and are expected to be refined and adjusted over time.
Moreover, the PRC government regulates interest rates, real estate transaction taxes and the
acquisition and ownership of real estate. It also regulates Internet access and the distribution of
news, information or other content, as well as products and services, through the Internet. The PRC
government also levies business taxes, surcharges and cultural construction fees on
advertising-related sales in China, such as sales of our marketing, listing and other value-added
services. In addition, because certain of our PRC subsidiaries and consolidated controlled entities
currently qualify as high and new technology enterprises strongly supported by the state, they
enjoy tax holidays from the relevant PRC tax authorities or under local governmental policies. If
we were to lose such preferential tax treatment, we would be subject to a higher enterprise income
tax rate, which would have a material and adverse effect on our financial condition, results of
operations and profitability. See Item 4 Information on the CompanyBusiness
OverviewRegulation. Political,
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economic and social factors may also lead to further policy
refinement and adjustments. The imposition of new laws and regulations, or changes to current laws
and regulations, could have a material impact on our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
Demand for home furnishing and improvement information and products
As Chinas real estate market has expanded and matured, the ancillary home furnishing and
improvement industry has responded to meet rising consumer demand. Similarly, we have expanded our
marketing and listing services to suppliers of home furnishing and improvement products and
services. We have also initiated e-commerce services on home furnishing and improvement through
www.jiatx.com. In addition, by adding this category of advertisers and clients, we have been able
to expand our sources of marketing and listing service revenues and, accordingly, expect our
revenue growth to benefit from the continued growth of Chinas home furnishing and improvement
sectors.
Basis of Presentation
To comply with applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations restricting foreign ownership of
companies that operate Internet content provision and online advertising services, we operate our
website and provide such services in China through contractual arrangements with our consolidated
controlled entities. The equity interests of the consolidated controlled entities are held directly
or indirectly by Mr. Mo, our founder and executive chairman, and Mr. Dai, our president and chief
executive officer, but the effective control of the consolidated controlled entities has been transferred to us through a
series of Structure Contracts. We have funded these consolidated controlled entities paid-in
capital by extending loans to Mr. Mo and Mr. Dai. Pursuant to the terms of the Structure Contracts,
we are obligated to bear substantially all of the risk of losses from our consolidated controlled
entities activities and are entitled to receive substantially all of their profits, if any. See
Item 7 Major Shareholders and Related Party TransactionsRelated Party TransactionsStructure
Contracts. and our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report.
Based on these Structure Contracts, we believe that, notwithstanding our lack of equity
ownership, the arrangements provide us with effective control over our consolidated controlled
entities. Accordingly, the financial results of these entities are included in our consolidated
financial statements.
We refer to our consolidated controlled entities as PRC entities we control through
contractual arrangements, or PRC Domestic Entities, in our consolidated financial statements and
related notes included elsewhere in this annual report.
Critical Accounting Policies
We prepare our financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP, which requires us to make
judgments, estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of our assets and
liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities on the date of each set of financial
statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during each financial reporting
period. We continually evaluate these estimates and assumptions based on the most recently
available information, our own historical experience and various other assumptions that we believe
to be reasonable under the circumstances. Since the use of estimates and assumptions is an integral
component of the financial reporting process, actual results could differ from those estimates and
assumptions.
An accounting policy is considered to be critical if it requires an accounting estimate to be
made based on assumptions about matters that are highly uncertain at the time such estimate is
made, and if different accounting estimates that reasonably could have been used, or changes in the
accounting estimates that are reasonably likely to occur periodically could materially impact the
consolidated financial statements. We believe the following critical accounting policies reflect
the more significant estimates and assumptions used in the preparation of our consolidated
financial statements. The following descriptions of critical accounting policies, judgments and
estimates should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and other
disclosures included elsewhere in this annual report.
Revenue Recognition
We recognize revenues only when there is (i) persuasive evidence of an arrangement; (ii) the
sales price is fixed or determinable; (iii) delivery of services has occurred; and (iv)
collectability is reasonably assured. We derive revenues from the provision of marketing, listing
and other value-added services and products. To the extent that our revenues consist of multiple
deliverables, we will recognize such revenues in accordance with applicable accounting policies.
Our revenues are recognized on the following bases:
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Marketing Services
We offer marketing services on our website, primarily in the form of banner advertisements,
floating links, logos and other media insertions. We offer these services to real estate developers
and home furnishing and improvement product and service providers, which allows such advertisers to
place advertisements on particular areas of our website, in various particular formats and over
particular periods of time. Written contracts, containing all significant terms and signed by us
and our customers, provide persuasive evidence of the arrangements. These contracts do not contain
any specific performance, cancellation, termination or refund provisions.
The service fees are negotiated between us and our customers, but once a fee is agreed to and
the written contract is signed by both parties, the fee is fixed and is not subject to change. The
service fee is due and payable in installments over the service period. Historically, the service
fees have varied widely for marketing services and such variation exists even when the same
services are provided in the same location of our website and for the same service duration. The
marketing services typically last from several days to one year. Delivery of the service occurs
upon displaying the agreed service on our websites over the specified service period. We perform
credit assessments on our customers prior to signing the written contract to ensure that
collectability is reasonably assured. Revenue is recognized ratably over the contract period, when
there is persuasive evidence of an arrangement, the fee is fixed or determinable and collection is
reasonably assured, as prescribed by ASC 605-10 Revenue Recognition: Overall.
For certain arrangements, we provide customers with marketing services that contain multiple
deliverables (e.g., advertisements in different formats to be delivered over different periods of
time). Since we sell our marketing services in a broad price range, there is a lack of objective
and reliable evidence of fair value for each deliverable included in the arrangement. Accordingly,
a combined unit of accounting is used pursuant to ASC 605-25 Revenue RecognitionMultiple Element
Arrangements and such revenues are recognized ratably over the performance period of the last
deliverable in the arrangement.
Listing Services
Listing services comprise basic listing and special listing services. We offer our basic or
special listing services to agents, brokers, property developers, property owners, property
managers and others seeking to sell or rent new or secondary residential and commercial properties.
Basic Listing Services. Basic listings entitle our customers to posting information for
properties, home furnishing and improvement and other related products and services in a particular
area on our website, typically ranging from one to 36 months, in exchange for a fixed fee. Written
contracts, containing all significant terms and signed by us and our customers, provide persuasive
evidence of the arrangements. The amount of fees to be paid is not subject to change once the
contract has been signed. The contracts do not contain any specific performance, cancellation,
termination or refund provisions. Delivery of services occurs by allowing customers to post
listings on our website over the specified listing period. We perform credit assessments of our
customers prior to signing the written contract to ensure that collectability is reasonably
assured. In accordance with ASC 605-25, revenue is recognized ratably over the duration of the
service period when the basic listing services are being delivered.
Special Listing Services. Special listing services are multiple element arrangements, which
consist of website listing services and coordination of offline promotional themed events, such as
physical forum discussions or a banquet gathering, each with the special listing as the theme, and
allow our customers to promote their products or services to a live audience. These services
comprising our special listing services are not sold separately and are always sold together in a
package as our special listing services. Written contracts, containing all significant terms and
signed by us and our customers, provide persuasive evidence of the arrangements. The amount of fees
to be paid is not subject to change once the contract has been signed. The contracts do not contain
any specific performance, cancellation, termination or refund provisions. Delivery of services is
attained by allowing customers to post listings on our website over the specified listing period.
We perform credit assessments of our customers prior to signing the written contract to ensure
collectability is reasonably assured. We are unable to determine the fair value of these
services separately since these services are not sold on a standalone basis. Accordingly, a
combined unit of accounting is used pursuant to ASC 605-25 whereby revenue is recognized upon
delivery of the final deliverable, which is ratably over the duration of the special listing
service period.
Other Value-added Services and Products
We began providing marketing services to home furnishing and improvement vendors in exchange
for prepaid cards issued by these vendors. The significant terms of these transactions are stated
in written contracts which are signed by us and
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the customers. The prepaid cards contain monetary
values of varying denominations from RMB20 to RMB2,000 that can be used to purchase certain
products from the vendors specified stores. The prepaid cards are not redeemable for cash from the
vendors. We sell the prepaid cards, typically at a discount to their stated monetary value, to
external parties. The exchange of marketing services for prepaid cards is accounted for in
accordance with ASC 845 Non-monetary Transactions. In accordance with ASC 845-10-30, the
non-monetary transaction is measured based on fair value of the assets (or services) involved. The
fair value of the services to be provided is not determinable within a reasonable range because the
service fees received have historically varied widely. The fair value of the prepaid cards is
determined by reference to the historical cash proceeds received upon the sale of such cards to
customers. We reassess this fair value estimate periodically to reflect changes experienced in the
selling prices of the prepaid cards. Service revenue from this exchange is measured based on the
fair value of the prepaid cards received and is recognized in accordance with the revenue model
stated above in Marketing Services. Revenue from sales of prepaid cards is recognized when the
prepaid cards are delivered to the customers and cash is received.
Revenues from other value-added services and products include subscription fees for access to
our information database, research reports and indices and total web solution services. Revenues
derived from subscription services for access to our information database are primarily recognized
ratably over the subscription period. Revenues derived from research services are recognized when
the relevant services are completed. Research report services are generally performed over a period
of less than six months. Total web solution services may be provided on a complimentary basis in
conjunction with marketing services and are usually performed over a period of less than three
months.
Beginning in 2009, we began providing marketing services to home furnishing and improvement
vendors in exchange for prepaid cards issued by such vendors. The prepaid cards contain monetary
value in denominations varying from RMB20 to RMB2,000 that may only be used to purchase certain
products from the vendors specified stores and are not redeemable for cash. We sell the prepaid
cards, typically at a discount to their stated monetary value, to external parties. The exchange of
marketing services for prepaid cards is accounted for in accordance with ASC 845, Non-monetary
Transactions. Service revenue from this exchange is measured based on the fair value of the
prepaid cards received and is recognized in accordance with the revenue model stated above in
Marketing Services. The fair value of the prepaid cards is estimated based on the range of
actual selling prices achieved by us and managements assessment of the future demand for prepaid
cards. We reassess our fair value estimate periodically to reflect changes experienced in the
selling prices of the prepaid cards. Revenue from tangible products is recognized when the four
criteria for revenue recognition are met, which coincides with the delivery of the prepaid cards to
the customers. We discontinued the acceptance of prepaid cards in exchange for our marketing
services in July 2010 and sold all the remaining prepaid cards by the end of 2010.
Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Doubtful Accounts
We consider many factors in assessing the collectability of receivables due from our
customers, such as the age of the amounts due, the customers payment history and the customers
credit worthiness. An allowance for doubtful accounts is recorded in the period in which
uncollectability is determined to be probable. Significant financial difficulties of the debtor,
probability that the debtor will enter bankruptcy and default or delinquency in payments are
considered indicators of probability that an account receivable will be uncollectable. In
subsequent periods when all collection efforts have been exhausted, the uncollectable account
receivable is written off against our allowance for doubtful accounts. Where the actual outcome or
expectation in the future is different from the original estimate, such differences will
have an impact on the carrying amounts of the accounts receivable and the allowance loss in
the period in which such estimate has been changed.
Share-based Compensation Costs
We account for share-based awards granted to employees under ASC 718, CompensationStock
Compensation: Overall, using the modified-prospective transition approach since January 1, 2006.
We had previously accounted for share-based compensation arrangements with employees in accordance
with the provisions of Accounting Principles Board Opinion No. 25, Accounting for Stock Issued to
Employees and Related Interpretations Thereof, or APB 25. We continue to account for the remaining
unvested share options that were granted prior to the adoption of ASC 718 under APB 25. In
accordance with ASC 718, we determine whether a share option should be classified and accounted for
as a liability award or an equity award. All grants of share-based awards to employees classified
as equity awards are recognized in the financial statements based on their grant-date fair values,
which are calculated using the Binomial Option Pricing Model. All grants of share-based awards to
employees and directors classified as liability awards are re-measured at the end of each reporting
period with an adjustment for fair value recorded to the current period expense in order to
properly reflect the cumulative expense based on the current fair value of the rewards until such
rewards are settled.
Income Taxes and Deferred Tax Assets
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We follow the liability method of accounting for income taxes. Under this method, deferred tax
assets and liabilities are determined based on the difference between the financial reporting and
tax bases of assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates that will be in effect in the period in
which the differences are expected to reverse. We record a valuation allowance to offset deferred
tax assets if, based on the weight of available evidence, it is more likely than not that some
portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The effect on deferred taxes of a
change in the tax rate is recognized as tax expense in the period that includes the enactment date
of the change in the tax rate.
On January 1, 2007, we adopted ASC 740-10, Income Taxes: Overall, to account for
uncertainties in income taxes. Interest and penalties arising from underpayment of income taxes are
computed in accordance with the related PRC tax law. The amount of interest expense is computed by
applying the applicable statutory rate of interest to the difference between the tax position
recognized and the amount previously taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. Interest and
penalties recognized in accordance with ASC 740-10 are classified in the consolidated statements of
operations as income tax expense.
In accordance with the provisions of ASC 740-10, we recognize in our financial statements the
impact of a tax position if a tax return position or future tax position is more likely than not to
prevail based on the facts and technical merits of the position. Tax positions that meet the
more-likely-than-not recognition threshold are measured at the largest amount of tax benefit that
has a greater than fifty percent likelihood of being realized upon settlement. Our estimated
liability for unrecognized tax benefits which is included in the accrued expenses and other
liabilities account is periodically assessed for adequacy and may be affected by changing
interpretations of laws, rulings by tax authorities, changes and/or developments with respect to
tax audits and expiration of the statute of limitations. The outcome for a particular audit cannot
be determined with certainty prior to the conclusion of the audit and, in some cases, the appeal or
litigation process. The actual benefits ultimately realized may differ from our estimates. As each
audit is concluded, adjustments, if any, are recorded in our financial statements. In addition, in
future periods, changes in facts, circumstances and new information may require us to adjust the
recognition and measurement estimates with regard to individual tax positions. Changes in
recognition and measurement estimates are recognized in the period in which the changes occur.
Deferred tax assets are recognized for all unused tax losses to the extent that it is probable
that taxable profit will be available against which the losses can be utilized. Significant
management judgment is required to determine the amount of deferred tax assets that can be
recognized, based upon the likely timing and level of future taxable profits together with future
tax planning strategies. The net carrying value
of deferred tax assets relating to recognized tax losses was US$715,000, US$507,000 and
US$619,000 as of December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively.
Results of Operations
The following table sets forth selected financial data from our consolidated income statement
for the periods indicated:
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Year ended December 31, |
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|
|
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
Amount |
|
of revenue |
|
Amount |
|
of revenue |
|
Amount |
|
of revenue |
|
|
(US$ in thousands, except percentage) |
Revenues |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Marketing services(1) |
|
|
86,252 |
|
|
|
82.8 |
% |
|
|
102,367 |
|
|
|
80.6 |
% |
|
|
167,711 |
|
|
|
74.7 |
% |
Listing services |
|
|
16,070 |
|
|
|
15.4 |
% |
|
|
17,559 |
|
|
|
13.8 |
% |
|
|
40,355 |
|
|
|
18.0 |
% |
Other value-added services and
products |
|
|
1,802 |
|
|
|
1.8 |
% |
|
|
7,123 |
|
|
|
5.6 |
% |
|
|
16,424 |
|
|
|
7.3 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total revenues |
|
|
104,124 |
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
|
127,049 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
224,490 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of revenues |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of services |
|
|
(22,162 |
) |
|
|
(21.3 |
)% |
|
|
(26,484 |
) |
|
|
(20.8 |
)% |
|
|
(49,120 |
) |
|
|
(21.9 |
)% |
Cost of other value-added services
and products |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(4,863 |
) |
|
|
(3.9 |
)% |
|
|
(12,891 |
) |
|
|
(5.7 |
)% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total cost of revenues |
|
|
(22,162 |
) |
|
|
(21.3 |
)% |
|
|
(31,347 |
) |
|
|
(24.7 |
)% |
|
|
(62,011 |
) |
|
|
(27.6 |
)% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gross profit |
|
|
81,962 |
|
|
|
78.7 |
% |
|
|
95,702 |
|
|
|
75.3 |
% |
|
|
162,479 |
|
|
|
72.4 |
% |
Operating expenses |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Selling expenses |
|
|
(18,708 |
) |
|
|
(18.0 |
)% |
|
|
(25,186 |
) |
|
|
(19.8 |
)% |
|
|
(42,512 |
) |
|
|
(19.0 |
)% |
General and Administrative expenses |
|
|
(19,857 |
) |
|
|
(19.0 |
)% |
|
|
(22,176 |
) |
|
|
(17.5 |
)% |
|
|
(41,547 |
) |
|
|
(18.5 |
)% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating income |
|
|
43,397 |
|
|
|
41.7 |
% |
|
|
48,340 |
|
|
|
38.0 |
% |
|
|
78,420 |
|
|
|
34.9 |
% |
Foreign exchange gain (loss) |
|
|
(2,826 |
) |
|
|
(2.7 |
)% |
|
|
(59 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(462 |
) |
|
|
(0.2 |
)% |
Interest income(2) |
|
|
1,221 |
|
|
|
1.2 |
% |
|
|
1,205 |
|
|
|
0.9 |
% |
|
|
2,390 |
|
|
|
1.1 |
% |
Realized gain-trading securities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
195 |
|
|
|
0.2 |
% |
|
|
282 |
|
|
|
0.1 |
% |
Government grant |
|
|
360 |
|
|
|
0.3 |
% |
|
|
730 |
|
|
|
0.6 |
% |
|
|
740 |
|
|
|
0.3 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
52
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Year ended December 31, |
|
|
2008 |
|
2009 |
|
2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
Amount |
|
of revenue |
|
Amount |
|
of revenue |
|
Amount |
|
of revenue |
|
|
(US$ in thousands, except percentage) |
Income before income tax |
|
|
42,152 |
|
|
|
40.5 |
% |
|
|
50,411 |
|
|
|
39.7 |
% |
|
|
81,370 |
|
|
|
36.2 |
% |
Income tax (expense)/benefit |
|
|
(18,805 |
) |
|
|
(18.1 |
)% |
|
|
2,199 |
|
|
|
1.7 |
% |
|
|
(18,222 |
) |
|
|
(8.1 |
)% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net income |
|
|
23,347 |
|
|
|
22.4 |
% |
|
|
52,610 |
|
|
|
41.4 |
% |
|
|
63,148 |
|
|
|
28.1 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net income (loss) attributable to
non-controlling interest |
|
|
(34 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(42 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
40 |
|
|
|
|
|
Net income attributable to our
shareholders |
|
|
23,381 |
|
|
|
22.4 |
% |
|
|
52,652 |
|
|
|
41.4 |
% |
|
|
63,108 |
|
|
|
28.1 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Share-based compensation included in: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of revenues |
|
|
268 |
|
|
|
0.3 |
% |
|
|
489 |
|
|
|
0.4 |
% |
|
|
749 |
|
|
|
0.3 |
% |
Selling expenses |
|
|
323 |
|
|
|
0.3 |
% |
|
|
595 |
|
|
|
0.5 |
% |
|
|
1,035 |
|
|
|
0.5 |
% |
General and administrative expenses |
|
|
2,126 |
|
|
|
2.0 |
% |
|
|
3,056 |
|
|
|
2.4 |
% |
|
|
3,291 |
|
|
|
1.5 |
% |
|
|
|
(1) |
|
Marketing services include related-party amounts of nil and US$375,000 in 2009 and 2010,
respectively, relating to marketing services provided to the Hainan property developer that
was the subject of the Dong Fang Xi Mei commitment deposit described in the section entitled
Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions-Related Party Loans and Other Payments. |
|
(2) |
|
Interest income includes related party amounts of nil, US$85,000, and US$305,000 in 2008,
2009 and 2010, respectively. |
Revenues
We derive our revenues from marketing, listing and other value-added services and products. We
categorize our revenues in terms of three levels of cities based on size of the geographical
market, the level of revenue contribution to our business and the maturity of our business
operations in the cities. Level 1 cities include Beijing and Shanghai. Level 2 cities include
Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu, Suzhou and Nanjing. Level 3
cities include all other cities in which we have content coverage and will include any new cities
in which we may establish operations. Historically, we have derived a significant portion of our
revenues from level 1 cities. However, as we continue to expand and grow our operations in level 2
and level 3 cities, we expect that they may contribute an increasing percentage of our revenues
going forward.
Marketing Services
Our marketing service revenues consist of revenues derived from the advertising services
provided by our new home, secondary and rental properties and home furnishing and improvement
businesses. We target our marketing services at participants in Chinas real estate and home
furnishing and improvement sectors, including property developers, brokers and providers of home
furnishing and improvement products and services. Our marketing services include the design and
deployment on our website of banners, links, logos and floating signs. Our marketing service
revenues are primarily affected by the number and term of our contracts, the geographical market
where our services are delivered and the package of features and services to be delivered under the
contracts with our customers. Some of our marketing customers may enter into multiple contracts
with us for marketing campaigns for different property developments during the course of a year and
such marketing campaigns may be for different durations. Our marketing campaigns typically last
from several days to more than one year with no on-going obligations once the campaign has been
completed. The rates charged vary from contract to contract depending on the geographic market
where the services are delivered, the package of features and services requested and the duration
of the advertising campaign.
In 2008, 2009 and 2010, revenues generated from our marketing services represented 82.8%,
80.6% and 74.7% of our revenues, respectively. We expect revenues from marketing services to
continue to account for the significant majority of our revenues for the foreseeable future. We
have launched paid search and search ranking services through our advanced search engine in 2010.
Our paid search and search ranking services, our customers, including real estate developers,
brokers and agents as well as home furnishing and improvement product and service providers, can
now pay for priority placement of their links in keyword search results. We believe that the
addition of such paid search services will be an attractive feature for our customers and provide
an additional source of marketing service revenues from our customers. However, as this new service
will be an additional feature to be packaged into our marketing contracts, we do not expect it to
generate significant revenue or to have a significant impact on our business and results of
operations in the near future.
53
The following table presents our marketing service revenues for each of our businesses by
amount and percentage of our revenues for the periods indicated:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Year ended December 31, |
|
|
2008 |
|
2009 |
|
2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
|
|
|
of |
|
|
|
|
|
of |
|
|
|
|
|
of |
|
|
|
|
|
|
marketing |
|
|
|
|
|
marketing |
|
|
|
|
|
marketing |
|
|
|
|
|
|
service |
|
|
|
|
|
service |
|
|
|
|
|
service |
|
|
Amount |
|
revenues |
|
Amount |
|
revenues |
|
Amount |
|
revenues |
|
|
(US$ in thousands, except percentage) |
New home |
|
|
75,535 |
|
|
|
87.6 |
% |
|
|
87,134 |
|
|
|
85.1 |
% |
|
|
138,030 |
|
|
|
82.3 |
% |
Secondary and rental |
|
|
554 |
|
|
|
0.6 |
% |
|
|
537 |
|
|
|
0.5 |
% |
|
|
1,048 |
|
|
|
0.6 |
% |
Home furnishing and improvement |
|
|
10,163 |
|
|
|
11.8 |
% |
|
|
14,696 |
|
|
|
14.4 |
% |
|
|
28,634 |
|
|
|
17.1 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total marketing Service
revenues |
|
|
86,252 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
102,367 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
167,711 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Our new home business accounted for 87.6%, 85.1% and 82.3% of our marketing service revenues
in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. New home business primarily consists of marketing services
for newly developed properties for sale. Our new home customers are largely property developers and
their sales agents who are in the process of promoting newly developed properties for sale.
As part of our marketing services, we enter into web promotion and technical service contracts
or Internet information release service agreements with some of our customers. Some of these
service contracts were entered into with customers by SouFun Media or SouFun Network, which do not
have the relevant permits or licenses to conduct online advertising services or Internet
information release services in China. Historically, SouFun Media and SouFun Networks activities
relating to these service contracts have been limited to entering into the service contracts,
issuing invoices for services and performing technology and consulting services. All online
advertising and Internet information release services in China have been and continue to be
performed by our consolidated controlled entities, which have the relevant permits or licenses to
operate such businesses. Due to the uncertainties in the regulation of the Internet industry in
China, however, the PRC regulatory authorities have broad discretion in determining compliance with
the applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations in the Internet industry in China, and may determine
that SouFun Media and SouFun Network need permits or licenses to perform their obligations under
such service contracts.
In order to formalize these historical arrangements, SouFun Media and SouFun Network and our
consolidated controlled entities entered into intra-group memoranda of understanding in February
2008. Since the signing of such intra-group memoranda of understanding, SouFun Media and SouFun
Network have substantially reduced their direct contracting for provision of online advertising and
Internet information release services in China, but have not completely discontinued entering into
such service contracts. Marketing service revenues generated from SouFun Media and SouFun Network
totaled US$42.9 million and US$88.0 million, or approximately 33.8% and 39.2%, of our revenues in
2009 and 2010, respectively. Since July 1, 2010, SouFun Media and SouFun Network have ceased
entering into new, or renewing any existing, service contracts with online advertising or Internet
information release components. We will endeavor to have our consolidated controlled entities
re-enter into these terminated or expired contracts with our customers and, in the future, will
have our consolidated controlled entities enter into all agreements relating to online advertising
or Internet information release services with our customers.
Furthermore, in order to minimize any relevant legal risks inherent in these arrangements and
any impact to our revenues or working relationship with these customers during this transitional
period, we have been consulting with these customers since April 2010 about changing the
contracting party for such services agreements and have begun training our sales personnel to
explain to customers that such change would be administrative in nature and would not impact the
services we provide to them. We have not experienced any difficulties with our customers to enter
into service contracts with our consolidated controlled entities involving online advertising or
Internet information release services. The services we provide have not been adversely affected by
this transition since our consolidated controlled entities provide the underlying services.
Listing Services
Our listing service revenues consist of revenues derived from both basic listing services and
special listing services.
Basic listing services are targeted at agents, brokers, property developers, property owners,
property managers and others seeking to sell or rent new and secondary properties and allow
visitors to our website to search for product suppliers and service providers in Chinas home
furnishing and improvement sector. Revenues from basic listing services are predominantly derived
from our secondary and rental business. Some of our basic listing customers may enter into
contracts with us for multiple listing subscription accounts during the course of a year.
54
Special listing services comprise a specialized form of marketing program or event that is
developed through collaboration among our research, product development and sales personnel.
Special listing consists of a customized marketing program involving online placements on our
website supported by additional coordinated promotion through themed events. We identify property
developments with similar attributes and create a plan for collectively promoting such property
developments in a special listing, typically supported or supplemented by an offline event, such
as a physical discussion forum or a banquet gathering, with the special listing as the theme. For
example, the offline events we have held in the past included themed seminars on China villa
developments, our top 100 PRC real estate enterprises research conference, our top 100 PRC real
estate entrepreneurs summit and annual events such as PRC real estate development meetings and our
China Real Estate Index System conference on the annual review of sample development projects. We
provide special listing services primarily to property developers seeking to market new property
developments as well as providers of home furnishing and improvement products and services. We
charge fees for participating in our offline special listing events. When we plan to host a special
listing event, we send invitation letters to potential participants. The participation fees we
collect from such participants allow them to participate in the offline event and also to post
their names in the attendee or exhibit list used to market the event.
The following table sets forth our listing service revenues by amount and percentage of our
revenues for the periods indicated:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Year ended December 31, |
|
|
2008 |
|
2009 |
|
2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
|
|
|
of listing |
|
|
|
|
|
of listing |
|
|
|
|
|
of listing |
|
|
|
|
|
|
service |
|
|
|
|
|
service |
|
|
|
|
|
service |
|
|
Amount |
|
revenues |
|
Amount |
|
revenues |
|
Amount |
|
revenues |
|
|
(US$ in thousands, except percentage) |
Basic listing |
|
|
8,593 |
|
|
|
53.5 |
% |
|
|
11,513 |
|
|
|
65.6 |
% |
|
|
32,297 |
|
|
|
80.0 |
% |
Special listing |
|
|
7,477 |
|
|
|
46.5 |
% |
|
|
6,046 |
|
|
|
34.4 |
% |
|
|
8,058 |
|
|
|
20.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
|
16,070 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
17,559 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
40,355 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In 2008, 2009 and 2010, revenues from our listing services represented 15.4%, 13.8% and 18.0%
of our revenues, respectively. In recent years, our special listing customers have been reducing
the usage of our listing services while increasing the usage of our marketing services. In
addition, since 2008, we began to offer free trials of our basic listing services. We expect
special listing service revenues to continue to grow at a slower rate than our total revenues,
depending on the perception by our customers of the effectiveness in penetrating the market through
our online marketing programs vis-a-vis special listing services, although in the medium to long
term we believe that listing service revenues as a whole will continue to remain a significant
revenue source and will grow as a percentage of our revenues as the secondary home market continues
to grow in China, driving increased demand for our basic listing services.
Other Value-added Services and Products
We also derive revenues from other value-added services and products, including subscriptions
to our information database, research reports and total web solution services. We offer certain of
our customers our total web solution services on a complimentary basis in conjunction with our
marketing services. With respect to our paid contracts for website design, typically, half of the
fees are paid at signing and the remaining half is paid upon completion of the project.
Beginning in 2009, we also began providing marketing services to home furnishing and
improvement vendors in exchange for prepaid cards issued by such vendors due to the impact of the
financial crisis on the ability of our customers to pay for our services. The prepaid cards contain
monetary value in denominations varying from RMB20 to RMB2,000 that can only be used to purchase
certain products from the vendors specified stores and are not redeemable for cash. We sell the
prepaid cards, typically at a discount to their stated monetary value, to external parties. As of
December 31, 2009 and 2010, we held 61,681 and 0 prepaid cards with a face value of US$6.3 million and US$0
million, respectively. We discontinued the acceptance of prepaid cards in exchange for our
marketing services in July 2010 and sold all of the remaining prepaid cards by the end of 2010.
In 2008, 2009 and 2010, revenues from other value-added services and products represented
1.8%, 5.6% and 7.3% of our revenues, respectively.
55
Cost of Revenues
Our cost of revenues include cost of services and cost of other value-added services and
products. Cost of services primarily consists of staff costs, business taxes and surcharges,
operating lease expenses, network costs, communication expenses, share-based compensation expenses
and other costs directly related to the offering of our marketing, listing and other value-added
services and products. Staff costs include salary and benefits paid to members of our editorial
staff, customer service personnel and personnel dedicated to servicing and designing websites for
our customers. Business taxes and related surcharges are taxes, surcharges and cultural
construction fees levied on advertising sales in China, which are approximately 8.5% or, in
Shanghai, 9.5% of our marketing service revenues and approximately 5.5% of our listing and other
value-added services and products revenues. Operating lease expenses consist primarily of rent for
our various office facilities as allocated on the basis of the space occupied by our editorial
staff and customer service personnel. Network costs consist of server hosting fees, bandwidth fees
and related charges. China Unicoms network hosts our server network and receives hosting fees,
bandwidth fees and related fees from us. Communication costs consist of telephone expenses relating
to our operations. Cost of revenues also includes share-based compensation expenses in connection
with stock options and other share-based compensation granted to our editorial and production
staff, and business taxes and surcharges relating to technical and consulting service fees charged
by our wholly-foreign-owned enterprises for services provided under our exclusive technical
consultancy and services agreements with our consolidated controlled entities. Beginning in 2009,
we also incurred costs of other value-added services and products relating to our sales of prepaid
cards. In 2008, 2009 and 2010, our cost of revenues represented 21.3%, 24.7% and 27.6% of our
revenues, respectively.
Operating Expenses
Our operating expenses consist of selling expenses and general and administrative expenses. In
2008, 2009 and 2010, our operating expenses represented 37.0%, 37.3% and 37.4% of our revenues,
respectively.
The following table sets forth our operating expenses by amount and percentage of our total
operating expenses for the periods indicated:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Year ended December 31, |
|
|
2008 |
|
2009 |
|
2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
|
|
|
of |
|
|
|
|
|
of |
|
|
|
|
|
of |
|
|
|
|
|
|
operating |
|
|
|
|
|
operating |
|
|
|
|
|
operating |
|
|
Amount |
|
expenses |
|
Amount |
|
expenses |
|
Amount |
|
expenses |
|
|
(US$ in thousands, except percentage) |
Selling expenses |
|
|
18,708 |
|
|
|
48.5 |
% |
|
|
25,186 |
|
|
|
53.2 |
% |
|
|
42,512 |
|
|
|
50.6 |
% |
General and administrative expenses |
|
|
19,857 |
|
|
|
51.5 |
% |
|
|
22,176 |
|
|
|
46.8 |
% |
|
|
41,547 |
|
|
|
49.4 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
|
38,565 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
47,362 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
84,059 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Selling Expenses
Our selling expenses primarily consist of staff costs, such as salaries and benefits paid to
personnel in our sales and distribution department, operating lease expenses, which include rental
expenses related to our selling and distribution department, traveling and communication expenses,
office expenses and advertising and promotion expenses, including fees we pay to other Internet
portals for the purpose of promoting and increasing traffic to our website, which helps us to raise
our brand profile and generate additional marketing service revenues. Selling expenses also include
other expenses incurred in relation to our selling and distribution activities and share-based
compensation costs in connection with stock options and other share-based compensation granted to
our sales and marketing personnel. We expect our selling expenses to increase in the near future in
line with an increase in revenues as we continue to promote our website and our brand name.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses primarily consist of staff costs, such as salaries and
benefits paid to our management and general administrative, product and development personnel, bad
debt expense relating to uncollectible accounts receivable, office expenses, communication expenses
and other expenses in relation to general and administrative purposes, as well as website
development expenses related to the maintenance of our Internet portal browser and real estate
database. Our general and administrative expenses also include share-based compensation costs in
connection with share options and other share-based compensation granted to our general
administrative, technical and research personnel. We expect our general and administrative expenses
to increase in connection with the cost of being a public company. These expenses will initially
increase as a percentage of our revenues, but are expected to gradually stabilize and to decrease
in the long term as a percentage of our revenues to the extent that our revenues continue to grow.
56
Operating Income
Our operating income as a percentage of our revenues was 41.7%, 38.0% and 34.9% in 2008, 2009
and 2010, respectively.
Taxation
We are subject to income tax on an entity basis on profits arising in or derived from the
jurisdictions where we, our subsidiaries or our consolidated controlled entities are domiciled or
have operations.
Cayman Islands Income Tax
Under the current laws of the Cayman Islands, we are not subject to tax on our income or
capital gains. In addition, the Cayman Islands imposes no withholding tax on any dividends paid by
us.
British Virgin Islands Income Tax
Our subsidiaries in the British Virgin Islands are exempted from any income tax or withholding
tax under the current laws of the British Virgin Islands.
Hong Kong Income Tax
Our subsidiaries in Hong Kong are subject to Hong Kong profits tax at a rate of 16.5% on
assessable profits determined under the current relevant Hong Kong tax regulations. In 2008, 2009
and 2010, we did not make any provisions for Hong Kong profit tax as we had no assessable profits
derived from or earned in Hong Kong during those periods.
According to the Tax Agreement, dividends paid by a foreign-invested enterprise in mainland
China to its corporate shareholder in Hong Kong will be subject to withholding tax at the maximum
rate of 5.0%, provided that such Hong Kong company directly owns at least 25.0% of the equity
interest in the mainland foreign-invested enterprise. However, under the New EIT Law and Circular
601, dividends from our PRC subsidiaries paid to us through our Hong Kong subsidiaries may be
subject to withholding tax of 10.0% if our Hong Kong subsidiaries cannot be considered as a
beneficial owner. Bravo Work, a company we incorporated in Hong Kong in October 2007, currently
holds all the equity interest in SouFun Media and SouFun Network. Max Impact, a company we
incorporated in Hong Kong in October 2007, currently holds all the equity interest in Beijing Zhong
Zhi Shi Zheng. We incorporated China Index Academy in Hong Kong in August 2000. To the extent that
Bravo Work and Max Impact are each considered a non-resident enterprise under the Tax Agreement,
dividends paid by SouFun Media, SouFun Network and Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi Zheng to Bravo Work and
Max Impact, respectively, may be subject to a maximum rate of 10.0% withholding tax. However,
dividends paid by Bravo Work, Max Impact and China Index Academy to their shareholders, Pendiary
Investments, Selovo Investments and SouFun Holdings Limited, respectively, will not be subject to
any Hong Kong withholding tax.
PRC Income Tax
Prior to January 1, 2008, our PRC subsidiaries were governed by the Old EIT Law and were
generally subject to enterprise income taxes at a statutory rate of 33.0%, which consisted of a
30.0% national income tax and 3.0% local income tax. Under the Old EIT Law, some of our
subsidiaries qualified for preferential tax treatment based upon their satisfaction of certain
criteria. For example, SouFun Media and SouFun Network each obtained a new and high technology
enterprise certificate, which entitled them to a preferential income tax rate of 15.0% in 2007 and
an exemption from foreign enterprise income tax for three years starting from the calendar years of
2003 and 2006, respectively. These companies are also entitled to a 50.0% tax reduction for the
three years beginning from 2006 and 2009, respectively.
In March 2007, the National Peoples Congress of China enacted the New EIT Law, which became
effective on January 1, 2008. Under the New EIT Law, all foreign-invested enterprises, including
our subsidiaries and consolidated controlled entities, are subject to enterprise income tax at a
uniform rate of 25.0% if no preferential tax policy is applicable. The New EIT Law also provided
for a transition period commencing January 1, 2008 for those enterprises which were established
before the promulgation of the New EIT Law and were entitled to preferential tax treatment such as
a reduced tax rate or a tax holiday. Based on the transitional rule, foreign-invested enterprises
located in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and Shanghai Zhangjiang High Technology Park, such as
SouFun Shenzhen and SouFun Shanghai, which previously enjoyed a preferential tax rate of 15.0%, are
eligible for a five-year transition period during which the income tax rate will be gradually
increased to
57
the unified rate of 25.0%. The applicable rates for SouFun Shenzhen and SouFun
Shanghai are 18.0%, 20.0%, 22.0%, 24.0% and 25.0% in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 and
thereafter. As a result of these changes in tax rates, our effective tax rate in 2010 was higher
than that in 2009, which affected our profitability, net income and earnings per share.
In April 2008, the relevant PRC governmental authorities also released qualification criteria
and application and assessment procedures for high and new technology enterprises strongly
supported by the state, which would be entitled to a statutory tax rate of 15.0%. Beijing JTX
Technology, Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi Zheng, SouFun Media and SouFun Network and Beijing Technology
obtained qualification as high and new technology enterprises strongly supported by the state in
May and June 2009 and may apply for renewal of such status on a three-year basis. Renewal of such
status is subject to such companies continuing to demonstrate the requisite qualifications and
obtaining approval from the relevant tax authorities. We expect that our overall effective tax rate
will increase as a result of the implementation of the new enterprise income tax law. In April
2010, following discussions with relevant PRC tax authorities on our status as a high and new
technology enterprise strongly supported by the state, we paid US$9.0 million (including interest
of US$1.2 million) to resolve uncertainties about our tax treatment in 2008. As there was no
penalty charge relating to these payments, we did not record any penalties in relation to these
payments in 2008 and 2009. Although some of our subsidiaries and consolidated controlled entities
in China qualified in years prior to 2008 for certification as high and new technology enterprises
strongly supported by the state under the previous PRC enterprise income tax laws, we failed to
promptly renew such certification under the New EIT Law in 2008. As a result, these PRC entities became
subject to income tax at the rate of 25.0% instead of the preferential tax rates enjoyed by high
and new technology enterprises strongly supported by the state. We engaged in discussions with the
relevant PRC tax authorities to persuade them to retroactively recognize our subsidiaries and
consolidated controlled entities in China as high and new technology enterprises strong supported
by the state so that we could apply the preferential tax rates to these PRC entities starting from
2008. As our request for retroactive recognition was not formally agreed to by the tax authorities,
we decided to accept the 25.0% tax rate and make a lump-sum payment of US$9.0 million to resolve
any uncertainty relating to our PRC entities tax and to settle our tax liability and avoid further
interest charges or any assessment of penalties. This lump-sum payment consisted of US$7.8 million
relating to income taxes owed for 2008 and interest owed on such income taxes of US$1.2 million.
This payment did not include any penalties or other payments and was not a condition to or related
to the receipt by certain of our subsidiaries and controlled consolidated entities of qualification
as high and new technology enterprises strongly supported by the state in 2009. During 2009, each
of Beijing JTX Technology, Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi Zheng, SouFun Media, SouFun Network and Beijing
Technology obtained qualification as high and new technology enterprises strongly supported by the
state under the New EIT Law effective from 2009.
As a consequence of Circular 157, the income tax rates we used in our audited consolidated
financial statements for SouFun Network, Beijing Technology and Beijing JTX Technology, as high
and new technology enterprises strongly supported by the state, were 10.0%, 10.0% and 0% for 2009,
respectively, and 11.0%, 11.0% and 11.0% for 2010, respectively, instead of 7.5%, 7.5% and 0% for
2009, respectively, and 7.5%, 7.5% and 7.5% for 2010, respectively. As we believe Circular 157 is
similar to a change in tax law and should be retroactive from January 1, 2009 an additional tax
expense of US$7.5 million was recognized in the year 2010 to account for the cumulative effect of
Circular 157 for the two years ended December 31, 2010. This additional tax expense consists of
current income tax expense of US$4.8 million and deferred tax expense of US$2.7 million. We are in
the process of discussing the settlement procedures for the additional tax required under Circular
157.
As of December 31, 2010, we have recognized approximately US$5.9 million accrual for
unrecognized tax benefits from our 2006, 2007 and 2008 operations.
Moreover, under the New EIT law, if we are deemed to be a non-PRC tax resident enterprise
without an office or premises in China, a withholding tax at the rate of 10.0% will be applicable
to any dividends paid by our PRC subsidiaries to us, unless we are entitled to reduction or
elimination of such tax provided by applicable tax treaties.
Year Ended December 31, 2010 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2009
Revenues
Our revenues increased by 76.7% from US$127.0 million in the year ended December 31, 2009 to
US$224.5 million in the same period in 2010. This increase in revenues was reflected growth across
all of our business lines.
Marketing Services. Revenues from marketing services increased by 63.8% from US$102.4 million
in the year ended December 31, 2009 to US$167.7 million in the same period in 2010. The increase
was mainly due to a net increase in revenues from new home marketing business of US$50.9 million
across all levels of cities. The general improvement in operating
58
conditions in the PRC real estate market and the continued growth and expansion of our operations in all levels of cities were the
primary drivers behind the increased marketing service revenues. The growth in marketing service
revenues was also supported by an increase in the number of marketing contracts we entered into in
the year ended December 31, 2010, principally as a result of strong growth in the number of
contracts in smaller cities in which we operate, even though the new contracts entered into in
these smaller cities generally have shorter terms and smaller amounts than in level 1 cities. To a
lesser extent, the increase in marketing service revenues was attributable to growth in our home
furnishing and improvement business across all levels of cities,
particularly in level 1 cities, driven by increased advertising spending by service providers
as a result of improved economic conditions in China.
Listing Services. Revenues from our listing services increased by 129.8% from US$17.6 million
in the year ended December 31, 2009 to US$40.4 million in the same period in 2010, including a
180.5% increase in basic listing service revenues from US$11.5 million to US$32.3 million and a
33.3% increase in revenues from special listing services from US$6.1 million to US$8.1 million over
the same period. Listing service revenues increased as a percentage of revenues from 13.8% in the
year ended December 31, 2009 to 18.0% in the same period in 2010 as a result of improved economic
conditions in the PRC real estate market, which drove the growth in listing activity in the
secondary homes market.
The increase in basic listings revenue was primarily due to an increase of US$20.3 million in
listing service revenues from our secondary and rental business across all levels of cities, which
was attributable to an increase in the number of paid online listing subscription accounts from
89,826 as of December 31, 2009 to 183,473 as of December 31, 2010. The growth in new subscription
accounts was largely due to strong demand for listing services supported by growing secondary real
estate markets in these cities. Our basic listing service revenues and the number of paid online
subscription accounts for basic listing services are affected by the geographical market where our
services are delivered and the pricing of the listing subscription accounts. In July 2009, we
reduced the number of listings allowed in each listing subscription account and repackaged our
listing subscription offerings at a lower price, resulting in the number of our paid online
subscription accounts increasing at a higher rate than the growth of our listing service revenues.
The increase in revenues from special listings mainly resulted from an increase in the number
of participants at our special events, in particular at our top 100 PRC property developers event,
during the first half of 2010. Compared with the year ended December 31, 2009, which was adversely
affected by the global financial crisis, we were able to hold more special listing events in the
year ended December 31, 2010. Relatively better property market conditions as well as the timely
hosting of themed events of interest to market participants in the year ended December 31, 2010
also resulted in higher participation as compared to the same period in 2009.
Other Value-added Services and Products. Revenues from other value-added services and
products increased by 130.6% from US$7.1 million in the year ended December 31, 2009 to US$16.4
million in the same period in 2010, primarily due to increase in revenue received from marketing
services to home decoration vendors, subscription services for access to the our information
database and consulting services for customized and industry-related research reports and indices.
Cost of Revenues
Our cost of revenues in the year ended December 31, 2009 and 2010 as a percentage of our total
revenues was 24.7% and 27.6%, respectively. Our cost of revenues
increased by 97.8% from US$31.3
million in the year ended December 31, 2009 to US$62.0 million in the same period in 2010. This
increase was primarily due to an increase in the cost of other value-added services and products
and increases in staff costs relating to our editorial staff and customer service personnel. Our
costs of other value-added services and products increased from US$4.9 million in the year ended
December 31, 2009 to US$12.9 million in the same period in 2010, principally as a result of an
increase in sales of prepaid cards. In addition, our staff costs increased from US$9.1 million in
the year ended December 31, 2009 to US$19.1 million in the same period in 2010, mainly as a result
of higher headcount for our editorial staff and customer service personnel and an increase in
salaries.
Gross Profit and Gross Margin
As a result of the foregoing, our gross profit increased by 70.0% from US$95.7 million in the
year ended December 31, 2009 to US$162.5 million in the same period in 2010. Our gross margin
decreased from 75.3% in the year ended December 31, 2009 to 72.4% in the same period in 2010
primarily as a result of increased costs of other value-added services as well as from increased
staff costs largely due to hiring
of additional editorial and production staff. We discontinued the acceptance of prepaid cards
in exchange for our marketing services in July 2010 and sold all the remaining prepaid cards by the
end of 2010.
59
Operating Expenses
Our operating expenses increased by 77.5% from US$47.4 million in the year ended December 31,
2009 to US$84.1 million in the same period in 2010. The increase in our operating expenses was
mainly attributable to increases in both our selling expenses and general and administrative
expenses.
Selling Expenses. Our selling expenses increased by 68.8% from US$25.2 million in the year
ended December 31, 2009 to US$42.5 million in the same period in 2010, primarily due to an increase
in staff costs and traveling and communication expenses. The 81.9% increase in staff costs from
US$11.8 million in the year ended December 31, 2009 to US$21.4 million in the same period in 2010
was mainly due to the hiring of additional sales and marketing personnel. As a result of the
increase in headcount, our traveling and communication expenses increased by 88.4% to US$6.3
million in the year ended December 31, 2010 from US$3.3 million in the same period in 2009.
General and Administrative Expenses. Our general and administrative expenses increased by
87.4% from US$22.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2009 to US$41.5 million in the same
period in 2010, primarily due to an increase in professional service fees and website development
expenses. Professional service fees increased from US$0.3 million in the year ended December 31,
2009 to US$3.8 million in the same period in 2010, mainly as a result of fees paid to our
professional advisors in connection with our initial public offering. Website development expenses
increased by 90.0% from US$3.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2009 to US$6.1 million in the
same period in 2010, primarily due to an increase in staff costs due to an increase in headcount
and salaries paid to our technical and research personnel.
Operating Income and Operating Margin
As a result of the foregoing, our operating income increased 62.2% from US$48.3 million in the
year ended December 31, 2009 to US$78.4 million in the same period in 2010. Our operating margin
decreased from 38.0% in the year ended December 31, 2009 to 34.9% in the same period in 2010,
largely due to the drop in gross margins from the increased sale of lower margin prepaid cards.
Foreign Exchange Gain/(Loss)
We had a foreign exchange loss
of US$0.01 million in the year ended December 31, 2009 and a
foreign exchange loss of US$0.5 million in the same period in 2010, primarily due to outstanding
Renminbi-denominated dividend liabilities that will be repaid no
later than June 30, 2011, in
each case related to exchange rate fluctuations of the Renminbi relative to the U.S. dollar.
Interest Income
Our interest income increased by 98.3% from US$1.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2009
to US$2.4 million in the same period in 2010, mainly due to the increase in amount of funds we kept
in fixed-rate time deposits.
Realized GainTrading Securities
We recognized a gain of US$0.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2009 and US$0.3 million
in the same period in 2010 from sales of our investment in a structured note with a maturity of
less than one year and aggregate principal amount of US$7.6 million issued by a financial
institution.
Government Grants
Our government grants increased by 1.4% from US$0.73 million in the year ended December 31,
2009 to US$0.74 million in the same period in 2010, primarily due to an increase in the amount of
government grants received by our Shanghai-based subsidiaries, as a result of an increase in the
amount of business taxes assessed on these subsidiaries.
Income Before Income Tax
As a result of the foregoing, our income before income tax increased by 61.4% from US$50.4
million in the year ended December 31, 2009 to US$81.4 million in the same period in 2010.
Income Tax Benefit (Expense)
We incurred income tax benefit of US$2.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2009 and
income tax expense of US$18.2 million in the same period in 2010. Although we enjoyed preferential
corporate income tax rates due to the status of
60
certain of our PRC subsidiaries as high and new
technology enterprises strongly supported by the state in the year ended December 31, 2010, the
increase in our tax expenses was principally the result of a one-off income tax expense provision
of US$7.5 million due to the impact of Circular 157.
In April 2010, SAT issued Circular 157, which seeks to provide additional guidance on the
interaction of certain preferential tax rates under the transitional rules of the New EIT Law.
Prior to the issuance of Circular 157, three of our subsidiaries were entitled to pay income tax at
a lower rate, and could now be required to pay income tax at a higher rate pursuant to Circular
157, which has a retroactive effect and would apply to our 2009 tax year. As a consequence of
Circular 157, we recorded a one-off income tax expense of US$7.5 million, which consisted of a
current income tax expense of US$4.8 million and a deferred tax expense of US$2.7 million recorded
in the second quarter of 2010. See Item 3 Key InformationRisk FactorsRisks Relating to Our
BusinessThe discontinuation of any of the preferential tax treatments currently available to us
in China could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Net
(Loss) Income Attributable to Our Non-controlling Interests
Our net income attributable to a 10.0% equity interest in Beijing Information that is not
directly or indirectly owned by us changed from net loss US$0.42 million in the year ended December 31,
2009 to net income US$0.4 million in the same period in 2010, mainly as a result of a decrease in the net
income from Beijing Information.
Net Income Attributable to SouFun Holdings Limited Shareholders
As a result of the foregoing, our net income attributable to our shareholders increased by
19.9% from US$52.7 million in the year ended December 31, 2009 to US$63.1 million in the same
period in 2010. Our net income margin decreased from 41.4% in the year ended December 31, 2009 to
28.1% in the same period in 2010.
Year Ended December 31, 2009 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2008
Revenues
Our revenues increased by 22.0% from US$104.1 million in 2008 to US$127.0 million in 2009.
This increase in revenues was primarily attributable to growth across all our business lines from
existing and new customers in our existing cities in 2009. Our rate of growth in 2009, however,
decreased significantly from that in 2008 largely as a result of the global economic crisis, as (i)
many of our property developer customers launched fewer property developments and reduced their
advertising budgets in 2009 and (ii) difficult real estate market conditions, particularly in the
first half of 2009, led to slower growth in our listing service revenues compared to 2008.
Marketing Services. Revenues from marketing services increased by 18.7% from US$86.3 million
in 2008 to US$102.4 million in 2009, mainly attributable to the increase in revenues from new home
marketing of US$11.6 million. This increase was largely driven by new project launches in level 1
cities, on-going adoption of online marketing by new home developers and a general improvement in
the business environment of the real estate market. The growth in marketing service revenues was
also supported by an increase in the number of marketing contacts we entered into with customers even though during
the first half of 2009, many of the marketing contracts we entered into with customers were for
shorter terms as a result of the global financial crisis. To a lesser extent, the increase in
marketing service revenues was attributable to growth in our home furnishing and improvement
business in all levels of cities driven by increased advertising spending by service providers as a
result of improved economic conditions. The increase was partially offset by a decrease in
marketing service revenues from our new home business from level 2 cities of US$3.6 million, due to
the entry of new participants to the market including national Internet portal companies and
websites focused on real estate services and a challenging sales environment for that line of
business, particularly in Tianjin, Chongqing and Chengdu. In 2009, some of the national Internet
portals in China began to strengthen their presence in various cities, while local websites also
entered into these markets to compete.
Listing Services. Revenues from our listing services increased by 9.3% from US$16.1 million
in 2008 to US$17.6 million in 2009, including a 33.7% increase in basic listing service revenues
from US$8.6 million to US$11.5 million, partially offset by a 20.0% decrease in revenues from
special listing services from US$7.5 million to US$6.0 million over the same period.
This growth in basic listings revenue was primarily due to an increase of US$2.9 million in
listing service revenues from our secondary and rental business in level 1 and level 2 cities
attributable to an increase in the number of paid online listing subscription accounts from 50,549
in 2008 to 89,826 in 2009. The growth in new subscription accounts was driven by strong demand for
listing services supported by growing secondary real estate markets in these cities. Our listing
service revenues and
61
the number of paid online subscription accounts for basic listing services are
affected by the geographical market where our services are delivered and the pricing of the listing
subscription accounts. In July 2009, we repackaged all our listing subscription accounts to a lower
price by reducing the number of listings allowed in each listing subscription account, resulting in
the number of our paid online subscription accounts increasing at a higher rate than the growth of
our listing service revenues.
The decrease in revenues from special listings resulted primarily from fewer participants at
our special listing events for our research business. This was partially offset by an increase in
revenues from increased participants at our special listing events for our new home business.
Other Value-added Services and Products. Revenues from other value-added services and
products increased by 294.4% from US$1.8 million in 2008 to US$7.1 million in 2009, primarily due
to the sale of prepaid cards in 2009 of US$5.4 million and an increase of US$0.2 million in
revenues from our research report services in 2009. This was partially offset by a decrease of
US$0.2 million in revenues from total web solution services and a decrease of US$0.1 million in
revenues from information database services.
Cost of Revenues
In 2008 and 2009, our cost of revenues represented 21.3% and 24.7% of our revenues,
respectively. The increase in our cost of revenues as a percentage of our revenues in 2009 was
primarily the result of sales of prepaid cards amounting to US$5.4 million, of which we incurred
US$4.9 million in costs of other valued-added services and products relating to the prepaid cards.
As the prepaid cards were sold at a discount, the cost of revenues for these prepaid cards as a
percentage of the revenues they generated in 2009 was higher than our other business operations,
resulting in an increase in our overall cost of revenues as a percentage of our revenues in 2009.
We had no sales of prepaid cards in 2008.
Our cost of revenues in 2009 increased by 41.0% from US$22.2 million in 2008 to US$31.3
million. This increase was consistent with our increase in revenues and was primarily due to US$4.9
million for the cost of other value-added services and products relating to the sale of prepaid
cards and an increase in business taxes and surcharges and business taxes on intercompany service
fee charges. Our business taxes and surcharges increased from US$6.8 million in 2008 to US$8.3
million in 2009 in line with the increase in our revenues in 2009. Our business taxes on
intercompany service fee charges increased from US$47,000 in 2008 to US$1.2 million in 2009, mainly
as a result of an increase in transfers of taxable revenue from the consolidated controlled
entities to our direct subsidiaries.
Gross Profit and Gross Margin
Our gross profit increased by 16.7% from US$82.0 million in 2008 to US$95.7 million in 2009.
Our gross margin remained relatively stable at 78.7% in 2008 and 75.3% in 2009.
Operating Expenses
Our operating expenses increased by 22.8% from US$38.6 million in 2008 to US$47.4 million in
2009. The increase in our operating expenses was principally as a result of an increase in selling
expenses.
Selling Expenses. Our selling expenses increased by 34.8% from US$18.7 million in 2008 to
US$25.2 million in 2009, primarily due to an increase in staff costs, traveling and communication
expenses and advertising and promotion expenses. The 38.8% increase in staff costs from US$8.5
million in 2008 to US$11.8 million in 2009 was mainly due to an increase in our sales and marketing
personnel in the second half of 2009 and an increase in commissions paid to our sales and marketing
staff as a result of higher sales. The increase in traveling and communication expenses by 22.2%
from US$2.7 million in 2008 to US$3.3 million in 2009 was largely due to increased sales and
promotional activities from the addition of new sales and marketing staff during 2009. The increase
in advertising and promotion expenses by 66.7% from US$0.9 million in 2008 to US$1.5 million in
2009 was primarily due to entry into a portal collaboration contract with an Internet portal
company to promote our website.
General and Administrative Expenses. Our general and administrative expenses increased by
11.6% from US$19.9 million in 2008 to US$22.2 million in 2009, primarily due to an increase in
bad-debt expenses, share-based compensation expenses and website development expenses. Bad-debt
expenses increased by 37.5% from US$3.2 million in 2008 to US$4.4 million in 2009, principally as a
result of an increase in our accounts receivable arising from increases in sales, and because the
global financial crisis during these periods negatively affected accounts receivable collectability
from certain clients in the first half of 2009. The increase in share-based compensation expenses
by 40.0% from US$2.0 million to US$2.8 million was mainly
62
due to the increase in the number of
share options granted. Website development expenses increased by 23.1% from US$2.6 million in 2008
to US$3.2 million in 2009, primarily due to an increase in staff costs resulting from an increase
in salaries and in the number of technical and research personnel in 2009.
Operating Income and Operating Margin
As a result of the foregoing, our operating income increased 11.3% from US$43.4 million in
2008 to US$48.3 million in 2009. Our operating margin decreased from 41.7% in 2008 to 38.0% in
2009.
Foreign Exchange Gain/(Loss)
We incurred a foreign exchange loss of US$2.8 million in 2008 and US$59,000 in 2009 related to
Renminbi-denominated dividend liabilities, which resulted in a loss due to fluctuations in the
Renminbi-U.S. dollar exchange rate.
Interest Income
Our interest income remained relatively stable at US$1.2 million in 2008 and 2009.
Realized GainTrading Securities
We recognized a gain of US$0.2 million in 2009 from our investment in a structured note with a
maturity of less than one year of US$7.3 million issued by a financial institution.
Government Grants
Our government grants increased by 75.0% from US$0.4 million in 2008 to US$0.7 million in
2009, primarily due to an increase in the amount of government grants received by our
Shanghai-based subsidiaries, as a result of an increase in the amount of business taxes assessed on
these subsidiaries.
Income Before Income Tax
As a result of the foregoing, our income before income tax increased by 19.4% from US$42.2
million in 2008 to US$50.4 million in 2009.
Income Tax Benefit (Expense)
We incurred income tax expenses of US$18.8 million in 2008 and recorded an income tax benefit
of US$2.2 million in 2009, primarily due to the qualification of certain of our PRC subsidiaries
and consolidated controlled entities for preferential tax treatment as high and new technology
enterprises strongly supported by the state in 2009. Under the applicable PRC tax law, a
recognized high and new technology enterprise strongly supported by the state may enjoy a
preferential corporate income tax rate of 15.0%. As a result of changes in our tax rate in 2009, we
recognized a tax benefit of US$9.5 million. For 2009, our major subsidiaries and consolidated
controlled entities, SouFun Media, SouFun Network, Beijing Technology, Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi Zheng
and Beijing JTX Technology were eligible to use tax rates of 15.0%, 7.5%, 7.5%, 15.0% and 0%,
respectively. During 2008, all of these entities were subject to income tax at a rate of 25.0% as
we failed to secure such high and new technology enterprise strongly supported by the state
recognition for our PRC subsidiaries and consolidated controlled entities during the year. We
recognize deferred tax liability in relation to the undistributed earnings of our consolidated
controlled entities in China. Such earnings are taxable upon distribution to our PRC subsidiaries.
As a result of the tax rate change from the unified 25.0% in 2008 to the preferential tax rates in
2009, our deferred tax liability, decreased from US$14.0 million as at December 31, 2008 to US$5.7
million as at December 31, 2009, with such effect of tax rate change recognized as an income tax
benefit in the amount of US$9.5 million in 2009. You may find additional information on the effects
of the PRC tax law and its changes on our financial condition and results of operations in Note 13
to our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report.
Net
(Loss) Income Attributable to Our Non-controlling Interests
Our net income attributable to a 10.0% equity interest in Beijing Information that is not
directly or indirectly owned by us increased by 23.5% from US$34,000 in 2008 to US$42,000 in 2009
as a result of an increase in net income from Beijing Informations operations.
63
Net Income Attributable to SouFun Holdings Limited Shareholders
As a result of the foregoing, our net income attributable to our shareholders increased by
125.2% from US$23.4 million in 2008 to US$52.7 million in 2009, and our net income margin increased
from 22.4% in 2008 to 41.4% in 2009.
B. Liquidity and Capital Resources
Historically, we have financed our operations primarily through internally generated cash and
the sale of our shares to investors. As of December 31, 2010, we had approximately US$171.5 million
in cash and cash equivalents. Our cash and cash equivalents primarily consist of cash
on hand and demand deposits placed with banks or other financial institutions. All of our
investments with original stated maturities of 90 days or less are classified as cash and cash
equivalents. All of our investments with original stated maturities of greater than 90 days and
less than 365 days are classified as short-term investments. As of December 31, 2008, 2009 and
2010, we had short-term investments of US$24.9 million, US$28.6 million and US$58.1 million,
respectively, substantially all of which consistent of deposits with
commercial banks and financial institutions. As of December 31, 2008 and 2009 and 2010, we had
net current assets of US$23.0 million, US$24.9 million and US$118.6 million, respectively.
We plan to make the remaining dividend payment of RMB299.8 million (US$39.6 million) as of
December 31, 2010, no later than June 30, 2011. We intend to use our operating income overseas,
including our license fees collected from our PRC subsidiaries and consolidated controlled entities
and bank loan financing at the holding company level or through our overseas subsidiaries to fund
this payment. This funding is intended to comply with limitations under PRC laws, rules and
regulations restricting our ability to access funds from our PRC subsidiaries and/or our
consolidated controlled entities. See Item 3 Key InformationRisk FactorsRisks Relating to
ChinaGovernment control of currency conversion may limit our ability to utilize our revenues
effectively.
We believe our current cash and cash equivalents and cash flow from operations will be
sufficient to meet our present and anticipated cash needs, including for working capital and
capital expenditures, for at least the next 12 months. We may, however, seek additional cash
resources due to changed business conditions or other future developments, such as strategic
alliances and acquisitions, new service development and expansion of our service offerings, to
compete with alternative or different services and products offered by our competitors or to take
advantage of market opportunities for our growth and/or technological improvements. If these
sources are insufficient to satisfy our cash requirements, we may seek additional sources of
financing, including selling debt securities or additional equity securities or obtaining credit
facilities to meet our cash needs. See Item 3 Key InformationRisks FactorsRisks Relating to
Our ADSsWe may need additional capital, and the sale of additional ADSs or other equity
securities could result in additional dilution to our shareholders, while the incurrence of debt
may impose restrictions on our operations.
From time to time, we evaluate possible investments, acquisitions or divestments and may, if a
suitable opportunity arises, make an investment or acquisition or conduct a divestment.
Cash Flows
The following table sets forth information regarding our cash flows for the periods indicated:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Year ended December 31, |
|
|
2008 |
|
2009 |
|
2010 |
|
|
(US$ in thousands) |
Consolidated cash flow data |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net cash generated from operating activities |
|
|
44,568 |
|
|
|
65,966 |
|
|
|
106,510 |
|
Net cash
(used in) generated from investing activities |
|
|
(2,598 |
) |
|
|
(12,034 |
) |
|
|
(46,096 |
) |
Net cash (used in) generated from financing activities |
|
|
(16,210 |
) |
|
|
(24,789 |
) |
|
|
14,404 |
|
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents |
|
|
28,954 |
|
|
|
29,217 |
|
|
|
79,281 |
|
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year |
|
|
34,068 |
|
|
|
63,022 |
|
|
|
92,239 |
|
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year |
|
|
63,022 |
|
|
|
92,239 |
|
|
|
171,520 |
|
64
Net Cash Generated from Operating Activities
We had net cash generated by operating activities of US$106.5 million in 2010. This was
primarily attributable to our net income of US$63.1 million during this period, an increase in
advances from customers of US$26.4 million as a result of more advances from our marketing and
basic listing customers, and an increase in accrued but unpaid income tax payable of US$11.0
million. This was partially offset by an increase of US$14.6 million in our accounts receivable due
to the expansion of our business operations.
We had net cash generated by operating activities of US$66.0 million in 2009. This was
primarily attributable to our net income of US$52.6 million during this period, an increase in
advances from customers of US$12.8 million as a result of more advances from our marketing and
basic listing customers, and an increase in accrued expenses and other liabilities of US$7.9
million due primarily to an increase in other taxes and surcharges payable as a result of increased
gross revenues and an accrued unrecognized tax
benefit. This was partially offset by an increase of US$7.1 million in our accounts receivable
due to the expansion of our business operations.
We had net cash generated by operating activities of US$44.6 million in 2008, which was
primarily attributable to our net income of US$23.3 million during this period, an increase in
accrued expenses and other liabilities of US$14.9 million due to an increase in accrued tax
liabilities and was partially offset by an increase in accounts receivable of US$9.3 million due to
the expansion of our business operations.
Net Cash Used in Investing Activities
Our net cash used in investing activities was US$46.1 million in 2010. This was primarily
attributable to a US$97.0 million increase in short-term investments in the form of fixed-term
deposits in China, a loan of US$10.6 million to Beijing Pujin Finance Company, an independent third
party, for a term of six months with an interest rate of 10% per annum, acquisition of property and
equipment of US$5.6 million, deposits for purchase of non-current assets of US$4.6 million and
acquisition of an available-for-sale security of US$5.0 million. These amounts were partially
offset by an increase in cash proceeds received from the maturity of short-term investments of
US$68.9 million relating to our fixed-term deposits in China and a decrease in amount due from
related parties of US$7.6 million.
Our net cash used in investing activities was US$12.0 million in 2009. This was primarily
attributable to a US$35.9 million increase in short-term investments in the form of fixed-term
deposits in China and a change in the amount due from related parties of US$6.8 million relating to
an entrusted loan of US$7.3 million to Hengshui, which is a PRC company 51%- owned by Mr. Mo, our
founder and executive chairman, and 49%-owned by independent third parties, with the intention of
providing commitment deposits to Hengshui to secure exclusive future marketing and listing business
from Hengshui. The loan to Hengshui bore a stated interest rate of 10.0% per annum. The loan to
Hengshui matured and was repaid on May 5, 2010. See Major Shareholders and Related Party
Transactions. These amounts were partially offset by an increase in cash proceeds received from
the maturity of short-term investments of US$32.2 million relating to our fixed-term deposits in
China.
Our net cash used in investing activities was US$2.6 million in 2008. This was primarily
attributable to cash of US$24.0 million used for short-term investments in the form of fixed-term
deposits in China and payment of US$2.0 million for the acquisition of property and equipment for
our offices. These amounts were partially offset by cash proceeds received from the maturity of
short-term investments of US$23.3 million relating to our fixed-term deposits in China.
Our capital expenditures were US$2.0 million, US$1.6 million and US$5.6 million in 2008, 2009
and 2010, respectively. In 2008 and 2009, our capital expenditures were primarily related to the
purchase of servers, computer equipment and other office equipment relating to our operations as
well as renovations of our offices. The decrease in capital expenditures from US$2.0 million in
2008 to US$1.6 million in 2009 was mainly due to the downsizing of some of our offices in the
second half of 2008, which also impacted our expenses in 2009. The increase in capital expenditures
from US$1.6 million in 2009 to US$5.6 million in 2010 was mainly due to the decoration and purchase
of fixed assets as a result of the new offices and also the expansion of current offices. In
addition, we expect our capital expenditures to increase in the future as our business continues to
develop and expand as we make further improvements to our website and our services.
On December 23, 2010, we entered into an agreement with Sahn Eagle LLC to purchase a training
center in New York City for a consideration of US$46.0 million. The acquisition is expected to
complete by the end of June 2011 and we plan to use our own cash and bank loan financing in U.S.
dollars to fund this acquisition. See Item 5 Net Cash Used in Financing Activities.
65
Net Cash Used in Financing Activities
Our net cash received from financing activities in 2010 was US$14.4 million. This was
attributable to proceeds from exercise of share options of US$0.3 million, proceeds from initial
public offering of US$10.5 million and proceeds from short-term loan of US$3.6 million to fund the deposit for
purchase of the New York City training center referred to above. In March of 2011, we incurred
US$45.0 million bank loan as additional funding for the purchase of the training center and to
repay the short term loan. The bank loan will mature on March 14, 2014.
Our net cash used in financing activities in 2009 was US$24.8 million. This was attributable
to dividend payments to our shareholders of US$24.2 million.
Our net cash used in financing activities was US$16.2 million in 2008 and was primarily due to
dividend payments to our shareholders. See Item 8 Financial InformationConsolidated Statements
and Other Financial InformationDividend Policy.
Capital Expenditures
Our capital expenditures were US$2.0 million, US$1.6 million and US$5.6 million in 2008, 2009
and 2010, respectively. In 2008 and 2009, our capital expenditures were primarily related to the
purchase of servers, computer equipment and other office equipment relating to our operations as
well as renovations of our offices. The decrease in capital expenditures from US$2.0 million in
2008 to US$1.6 million in 2009 was mainly due to the downsizing of some of our offices in the
second half of 2008, which also impacted our expenses in 2009. The increase in capital expenditures
from US$1.6 million in 2009 to US$5.6 million in 2010 was mainly due to the decoration and purchase
of fixed assets as a result of the new offices and also the expansion of current offices. In
addition, we expect our capital expenditures to increase in the future as our business continues to
develop and expand as we make further improvements to our website and our services.
Inflation
In recent years, China has not experienced significant inflation. According to the National
Bureau of Statistics of China, the change in the consumer price index in China was 5.9%, -0.7% and
3.3% in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. Recent inflation has not had a material impact on our
results of operations. However, we cannot assure you that we will not be adversely affected by
inflation or deflation in China in the future.
C. Research and Development, Patents and Licenses, Etc
We have a team of experienced engineers who are mostly based at our headquarters in Beijing.
We recruit most of our engineers locally and have established various recruiting and training
programs with leading universities in China. We compete aggressively for engineering talent to help
us address challenges such as Chinese language processing, information retrieval and high
performance computing. In each of the three years ended December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010, our
research and development expenditures, including share-based compensation expenses for research and
development staff, were US$2.6 million, US$3.2 million and US$6.1 million, representing 2.5%, 2.5%
and 2.7% of our total revenues for 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively.
D. Trend Information
Other than as disclosed elsewhere in this annual report, we are not aware of any trends,
uncertainties, demands, commitments or events for the period from January 1, 2010 to December 31,
2010 that are reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on our net revenues, income,
profitability, liquidity or capital resources, or that caused the disclosed financial information
to be not necessarily indicative of future operating results or financial conditions.
E. Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We do not currently have any outstanding off-balance sheet arrangements or commitments. We
have no plans to enter into transactions involving, or otherwise form relationships with,
unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships established for the purpose of facilitating
off-balance sheet arrangements or commitments.
F. Tabular Disclosure of Contractual Obligations
The following table sets forth our contractual obligations and commercial commitments as of
December 31, 2010:
66
|
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|
Payment due by period |
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|
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More |
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Less than |
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1-3 |
|
3-5 |
|
than 5 |
|
|
Total |
|
1 year |
|
years |
|
years |
|
years |
|
|
(US$ in thousands) |
Operating lease commitments |
|
|
10,883 |
|
|
|
5,780 |
|
|
|
5,103 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Purchase commitments |
|
|
41,400 |
|
|
|
41,400 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Our operating lease commitments consist of office lease obligations for our offices in various
locations across China. These leases expire at different times from December 31, 2010 through 2012,
and will become subject to renewal. We intend to evaluate the need to renew each office lease on a
case-by-case basis within a reasonable time prior to its expiration. Our Beijing headquarters have
been at their current location since December 2007, and the lease for such office space expires in
December 2012.
In March of 2011, we incurred long-term debt in the amount of US$45.0 million to purchase the
former AIG training center in New York City.
G. Safe Harbor
See Forward-Looking Statements.
ITEM 6. DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEES
A. Directors and Executive Officers
The following table sets forth certain information relating to our directors and executive
officers. The business address of each of our directors and executive officers is 8th Floor, Tower
3, Xihuan Plaza, No. 1 Xizhimenwai Avenue, Xicheng District, Beijing 100044 China.
|
|
|
|
|
Name |
|
Age |
|
Position |
Vincent Tianquan MO |
|
47 |
|
Executive chairman of the board of directors |
Quan ZHOU |
|
53 |
|
Director |
Shan LI |
|
47 |
|
Independent director |
Qian ZHAO |
|
42 |
|
Independent director |
Sam Hanhui SUN |
|
38 |
|
Independent director |
Jeff Xuesong LENG |
|
41 |
|
Director |
Thomas Nicholas HALL |
|
43 |
|
Director |
Richard Jiangong DAI |
|
37 |
|
President, chief executive officer and director |
Lanying GUAN |
|
43 |
|
Chief financial officer |
Jian LIU |
|
35 |
|
Chief operations officer |
Vincent Tianquan Mo is our founder and has served as our executive chairman of our board of
directors since 1999. Prior to founding our Company, Mr. Mo served as an executive vice president
at Asia Development and Finance Corporation from 1996 to 1998 and a general manager for Asia at
Teleres, a venture of Dow Jones & Co. and AEGON USA to provide online commercial real estate
information services, from 1994 to 1996. He currently serves as a director on the board of
directors of Shun Cheong Holdings Limited, a Hong Kong-listed company, and is the secretary general
of the China Real Estate Index System, a real estate research publication operated by us. Mr. Mo is
also a director of Taoshi PE Fund Management Co.. Mr. Mo holds a bachelors degree in engineering
from South China University of Technology, a master of science degree in business administration
from Tsinghua University and a master of arts degree in economics from Indiana University. Mr. Mo
is the uncle of Mr. Dai, our president and chief executive officer who is a director of our
Company.
Quan Zhou has served as a director of our Company since 2000. Mr. Zhou has been the president
of IDG Technology Venture Investment, Inc., or IDG Technology, since 1995. He is currently a
managing member of the general partner of IDG Technology Venture Investments, L.P. and its
successor funds. Mr. Zhou is also serving as a director of the general partner of each of IDG-Accel
China Growth Fund I, IDG-Accel China Growth Fund II and IDG-Accel China Capital Fund. He currently
serves on the boards of a number of private companies, including Superdata Technology (Asia)
Limited, OriGene Technologies
67
Inc., CosmoChina International Inc., Giganology Limited, Yesky.com
Inc. and Wupima Inc. Mr. Zhou holds a bachelors degree in chemistry from the China Science and
Technology University, a masters degree in chemical physics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences,
and a Ph.D degree in fiber optics from Rutgers University.
Qian Zhao is an independent director of our Company and chair of our nominating and corporate
governance committee. Mr. Zhao is a founding partner of CXC China Sustainable Growth Fund, a
private equity fund that makes investments in China-based companies. Mr. Zhao was a lawyer by
training and is admitted to practice law in both China and New York. Mr. Zhao co-founded Haiwen &
Partners in 1992, a preeminent China corporate finance law firm in Beijing. He worked in Sullivan &
Cromwell s New York office from 1998 to 2000 and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and
Affiliates Beijing office from 2000 to 2003. Mr. Zhao is currently a director and member of the
audit committee of Trina Solar Limited, a NYSE-listed company, and CXC Capital, Inc., which is the
management company of CXC China Sustainable Growth Fund. Mr. Zhao received a J.D. degree from the
New York University School of Law in 1998 and an LL.B degree from University of International
Business & Economics, Beijing, in 1990.
Shan Li has served as a director of our Company since 1999 and is an independent director of
our Company and chair of our compensation committee. Mr. Li is a founding partner of San Shan (HK)
Ltd., a private equity firm focused on the China market. Previously, Mr. Li was the chief executive
officer of BOC International Holdings Limited, a position he held from 2001 to 2005. Mr. Li is
currently a director of China Cablecom, a NASDAQ-listed company, CMMB Vision Holdings Limited, a
Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed company, and San Shan (HK) Limited. Mr. Li served as a managing
director at Lehman Brothers Asia (Hong Kong) from 1999 to 2001 and served as the deputy head of the
Investment Banking Preparation Committee at China Development Bank from 1998 to 1999. Mr. Li is
currently a senior advisor and vice chairman of UBS Investment Bank in Asia. Mr. Li received a
bachelors degree in management information systems from Tsinghua University, a masters degree in
economics from the University of California at Davis and a Ph.D degree in economics from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Sam Hanhui Sun is an independent director of our Company and chairman of our audit committee.
Mr. Sun has been chief financial officer of Qunar.com, a leading travel search engine in China
since January 2010. He was chief financial officer of Beijing Ruifeng Co. Ltd. from May 2009 to
September 2009 and KongZhong Corporation, a Nasdaq-listed company, from February 2007 to April
2009. Mr. Sun was also an independent director and audit committee member of KongZhong Corporation
from July 2005 through January 2007. From 2004 to 2007, Mr. Sun took various financial controller
roles at Microsoft China R&D Group, Maersk China Co. Ltd. and our Company. From 1995 to 2004, Mr.
Sun worked in KPMGs auditing practice, including eight years at KPMG in Beijing where he was an
audit senior manager, and two years at KPMG in Los Angeles, California. Mr. Sun earned a bachelors
degree in business administration from the Beijing Institute of Technology in 1993. He is a
Certified Public Accountant in China.
Jeff Xuesong Leng has been a director of our Company since our initial public offering in
September 2010, pursuant to the investors rights agreement dated August 13, 2010. Mr. Leng is a
managing director at General Atlantic LLC, a private equity investment firm. Mr. Leng served as a
managing director at Warburg Pincus, an international private equity firm, from 1999 to 2007. Mr.
Leng is currently a non-executive director of Wuxi PharmaTech, a company listed on the New York
Stock Exchange, and Zhongsheng Group Holdings Limited, a company listed on the Hong Kong Stock
Exchange. From July 2006 to August 2007, Mr. Leng served as a non-executive director of China
Huiyuan Juice Group Limited, a company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Mr. Leng earned a
master of business administration degree from the Wharton School of Business, University of
Pennsylvania in 1999 and a bachelor of international industrial trade degree from Shanghai Jiao
Tong University in 1992.
Thomas Nicholas Hall has been a director of our Company since our initial public offering in
September 2010, pursuant to the investors rights agreement dated August 13, 2010. Mr. Hall is an
equity partner and co-Head of the Global Media Team at Apax Partners LLP, one of the worlds
largest private equity firms with funds advised and managed in excess of US$35 billion. Mr. Hall
worked at Deutsche Bank from 1995 to 1998 and S.G. Warburg from 1992 to 1995. While at Apax, Mr.
Hall has been responsible for, and has served on the board of directors of, a number of private
companies including Thomson Directories, The Stationery Office, Zeneus Pharma and 20 Minuten. Mr.
Hall is currently chairman of the board of directors and a member of the audit committee of Trader
Media Group in the United Kingdom. Mr. Hall holds a master of arts degree from Cambridge
University.
Richard Jiangong Dai joined us in 1999 and is our president and chief executive officer. Mr.
Dai is a director of our Company. Mr. Dai is a nephew of Mr. Mo, our founder and executive
chairman. Mr. Dai has over ten years of experience in the real estate media sector and is in charge
of overseeing the operations of our website, www.soufun.com. Prior to joining us, Mr. Dai was a
research analyst and assistant general manager at Beijing Yiding Information Technology Co., Ltd.
and the China
68
Real Estate Index System, a real estate research publication operated by us. Mr. Dai
received a bachelors degree in international trade from the College of Economics at Guangxi
University.
Lanying Guan joined us in June 2004 as chief finance controller and has been our chief
financial officer since March 2010. Ms. Guan has over 15 years of experience in financial
management and accounting with multinational corporations. Prior to joining us, Ms. Guan served as
the country finance manager of Cadence Inc, which develops electronic design automation software
and hardware for clients worldwide and is a public company listed on NASDAQ. Ms. Guan holds a
bachelors degree in industry management engineering from China Agricultural University and a
masters degree in accounting from the Central Finance and Economics University and is a certified
public accountant in China.
Jian Liu joined us in April 2000 and is our chief operations officer. Mr. Liu is in charge of
overseeing the operations and management of our business operations. Mr. Liu was also the groups
first chief information officer. Prior to joining our group, Mr. Liu worked at the information
center of Ningbo Economic Committee in Zhejiang Province. Mr. Liu holds a bachelors degree in
computer science from Ningbo University.
B. Compensation
Compensation of Directors and Executive Officers
Our executive directors and executive officers receive compensation in the form of salaries,
annual bonuses and share options. Our independent directors will receive annual compensation in
connection with the performance of their duties. All directors will receive reimbursements from us
for expenses necessarily and reasonably incurred by them for providing services to us or in the
performance of their duties. We have entered into service contracts with our executive officers.
None of these service contracts provide benefits to our directors and executive officers upon
termination.
In 2010, we paid aggregate cash compensation of approximately US$699,000 to our executive
directors and executive officers as a group. In 2010, we granted selected directors, officers and
employees options to acquire an aggregate of 4,037,500 ordinary shares. We have no service contracts
with any of our directors or executive officers that provide benefits to them upon termination. We
do not pay or set aside any amounts for pension, retirement or other similar benefits for our
officers and directors.
Share Options
Stock Related Award Incentive Plan
At a meeting held on September 1, 1999, our board of directors reserved a total of 12.0% of
our fully diluted share capital for issuance upon the exercise of options to be granted to our
executive directors, officers and employees or their affiliated entities from time to time. On
September 1, 1999, our shareholders approved the stock-related award incentive plan, or the Plan.
The number of options awarded to a person was based on the persons potential ability to contribute
to our success, the persons position with us and other factors deemed relevant and necessary by
our board of directors. Under the Plan, we awarded to several of our employees and directors
options to purchase 12,323,800 ordinary shares of our Company, 4,620,000 options of which are
outstanding excluding special stock options as of December 31, 2010. Options generally do not vest
unless the grantee remains under our employment or in service with us on the given vesting date.
However, the Plan provides that in circumstances where there is a change in the control of our
Company, if no substitution or assumption is provided by the successor corporation, the outstanding
options will automatically vest and become exercisable for a period of 30 days, after which such
options will terminate. The termination date for the options granted is 10 years after the date of
grant.
On August 31, 2006, Telstra International acquired 55.1% of our equity interest (assuming all
outstanding options have not been exercised) and became a significant shareholder of our Company,
which resulted in a change in control event as defined in the Plan. Pursuant to a shareholders
agreement among our existing shareholders dated August 2006, all options granted under the Plan and
prior to the change in control event remain valid and have been assumed by us.
Standard Stock Options
From September 1, 1999 to September 30, 2006, we awarded standard stock options exercisable to
acquire Class A or Class B ordinary shares of our Company. All standard stock options were granted
to employees and directors and have vested over the requisite service periods of three to four
years using a graded vesting. Options granted normally vested 25.0% or 33.0% per year during the
entire vesting periods. The maturity life of the standard stock options is 10 years. Pursuant to a
board
69
resolution dated April 20, 2010, our board of directors resolved that the contractual life of
the standard stock option was extended from 10 years to 15 years.
From 2001 to 2003, we awarded 1,739,500 standard stock options, classified as liability
awards, with an exercise price indexed to Hong Kong dollars. In April 2010, we agreed with the
grantees to modify the Hong Kong dollar exercise currency to U.S. dollars. As a result, 1,739,500
stock options with exercise prices ranging from HK$1.00 to HK$5.00 were modified to contain
exercise prices ranging from US$0.13 to US$0.64.
Special Stock Options
On December 31, 2006, we awarded special stock options to our employees and directors. Terms
for special stock options were the same as standard stock options, except that the special stock
options are exercisable into only non-voting ordinary shares and that two special stock options are
exercisable into one non-voting ordinary share. These special stock options vest 10% after the
first year of service, 20% after the second year of service, 40% after the third year of service
and 30% after the fourth year of service, except for special stock options granted in September
2010, which vest 20.0% after the first year of service, 20.0% after the second year of service,
30.0% after the third year of service and 30.0% after the fourth year of service. The maturity life
of the special stock option is 10 years.
From December 31, 2006 to December 31, 2010, we awarded 15,711,200 special stock options, with
an exercise price of US$2.50 on December 31, 2006, 2007 and 2008, US$5.00 on December 31, 2009 and
April 20, 2010 and US$5.31 on December 31, 2010.
Our board of directors may amend, alter, suspend or terminate the Plan at any time, provided,
however, that our board of directors must first seek the approval of our shareholders and, if such
amendment, alteration, suspension or termination would adversely affect the rights of an optionee
under any option granted prior to that date, the approval of such optionee. Without further action
by our board of directors, our Plan has no specified termination date.
The following table sets forth the total number of Class A, Class B and non-voting ordinary
shares to be issued upon exercise of the options to directors and executives officers, the exercise
price of the options awarded, the date of grant and the date of expiration, as of December 31,
2010:
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Number of |
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Number of |
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Number of |
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Class A |
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Class B |
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non-voting |
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ordinary |
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ordinary |
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ordinary |
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shares to be |
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shares to be |
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shares to be |
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Exercise price |
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issued upon |
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issued upon |
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issued upon |
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per ordinary |
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exercise of |
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exercise of |
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exercise of |
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share |
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options |
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options |
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options |
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(US$) |
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Date of grant |
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Date of expiration |
Mr. Mo(1) |
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225,000 |
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5.00 |
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December 31, 2006 |
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December 30, 2016 |
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225,000 |
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5.00 |
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December 31, 2007 |
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December 30, 2017 |
|
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225,000 |
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5.00 |
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December 31, 2008 |
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December 30, 2018 |
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225,000 |
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10.00 |
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December 31, 2009 |
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December 30, 2019 |
Media Partner / Mr. Mo(1) |
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250,000 |
(2) |
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0.13 |
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June 18, 1999 |
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June 17, 2014 |
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|
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250,000 |
(2) |
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0.26 |
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June 30, 2000 |
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June 29, 2015 |
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250,000 |
(2) |
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0.26 |
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October 1, 2001 |
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September 30, 2016 |
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250,000 |
(2) |
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0.26 |
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June 30, 2002 |
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June 29, 2017 |
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125,000 |
(2) |
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0.64 |
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October 1, 2002 |
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September 30, 2017 |
Next Decade / Mr. Mo(1) |
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1,754,500 |
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5.00 |
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September 30, 2006 |
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September 29, 2021 |
Aceview Investment Limited / Mr. Dai |
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250,000 |
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0.13 |
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June 18, 1999 |
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June 17, 2014 |
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82,000 |
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4.06 |
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September 1, 1999 |
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August 30, 2014 |
|
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100,000 |
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0.26 |
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June 30, 2000 |
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June 29, 2015 |
|
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100,000 |
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|
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0.26 |
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October 1, 2001 |
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September 30, 2016 |
|
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100,000 |
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0.26 |
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June 30, 2002 |
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June 29, 2017 |
|
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50,000 |
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0.64 |
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October 1, 2002 |
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September 30, 2017 |
|
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55,000 |
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1.97 |
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October 28, 2004 |
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October 27, 2019 |
|
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18,750 |
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5.00 |
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December 31, 2006 |
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December 30, 2016 |
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18,750 |
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5.00 |
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December 31, 2007 |
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December 30, 2017 |
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18,750 |
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5.00 |
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December 31, 2008 |
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December 30, 2018 |
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18,750 |
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10.00 |
|
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December 31, 2009 |
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December 30, 2019 |
Shan Li |
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* |
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4.06 |
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June 18, 1999 |
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June 17, 2014 |
|
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* |
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0.13 |
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September 1, 1999 |
|
August 30, 2014 |
70
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Number of |
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Number of |
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Number of |
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|
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|
|
|
Class A |
|
Class B |
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non-voting |
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ordinary |
|
ordinary |
|
ordinary |
|
|
|
|
|
|
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shares to be |
|
shares to be |
|
shares to be |
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Exercise price |
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issued upon |
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issued upon |
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issued upon |
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per ordinary |
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exercise of |
|
exercise of |
|
exercise of |
|
share |
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|
options |
|
options |
|
options |
|
(US$) |
|
Date of grant |
|
Date of expiration |
|
|
|
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* |
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1.97 |
|
|
April 28, 2004 |
|
April 27, 2019 |
|
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* |
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5.00 |
|
|
December 31, 2006 |
|
December 30, 2016 |
|
|
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|
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* |
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5.00 |
|
|
December 31, 2007 |
|
December 30, 2017 |
|
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* |
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5.00 |
|
|
December 31, 2008 |
|
December 30, 2018 |
|
|
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|
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* |
|
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10.00 |
|
|
December 31, 2009 |
|
December 30, 2019 |
Quan Zhou |
|
|
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|
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* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1.97 |
|
|
April 28, 2004 |
|
April 27, 2019 |
|
|
|
|
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|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
|
|
5.00 |
|
|
December 31, 2006 |
|
December 30, 2016 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
|
|
5.00 |
|
|
December 31, 2007 |
|
December 30, 2017 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
|
|
5.00 |
|
|
December 31, 2008 |
|
December 30, 2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
|
|
10.00 |
|
|
December 31, 2009 |
|
December 30, 2019 |
Newtech Venture Limited / Quan Zhou |
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.13 |
|
|
September 1, 1999 |
|
August 30, 2014 |
Sam Hanhui Sun |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
|
|
10.625 |
|
|
September 17, 2010 |
|
September 16, 2010 |
Zhao Qian |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
|
|
10.625 |
|
|
September 17, 2010 |
|
September 16, 2010 |
Jian Liu |
|
|
* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.26 |
|
|
October 1, 2001 |
|
September 30, 2016 |
|
|
|
* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.64 |
|
|
October 1, 2002 |
|
September 30, 2017 |
|
|
|
* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1.97 |
|
|
October 28, 2004 |
|
October 27, 2019 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
|
|
5.00 |
|
|
December 31, 2006 |
|
December 30, 2016 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
|
|
5.00 |
|
|
December 31, 2007 |
|
December 30, 2017 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
|
|
5.00 |
|
|
December 31, 2008 |
|
December 30, 2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
|
|
10.00 |
|
|
December 31, 2009 |
|
December 30, 2019 |
Lanying Guan |
|
|
* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1.97 |
|
|
October 28, 2004 |
|
October 27, 2019 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
|
|
5.00 |
|
|
December 31, 2006 |
|
December 30, 2016 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
|
|
5.00 |
|
|
December 31, 2007 |
|
December 30, 2017 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
|
|
5.00 |
|
|
December 31, 2008 |
|
December 30, 2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
|
|
10.00 |
|
|
December 31, 2009 |
|
December 30, 2019 |
Other individuals as a group |
|
|
3,959,050 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
Upon exercise of all options granted, would beneficially own less than 1.0% of our outstanding
ordinary shares. |
|
(1) |
|
Represents options granted to Mr. Mo in his capacity as our executive chairman. Pursuant to
resolutions passed by our board of directors on August 4, 2010, our board of directors
resolved that such options be assigned and allocated to Media Partner and Next Decade. |
|
(2) |
|
On August 4, 2010, Media Partner exercised all of its 1,125,000 outstanding and vested stock
options to purchase 1,125,000 Class B ordinary shares at an exercise price ranging from
US$0.13 per share to US$0.64 per share for an aggregate purchase consideration of US$307,500. |
2010 Stock Incentive Plan
We adopted our 2010 stock incentive plan on August 4, 2010. The purpose of our 2010 stock
incentive plan is to recognize and acknowledge the contributions made to our Company by eligible
participants and to promote the success of our business. By providing an opportunity to have a
personal stake in our Company, our 2010 stock incentive plan aims to:
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attract and retain the best available personnel; |
|
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|
to provide an additional incentive to our employees, directors and consultants; and |
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|
to promote the success of the Companys business. |
a. Eligible Participants
Under our 2010 stock incentive plan, our board of directors or its designated committee may,
at its discretion, offer to grant an option to subscribe for such number of our ordinary shares at
an exercise price as our directors may determine to the following parties:
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any full-time or part-time employees, executives or officers of us, our parent or any
of our subsidiaries; |
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|
|
any directors, including non-executive directors and independent non-executive
directors, of us, our parent or any of our subsidiaries; |
71
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any advisers, consultants and agents to us or any of our subsidiaries; and |
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|
such other persons who, in the sole opinion of our board of directors or its designated
committee, has made contributions to the business or other development of us. |
b. Maximum Number of Ordinary Shares
The maximum number of ordinary shares in respect of which options may be granted (including
ordinary shares in respect of which options, whether exercised or still outstanding, have already
been granted) under our 2010 stock incentive plan may not in the aggregate exceed 10% of the total
number of ordinary shares in issue from time to time, including ordinary shares issuable upon
conversion of any preferred shares in issue from time to time. The maximum number of ordinary
shares in respect of which we may grant options (including ordinary shares in respect of which
options, whether exercised or still outstanding, have already been granted) under our 2010 stock
incentive plan as of December 31, 2010 was 7,606,575 ordinary shares.
c. Price of Ordinary Shares
The determination by our board of directors, or its designated committee, of the subscription
price will be by reference to the fair market value of the ordinary shares. If there exists a
public market for our ordinary shares, including our ADSs, the fair market value of our ordinary
shares will be (i) the closing price for the last market trading day prior to the time of the
determination (or, if no closing price was reported on that date, on the last trading date on which
a closing price was reported) on the stock exchange determined by our board of directors, or its
designated committee, to be the primary market for our ordinary shares or ADSs or (ii) if the
ordinary shares are not traded on any such exchange or national market system, the average of the
closing bid and asked prices of an ordinary shares on the NYSE for the day prior to the time of the
determination (or, if not such prices were reported on that date, on the last date on which such
prices were reported), in each case, as reported in The Wall Street Journal or such other source as
the board of directors or its appointed committee deems reliable. If there is no established market
for our ordinary shares, our board of directors, or its designated committee, will determine the
fair market value of our ordinary shares in good faith by reference to the placing price of the
latest private placement of our ordinary shares and the development of our business operations
since such latest private placement.
d. Performance Criteria
Our 2010 stock incentive plan allows our board of directors, or its designated committee, to
establish the performance criteria when granting stock options on the basis of any one of, or
combination of, increase in our share price, earnings per share, total shareholder return, return
on equity, return on assets, return on investment, net operating income, cash flow, revenue,
economic value added, personal management objectives, or other measures of performance selected by
our board of directors, or its designated committee. Partial achievement of the specified criteria
may result in a vesting corresponding to the degree of achievement as specified in the award
agreement with the relevant optionee.
e. Time of Exercise of Options
The time and conditions under which an option may be exercised will be determined by the board
of directors, or its designated committee, under the terms of the 2010 stock incentive plan and as
specified in the award agreement with a grantee, but in no case will options be exercisable at a
rate of more than one fourth per year over the vesting period from the date the options are
granted. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the case of any options granted to an officer, director
or consultant that may become exercisable, the award agreement governing such grant may provide
that the options may become exercisable, subject to reasonable conditions such as the officer,
director or consultants continuous service at any time or during any period established in the
award agreement governing such grant.
f. Administration
Our board of directors, or a committee designated by our board of directors, will administer
the 2010 share incentive plan. Decisions by our board of directors or a committee designated by our
board of directors as to all matters arising in relation to the 2010 share incentive plan or its
interpretation or effect are final and binding on all parties.
72
g. Termination
Unless terminated earlier, the 2010 share incentive plan will continue for a term of 10 years.
Our board of directors has the authority to amend or terminate the 2010 share incentive plan
subject to shareholder approval with respect to certain amendments. However, no such action may
impair the rights of any grantee of any options unless agreed by the grantee.
C. Board Practices
Board of Directors
Our board of directors consists of seven members. A director is not required to hold any
shares in our Company by way of qualification. A director may vote with respect to any contract or
transaction in which he or she is materially interested provided the nature of the interest is
disclosed prior to its consideration and any vote on such contract or transaction. Our board of
directors may exercise all the powers of the Company to borrow money, mortgage its business,
property and uncalled capital, and issue debentures or other securities whenever money is borrowed
or as security for any obligation of the company or of any third party. None of our non-executive
directors has a service contract with us that provides for benefits upon termination of employment.
Duties of Directors
Under Cayman Islands law, our directors have a duty of loyalty to act honestly in good faith
with a view to our best interests. Our directors also have a duty to exercise the care, diligence
and skills that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in comparable circumstances. In
fulfilling their duty of care to us, our directors must ensure compliance with our amended and
restated memorandum and articles of association. We have, in certain circumstances, the right to
seek damages against our directors if a duty owed by our directors is breached.
Our board of directors has overall responsibility for managing our operations. The functions
and powers of our board of directors include, among others:
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convening shareholders meetings and reporting its work to shareholders at such
meetings; |
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|
|
|
implementing shareholders resolutions; |
|
|
|
|
determining our business plans and investment proposals; |
|
|
|
|
formulating our profit distribution plans and loss recovery plans; |
|
|
|
|
determining our debt and finance policies and proposals for the increase or decrease
in our registered capital and the issuance of debentures; |
|
|
|
|
formulating our major acquisition and disposition plans, and plans for merger,
division or dissolution; |
|
|
|
|
proposing amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of
association; and |
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|
|
|
exercising any other powers conferred by the shareholders meetings or under our
amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. |
Board Committees
Prior to 2006, we had an audit committee in place to assist us in oversight of our financial
reporting process. Since 2006, all audit committee, nominating and corporate governance committee
and compensation committee functions were handled directly by our board of directors, as the
committees were disbanded at that time. In August 2010, our board of directors established a new
audit committee, nominating and corporate governance committee and compensation committee in
improve our internal control and corporate governance.
Audit Committee. Our audit committee consists of Sam Hanhui Sun, who chairs our audit
committee, Qian Zhao and Shan Li. Our board of directors has determined that all of our audit
committee members are independent directors within the meaning of Section 303A of the NYSE
Corporate Governance Rules and meet the criteria for independence set forth in Section 10A of the
Exchange Act. In addition, our board of directors has determined that Sam Hanhui Sun is qualified
as an audit committee financial expert within the meaning of the SEC rules and regulations.
73
Our audit committee will be responsible for, among other things:
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selecting the independent auditors and pre-approving all auditing and non-auditing
services permitted to be performed by the independent auditors; |
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annually reviewing an independent auditors report describing the auditing firms
internal quality control procedures, any material issues raised by the most recent
internal quality control review, or peer review, of the independent auditors and all
relationships between the independent auditors and us; |
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setting clear hiring policies for employees or former employees of the independent
auditors; |
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reviewing with the independent auditors any audit problems or difficulties and
managements response; |
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reviewing and approving all proposed related-party transactions, as defined in Item
404 of Regulation S-K; |
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discussing the annual audited financial statements with management and the
independent auditors; |
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discussing with management and the independent auditors major issues regarding
accounting principles and financial statement presentations; |
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reviewing reports prepared by management or the independent auditors relating to
significant financial reporting issues and judgments; |
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discussing earnings press releases, as well as financial information and earnings
guidance provided to analysts and rating agencies; |
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reviewing with management and the independent auditors the effect of regulatory and
accounting initiatives, as well as off-balance sheet structures on our financial
statements; |
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discussing policies with respect to risk assessment and risk management; |
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reviewing major issues as to the adequacy of our internal controls and any special
audit steps adopted to address material issues raised by internal quality control
reviews or peer reviews by the independent auditors; |
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timely reviewing reports from the independent auditors regarding all critical
accounting policies and practices to be used by us, all alternative treatments of
financial information within U.S. GAAP that have been discussed with management and all
other material written communications between the independent auditors and management; |
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establishing procedures for the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints
received from our employees regarding accounting, internal accounting controls or
auditing matters and the confidential, anonymous submission by our employees of concerns
regarding questionable accounting or auditing matters; |
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annually reviewing and reassessing the adequacy of our audit committee charter; |
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handling such other matters that are specifically delegated to our audit committee by
our board of directors from time to time; |
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meeting separately, periodically, with management, internal auditors and the
independent auditors; and |
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reporting regularly to the full board of directors. |
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. We have established a nominating and corporate
governance committee, which identifies individuals qualified to become directors and recommends
director nominees to be approved by our board of directors. The members of our nominating and
corporate governance committee include Qian Zhao, chair of our nominating and corporate governance
committee, Shan Li and Mr. Mo, our executive chairman.
74
Compensation Committee. Our compensation committee consists of Qian Zhao, Shan Li, chair of
our compensation committee, and Mr. Mo, our executive chairman.
Our compensation committee is responsible for:
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reviewing and making recommendations to our board of directors regarding our
compensation policies and forms of compensation provided to our directors and officers; |
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reviewing and determining bonuses for our officers and other employees; |
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reviewing and determining share-based compensation for our directors, officers,
employees and consultants; |
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administering our equity incentive plans in accordance with their respective terms;
and |
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such other matters that are specifically delegated to the compensation committee by
our board of directors from time to time. |
No director or officer may be directly involved in decisions regarding his or her own
compensation.
In connection with the Telstra Private Placement, we entered into an investors rights
agreement, under which we agreed to create immediately after the closing of our initial public
offering two vacancies on our board of directors and will appoint a director designated by Apax to
fill one vacancy and a director designated by General Atlantic to fill the other vacancy. In
addition, a designee of either General Atlantic or Apax is also entitled to serve on each of our
audit committee, compensation committee and nomination and corporate governance committee or, if it
is unable to meet all requirements under applicable laws, rules and regulations, be permitted to
participate as a non-voting observer. See Item 7 Major Shareholders and Related Party
TransactionRelated Party TransactionsTelstra Private PlacementInvestors Rights Agreement.
Terms of Directors and Executive Officers
Each of our directors holds office until a successor has been duly elected and qualified
unless the director was appointed by our board of directors, in which case such director holds
office until the following annual meeting of shareholders, at which time such director is eligible
for reelection. All current directors have been appointed pursuant to shareholder resolutions.
Accordingly, none of the existing directors require reelection at an annual meeting of
shareholders.
D. Employees
We had 2,160, 3,611 and 5,868 employees as of December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively.
The following table sets forth the number of our employees categorized by function as of December
31, 2010:
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Editorial and production |
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2,884 |
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Sales and marketing |
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2,178 |
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Technical and research |
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343 |
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Management and general administrative |
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463 |
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Total |
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5,868 |
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As a result of the growth and expansion of our business operations in China over the last two
years, we have increased the number of our employees across all departments.
Our employees receive a base salary and are eligible for performance-based bonuses. We have
granted share options to certain of our employees from 1999 to 2010. For more information, see Item
6 Directors, Senior Management and EmployeesCompensationShare Options.
As required by PRC regulations, we participate in various employee benefit plans that are
organized by municipal and provincial governments, including housing, pension, medical and
unemployment benefit plans. We make monthly payments to these plans for each of our employees based
on the employees compensation.
We believe we maintain a good working relationship with our employees and we have not
experienced any significant labor disputes. We believe this is primarily attributable to our
well-established reputation and brand name within the PRC real
75
estate industry, our strong
corporate culture, as well as the positive career development opportunities we provide to our employees. Our employees have not
entered into any collective bargaining agreements, and no labor union has been established by our
employees.
E. Share Ownership
The following table sets forth information with respect to the beneficial ownership, within
the meaning of Rule 13d-3 of the Exchange Act, of our ordinary shares as of March 31, 2011:
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Ordinary shares beneficially owned |
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Class A No. |
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Percent |
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Class B No. |
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Percent |
Principal Shareholders: |
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Media Partner Technology Limited(1) |
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11,355,645 |
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44.9 |
% |
Next Decade Investments Limited(1) |
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888,888 |
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1.6 |
% |
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10,230,645 |
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40.4 |
% |
Digital Link Investments Limited |
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98,764 |
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* |
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2,560,360 |
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10.1 |
% |
IDG Technology Venture Investment, Inc. and its affiliates(2) |
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1,151,679 |
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4.6 |
% |
IDG-Accel China Capital Investors L.P(2). |
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246,582 |
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* |
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IDG-Accel China Capital L.P(2). |
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5,344,856 |
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9.6 |
% |
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General Atlantic Mauritius Limited |
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15,347,720 |
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27.5 |
% |
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Hunt 6-A Guernsey L.P. Inc |
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4,232,650 |
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7.6 |
% |
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Hunt 7-A Guernsey L.P. Inc |
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3,822,630 |
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6.8 |
% |
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Hunt 7-B Guernsey L.P. Inc |
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7,198,324 |
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12.9 |
% |
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JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. |
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18,567,623 |
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33.3 |
% |
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First Island Trustees (Guernsey) Limited |
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94,116 |
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* |
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Directors and Executive Officers (3): |
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Mr. Mo (4) |
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26,452,490 |
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44.2 |
% |
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Shan Li (5) |
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2,669,749 |
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4.5 |
% |
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Quan Zhou (6) |
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* |
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* |
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Sam Hanhui Sun |
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* |
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* |
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Jeff Xuesong Leng |
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15,347,720 |
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25.7 |
% |
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Thomas Nicholas Hall |
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15,347,720 |
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25.7 |
% |
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Richard Jiangong Dai |
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* |
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* |
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Lanying Guan |
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* |
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* |
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Jian Liu |
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* |
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* |
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All directors and executive officers as a group |
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61,223,929 |
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100 |
% |
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* |
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Less than 1.0% of total outstanding shares. |
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(1) |
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All of the shares of Media Partner, a British Virgin Islands company, and Next Decade, a
British Virgin Islands company, are held in irrevocable discretionary family trusts
established by Mr. Mo, our founder and executive chairman. The address of Media Partner and
Next Decade is P.O. Box 957, Offshore Incorporations Centre, Road Town, Tortola, British
Virgin Islands. |
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(2) |
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IDG Technology, a Massachusetts corporation, is wholly owned by International Data Group
Inc., a Massachusetts corporation, which is controlled by Patrick McGovern, the majority
shareholder, founder and chairman of International Data Group Inc. The address of IDG
Technology is 5 Speen Street, Framingham MA 01701, U.S.A. IDG-Accel China Capital L.P. is a
Cayman Islands exempted limited partnership located at Walkers SPV Limited, Walker House, 87
Mary Street, George Town, Grand Cayman, KY1-9002 Cayman Islands and is a fund affiliated with
IDG Technology. IDG-Accel China Capital Investors L.P. is a Cayman Islands exempted limited
partnership located at Walkers SPV Limited, Walker House, 87 Mary Street, George Town, Grand
Cayman, KY1-9002 Cayman Islands and is also a fund affiliated with IDG Technology. |
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(3) |
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The address of our current directors and executive officers is c/o 8th Floor, Tower 3, Xihuan
Plaza, No. 1 Xizhimenwai Avenue, Xicheng District, Beijing 100044 China. |
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(4) |
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The equity interests of Mr. Mo, our founder and executive chairman, in Next Decade and Media
Partner are held in two irrevocable discretionary trusts established by Mr. Mo for the benefit
of his designated family members. Mr. Mo, as a part of his estate planning, through an
irrevocable discretionary family trust arrangement, transferred to this family trust all of
his equity ownership in Next Decade, which holds of record an aggregate of 11,119,533 ordinary shares of our share capital. Mr. Mo established this
family trust by a deed of settlement, dated June 8, 2006, as amended, as the ultimate holder
of the ordinary shares held of record by Next Decade. The family trust has been established
for the benefit of Mr. Mos designated family members, including a corporate entity
wholly-owned and controlled by one of his family members, as well as other persons and
corporations that may be so designated under the deed of settlement, and has a trust period
of 100 years unless earlier terminated by the trustee subject to any applicable rule against
perpetuities. Mr. Mo continues to act as the protector of the trust. Credit Suisse Trust
Limited acts as the trustee of the trust. |
76
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In addition, Mr. Mo, as a part of his estate planning, through a similar irrevocable
discretionary family trust arrangement, transferred to his family trust all of his equity
ownership in Media Partner, which holds of record an aggregate of 11,355,645 ordinary shares
of our share capital. Mr. Mo established this family trust by a deed of settlement, dated
April 16, 2010, as the ultimate holder of the ordinary shares held of record by Media
Partner. The family trust has been established for the benefit of Mr. Mos designated family
members, including a corporate entity wholly-owned and controlled by one of his family
members, as well as other persons or corporations that may be so designated under the deed of
settlement, and has a trust period of 150 years unless earlier terminated by the trustee
subject to any applicable rule against perpetuities. Mr. Mo continues to act as the protector
of the trust. Deutsche Bank International Trust Co. (Cayman) Limited acts as the trustee of
the trust. |
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(5) |
|
Includes 98,764 ordinary shares held by Digital Link, a British Virgin Islands company, which
is wholly owned by Mr. Shan Li, a director of our Company. The address of Digital Link is Apt
3B, Taggart Tower, 109 Repulse Bay Road, Hong Kong. |
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(6) |
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Includes ordinary shares held by IDG-Accel China Capital Investors L.P., a Cayman Islands
exempted limited partnership, which is partially owned by Mr. Quan Zhou, a director of our
Company. The address of IDG-Accel China Capital Investors L.P. is Walkers SPV Limited, Walker
House, 87 Mary Street, George Town, Grand Cayman, KY1-9002 Cayman Islands. IDG-Accel China
Capital Investors L.P. is a fund affiliated with IDG Technology. |
As of March 31, 2011, approximately 33.25% and 4.55% of our outstanding Class A and Class B
ordinary shares were held by one record holder with an address in the United States.
Our ordinary shares are divided into Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares.
Holders of Class A ordinary shares are entitled to one vote per share, while holders of Class B
ordinary shares are entitled to 10 votes per share. The selling shareholders are selling Class A
ordinary shares represented by our ADSs in our initial public offering. Most of our existing
shareholders, including our founders, directors, and officers, hold Class B ordinary shares. We
intend to maintain the dual-class ordinary share structure. Each Class B ordinary share is
convertible into one Class A ordinary share at any time by its holder and Class A ordinary shares
are be convertible into Class B ordinary shares under any circumstances. Upon any transfer of Class
B ordinary shares by a Class B ordinary shareholder to any person or entity which is not an
affiliate of such holder, such Class B ordinary shares will be automatically and immediately
converted into the equal number of Class A ordinary shares.
Telstra Private Placement
In conjunction with our initial public offering in September 2010, Telstra International sold
to General Atlantic, Apax, Next Decade and Digital Link 15,347,720 Class A ordinary shares,
15,347,720 Class A ordinary shares, 888,888 Class A ordinary shares and 98,764 Class A ordinary
shares, respectively, in a private sale at the initial public offering price.
Except as disclosed in this annual report, we are not aware of any arrangement that may, at a
subsequent date, result in a change of control of our Company.
Shareholders Agreement
On August 31, 2006, Telstra International, Next Decade, Media Partner, Digital Link
Investments Limited, Mr. Mo, Mr. Shan Li, Mr. Dai and IDG Technology Venture Investment Inc.
(collectively, the Shareholders), entered into a shareholders agreement. Under the terms of the
shareholders agreement, holders of registrable securities have piggyback registration rights,
which may require us to register all or any part of the registrable securities then held by such holders when we register any of our
ordinary shares or other securities in connection with the public offering of such securities
solely for cash, but excluding any registration relating solely to the sale of securities to
participants in any of our stock plans or a registration on any form that does not include
substantially the same information as would be required to be included in a registration statement
covering the sale of the registrable securities.
Registrable securities include our ordinary shares held by the Shareholders or issuable to
them upon conversion of any other securities convertible into our ordinary shares. Prior to the
filing of any registration statement we must notify all Shareholders in writing and provide them
with an opportunity to include in such registration statement all or any part of the registrable
securities held by them. If any of the offerings involves an underwriting, we will not be required
to include any registrable security of a holder in such underwriting unless such holder accepts the
terms of the underwriting as agreed upon between us and the underwriter(s) selected by us and
enters into an underwriting agreement in customary form with the underwriter(s) selected by us. The
managing underwriter of any such offering has certain rights to limit the number of our ordinary
shares included in such registration. However, the number of registrable securities included in an
underwritten public offering subsequent to our initial public offering pursuant to the piggyback
registration rights may not be reduced to less than 30% of the aggregate securities included in
such offering. If a Shareholder disapproves of the terms of any such underwriting, it may withdraw
from the underwriting by providing written notice to us and any underwriters at least 10 business
days prior to the effective date of the registration statement. If such Shareholder decides not to
include its registrable securities in such
77
registration statement, such Shareholder will continue
to have the right to include any registrable securities in any subsequent registration statement or
registration statements as may be filed by us with respect to future offerings of securities.
The foregoing piggyback registration rights will terminate, with respect to any Shareholder,
after the earlier of:
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three years after the effective date of our initial public offering; or |
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such time at which all registrable securities held by such holder can be sold in any
three-month period without registration in compliance with Rule 144 of the Securities
Act. |
Other provisions of the shareholders agreement terminated upon completion of our initial
public offering.
ITEM 7. MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
A. Major Shareholders
Please refer to Item 6.E, Directors, Senior Management and EmployeesShare Ownership.
B. Related Party Transactions
Structure Contracts
To comply with applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations, we conduct our operations in China
through Structure Contracts entered into among two of our wholly-owned PRC subsidiaries, SouFun
Media and SouFun Network, and 11 consolidated controlled entities: Beijing Internet, Beijing
Advertising, Beijing China Index, Beijing Technology, Beijing JTX Technology, Tianjin JTX
Advertising, Shanghai Advertising, Shanghai China Index, Shanghai Advertising, Beijing Li Tian Rong
Ze and Tianjin Xin Rui. The Structure Contracts include:
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Exclusive Technical Consultancy and Services Agreements |
Each of our consolidated controlled entities has entered into an exclusive technical
consultancy and services agreement with SouFun Media or SouFun Network. Under these agreements,
SouFun Media or SouFun Network, as the case may be, has the exclusive right to provide the
consolidated controlled entities with relevant technical services relating to the consolidated
controlled entities business, such as IT system operations and maintenance services, or technology
supporting services for the consolidated controlled entities advertising products. In exchange for
these services, each of our consolidated controlled entities has agreed to make monthly payments to
the service provider for such services. The original term of each agreement is 10 years and SouFun
Network can unilaterally extend the term of the exclusive technical consultancy and services
agreements and such request will be unconditionally agreed to by our consolidated controlled
entities.
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Equity Pledge Agreements |
In order to secure the payment obligations of each consolidated controlled entity under the
exclusive technical consultancy and services agreements described above, the direct shareholders of
each consolidated controlled entity, Mr. Mo, Mr. Dai, Beijing Internet and Beijing Advertising, as
the case may be, have pledged to SouFun Media or SouFun Network their entire respective ownership
interests in such consolidated controlled entity. Upon the occurrence of certain events of default
specified in these agreements, SouFun Media or SouFun Network, as applicable, may exercise its
rights and foreclose on the pledged equity interest. Under these agreements, the shareholders may
not transfer the pledged equity interest without SouFun Medias or SouFun Networks prior written
consent, as the case may be. Each of SouFun Media or SouFun Network, as the case may be, also has
the right to collect dividends of the relevant consolidated controlled entity from the shareholders
of the consolidated controlled entities. The agreements will also be binding upon successors of the
shareholders and transferees of the pledged equity interest.
Each of our consolidated controlled entities and such consolidated controlled entitys
shareholders have entered into an operating agreement with SouFun Media or SouFun Network. Under
each of these agreements, SouFun Media or SouFun Network has undertaken to enter into guarantee
contracts with third parties, as required by third parties, to guarantee the performance of the
consolidated controlled entity under such consolidated controlled entitys business contracts with
third
78
parties. In turn, each consolidated controlled entity is required to pledge its accounts
receivable and mortgage all of its assets as counter-security to SouFun Media or SouFun Network.
Our consolidated controlled entities and their direct shareholders, Mr. Mo, Mr. Dai, Beijing
Internet and Beijing Advertising, as the case may be, have each agreed not to enter into any
transaction that would substantially affect the assets, rights, obligations or operations of such
consolidated controlled entity without the prior written consent of SouFun Media or SouFun Network.
The original term of each agreement is 10 years. The agreements can be extended prior to expiration
with written confirmation from SouFun Media or SouFun Network, or can be terminated by SouFun Media
or SouFun Network, upon 30 days advance notice.
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Shareholders Proxy Agreements |
In accordance with a shareholders proxy agreement, each of Mr. Mo, Mr. Dai, Beijing Internet
and Beijing Advertising, as the case may be, the direct shareholders of each of our consolidated
controlled entities, has irrevocably entrusted SouFun Media or SouFun Network to exercise their
respective rights as shareholders of such consolidated controlled entity to attend shareholders
meetings and cast votes. SouFun Media or SouFun Network may assign part or all of these proxy
rights to its designated employees, and will be indemnified for any loss under this agreement.
These agreements will also be binding upon successors of the parties or transferees of the parties
equity interests. Each agreement will remain in effect until terminated upon written consent by all
the parties to the agreement or by their successors.
In accordance with loan agreements entered into between SouFun Media and SouFun Network and
Mr. Mo and Mr. Dai, as shareholders of eight of our consolidated controlled entities, including
Beijing Advertising, Beijing Technology, Shanghai Advertising, Shanghai China Index, Beijing Li
Tian Rong Ze, Tianjin Xin Rui, Tianjin JTX Advertising and Beijing JTX Technology, SouFun Media and
SouFun Network, as the case may be, advanced loans to Mr. Mo and Mr. Dai to make contributions to
the registered capital of these consolidated controlled entities pursuant to a series of loan
agreements entered into between 2004 and 2008. Mr. Mo and Mr. Dai agreed that, upon request, they
will repay the loans by transferring their entire respective equity interests in the consolidated
controlled entities to SouFun Media or SouFun Network, or another entity designated by SouFun Media
or SouFun Network, as the case may be, when permitted by applicable PRC laws, rules and
regulations.
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Exclusive Call Option Agreements |
Through exclusive call option agreements entered into between us and either SouFun Media or
SouFun Network, on the one hand, and each of our consolidated controlled entities and their
respective direct shareholders, Mr. Mo, Mr. Dai, Beijing Internet and Beijing Advertising, on the
other hand, we or any third party designated by us have the right to acquire from the direct
shareholders of the consolidated controlled entities that are parties to the agreement, their
entire respective equity interests in such consolidated controlled entities when permitted by
applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations. The proceeds from the exercise of the call option will
be applied to repay the loans under the loan agreements described above, or, in the case of Beijing
Internet, Beijing China Index and Shanghai JBT Advertising, their equity interests will be acquired
from their shareholders upon exercise of the option under the exclusive call option agreements.
These agreements each has an original term of 10 years and may be extended for another 10 years at
our sole discretion.
Telstra Private Placement
Share Purchase Agreement
In conjunction with our initial public offering in September 2010, Telstra International sold
to General Atlantic, Apax, Next Decade and Digital Link 15,347,720 Class A ordinary shares,
15,347,720 Class A ordinary shares, 888,888 Class A ordinary shares and 98,764 Class A ordinary
shares, respectively, in a private sale at the initial public offering price.
Call Option Agreements
Pursuant to call option agreements dated August 13, 2010, each of General Atlantic and Apax
has granted Next Decade an option to purchase 987,656 Class A ordinary shares. The option will
expire on the second anniversary of the closing of our initial public offering and may only be
exercised in full, but not in part. The exercise price for the option is the initial public
offering price plus 5.0% per annum of the initial public offering
price because the Telstra Private
Placement was consummated at the initial offering price. The number of shares subject to the option
and the exercise price are subject to customary anti-dilution adjustments.
79
Investors Rights Agreement
In connection with the Telstra Private Placement, we entered into an investors rights
agreement with General Atlantic, Apax, Next Decade, Media Partner and Digital Link, dated August
13, 2010, or the Investors Rights Agreement. Under the Investors Rights Agreement, immediately
after the closing of our initial public offering, we created two vacancies on our board of
directors and appointed a director designated by Apax to fill one vacancy and a director designated
by General Atlantic to fill the other vacancy. In addition, we have agreed that so long as General
Atlantic and its affiliates own at least 10.0% of our outstanding Class A ordinary shares, General
Atlantic will be permitted to designate one nominee to our board of directors at each shareholder
meeting at which members of our board of directors are elected and we will cause the General
Atlantic nominee to be elected. Apax has a corresponding right to designate one nominee to our
board of directors. A designee of either General Atlantic and Apax will also serve on our audit
committee, compensation committee and nomination and corporate governance committee or, if it is
unable to meet all requirements under applicable laws, rules and regulations, be permitted to
participate as a non-voting observer. Under the Investors Rights Agreement, subject to certain
limited exceptions, each of General Atlantic and Apax has agreed that it will not transfer more
than 5.0% of our share capital to a competitor of ours without the prior written consent of our
board of directors. Each of General Atlantic, Apax, Next Decade, Media Partner and Digital Link
will have a right of first refusal if one of the other parties proposes to sell more than 10.0% of
our share capital in a single private transaction or a series of related private transactions.
Moreover, in the event that we propose to issue any additional securities in the form of capital
stock or convertible debt for the primary purpose of raising equity capital, we will offer each of
General Atlantic and Apax the right to purchase its pro rata share of such additional securities on
the same terms as the additional securities are to be issued, at least 15 business days prior to
the consummation of such transaction. In the event we receive a formal acquisition proposal, we
must notify General Atlantic and Apax of such proposal and General Atlantic and Apax will have 15
business days to submit an alternative proposal. We have made certain representations and
warranties to each of General Atlantic and Apax regarding our business and the accuracy of the
disclosure included in the registration statement on Form F-1 filed in connection with our initial
public offering, and the private placement memorandum related to the Telstra Private Placement. We
have also agreed to indemnify General Atlantic and Apax for any losses up to US$20.0 million each
(or, in the event of fraud or willful or intentional misconduct, up to the aggregate purchase price
paid under the Share Purchase Agreement by General Atlantic or Apax, as applicable) arising out of
any breach by us of any representations, warranties or covenants contained in the Investors Rights
Agreement.
Registration Rights Agreement
We also entered into a registration rights agreement with General Atlantic and Apax dated
August 13, 2010, or the Registration Rights Agreement. Under the Registration Rights Agreement,
General Atlantic and Apax have demand registration rights pursuant to which we will be required to
effect the registration of all or a portion of General Atlantics and/or Apaxs Class A ordinary
shares, provided that the aggregate price of registrable securities to be sold to the public is
expected to equal or exceed US$20.0 million. Each of General Atlantic and Apax will be entitled to
a total of two demand registrations (registrations to be effected under a registration statement on
Form F-3 are not counted as demand registrations). We will not be required to effect a demand
registration within any six-month period following the effective date of any registration statement
pertaining to Class A ordinary shares or ADSs (other than certain registration statements on Form
F-4 or with respect to any employee benefit plan).
We will have the right to preempt any demand registration with a primary registration, in
which case General Atlantic and Apax will have incidental registration rights as described below.
Once we are eligible to use Form F-3, General Atlantic and Apax will have the right to require us
to register its Class A ordinary shares on a Form F-3. We will not be required to comply with any
demand to file a Form F-3 in certain circumstances, including if the aggregate proceeds expected to
be received from the sale of securities requested to be included in the Form F-3 is less than
US$5.0 million or if we have effected two registrations on Form F-3 within the last 12 months
pursuant to a request by General Atlantic or Apax under the Registration Rights Agreement. We have
agreed to pay certain expenses in connection with any demand or Form F-3 registration.
General Atlantic and Apax also have the right to request that their Class A ordinary shares be
included in any registration of our Class A ordinary shares, other than registrations on Form F-4
or S-8 or in compensation or acquisition-related registrations. In addition, the underwriters may,
for marketing reasons, cut back all or a part of the shares General Atlantic or Apax have requested
to be registered in any incidental registration and we will have the right to terminate any
registration we initiated prior to its effectiveness regardless of any request for inclusion by the
holders. The Registration Rights Agreement will terminate automatically if the share purchase
agreement is terminated prior to closing of the Telstra Private Placement.
80
Related Party Loans and Other Payments
We have entered into loan agreements with, and have paid commitment deposits to, certain of
our related parties for the purpose of securing future online marketing and listing business from
these related parties. These related parties include Mr. Mo, our founder and executive chairman,
Mr. Dai, our president, chief executive officer and director, as well as companies owned by one or
both of them, including Hengshui, which is a PRC real estate development company 51%-owned by Mr.
Mo and 49%-owned by independent third parties, and Dong Fang Xi Mei, a PRC company 80.0% owned by
Mr. Mo and 20%-owned by Mr. Dai. Mr. Dai is also Mr. Mos nephew.
Some of our loans to Mr. Mo and Mr. Dai were extended for the purpose of establishing new
entities to expand our business operations, for which Mr. Mo and Mr. Dai were to serve as nominee
shareholders, but our plans to use these entities were subsequently cancelled. We made loans of
US$279,000, US$326,000 and US$12,000 in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively, to Mr. Mo. Mr. Mo repaid
US$292,000, US$198,000 and US$633,000 in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. We made additional
loans to Mr. Dai of US$272,000, US$264,000 and nil in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. Mr. Dai
repaid US$317,000, US$235,000 and US$324,000 in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. All outstanding
director loan amounts were repaid in July 2010.
In 2009, we arranged an entrusted loan of US$7.3 million to Hengshui, a PRC property
developer, through the Bank of Communications in China with the intention of providing commitment
deposits to Hengshui to secure future online marketing and listing business from Hengshui. The loan
to Hengshui bore an interest rate of 10.0%. In 2009 and during the year ended December 31, 2010,
Hengshui repaid us US$637,000 and US$6,693,000, respectively, on the principal of the loan through
Bank of Communications in China and we received US$85,000 and US$305,000, respectively, in
interest. The loan to Hengshui matured and was repaid on May 5, 2010.
On May 4, 2010, we paid a deposit of RMB50 million (US$7.3 million) for the purpose of
providing commitment deposits to Hengshui to secure our role as the exclusive future online
marketing and listing service provider for Hengshui. This deposit is interest-free and will remain
outstanding after our initial public offering. The deposit will be repaid six months after the date
of receipt of the deposit by Hengshui. The commitment deposit paid to Hengshui prior to completion
of our initial public offering was approved by our board of directors. Mr. Mo has also agreed to
personally provide us with an indemnity against any losses resulting from the commitment deposit to
Hengshui. As of the date of this annual report, we have not received any revenues from marketing or
listing services from the Hengshui project and plan to start providing such services no earlier
than the fourth quarter of 2010 when the Hengshui project is expected to start selling its
properties.
In February 2010, in order to facilitate our securing a role as the exclusive provider of
online marketing services for the Hainan project of a Hainan property developer, we entered into a
commitment deposit arrangement with Dong Fang Xi Mei for RMB15 million (US$2.2 million). At Dong
Fang Xi Meis request, this commitment deposit was directly paid to the Hainan property developer
in exchange for securing an exclusive web promotion technical service contract for us for the
Hainan project. This deposit was interest-free and was not secured by any collateral or security
interest. Dong Fang Xi Mei was the exclusive sales agent for the Hainan project of the Hainan
property developer, an independent third party.
We terminated our agreement with Dong Fang Xi Mei. Pursuant to a termination agreement dated
July 5, 2010 with Dong Fang Xi Mei, we and Dong Fang Xi Mei terminated our exclusive web promotion
technical service contract, effective July 5, 2010, and on July 16, 2010, the commitment deposit we
had paid to the Hainan property developer specified by Dong Fang Xi Mei was repaid to us by Dong
Fang Xi Mei. Dong Fang Xi Mei terminated its engagement as the exclusive sales agent of the Hainan
project of the Hainan property developer and no longer has any role in the Hainan project. The
Hainan property developer subsequently selected Wei Ye as its exclusive sales agent. Wei Ye is a
Beijing-based real estate sales agent that is not related to us. We have subsequently entered into
an exclusive web promotion technical service contract with Wei Ye, and as part of the arrangement,
we have agreed to provide a commitment deposit of up to RMB50 million (US$7.6 million) to Wei Ye,
although the exact amount is subject to further negotiation between us and Wei Ye. After Wei Ye
replaced Dong Fang Xi Mei, Wei Ye requested a larger commitment deposit of up to RMB50 million as
it expected potentially higher spending on online marketing services in Hainan as property
developers in Hainan may attempt to offset the impact of the governments tightening measures on
the Hainan property market by strengthening their marketing campaigns. After our evaluation, we
believe an increase in the commitment deposit amount is justified to secure this business
opportunity for us and we agreed to potentially increase the amount of the commitment deposit to up
to RMB50 million, although the final amount remains subject to negotiations between us and Wei Ye.
We do not expect to receive any security or interest on the commitment deposit to be paid to Wei
Ye. See Other Related Party Transactions.
Other Related-Party Transactions
We have also entered into business contracts with certain of our related parties, including
companies owned by Mr. Mo, our founder and executive chairman, and/or Mr. Dai, our president and
chief executive officer, who is also Mr. Mos nephew.
81
These related parties include Hengshui
relating to its property projects in China and Dong Fang Xi Mei relating to a third-party property
project in Hainan, China. As of December 31, 2010, we have received US$0.4 million from our
provision of marketing services in connection with the Hainan project that is the subject of the
Dong Fang Xi Mei transaction.
Shareholders Agreement
See Item 6 Directors, Senior Management and EmployeesShare OwnershipShareholders
Agreement.
Stock Incentive Plan
See Item 6 Directors, Senior Management and EmployeesCompensationShare Options.
C. Interests of Experts and Counsels
Not applicable.
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL INFORMATION
A. Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information
We have appended consolidated financial statements filed as part of this annual report. See
Item 18 Financial Statements and to pages F-1 through F-47 of this annual report.
Legal Proceedings
See Item 4 Information on the CompanyBusiness OverviewLegal Proceedings.
Dividend Policy
In 2007 and 2009, we declared dividends of RMB350.0 million (US$47.9 million) and RMB300.0
million (US$43.9 million), respectively, to our shareholders. Our shareholders subsequently agreed
that the 2007 dividend declaration of RMB350.0 million be reduced to RMB300.0 million (US$41.1
million). Of these amounts, we paid dividends of US$2.6 million, US$16.2 million and US$24.2
million, respectively, to our shareholders in 2007, 2008 and 2009. See Item 3 Key
InformationRisk FactorsRisks Relating to ChinaSouFun Media, SouFun Network, Beijing Zhong Zhi
Shi Zheng and the relevant consolidated controlled entities may be subject to fines and legal or
administrative sanctions in connection with dividend distributions we made between December 2007
and June 2009. As of December 31, 2010, RMB299.8 million (US$39.6 million) of these dividends
remain outstanding and are payable on or prior to June 30, 2011. See Item 5 Operating and
Financial Review and ProspectsLiquidity and Capital Resources for additional information on the
payments of the outstanding dividend.
Any future determination to pay dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of
directors and will be based upon our future operations and earnings, capital requirements and
surplus, general financial condition, shareholders interests, contractual restrictions and such
other factors as our board of directors may deem relevant. For a description of our corporate
structure and its potential impact upon our ability to pay dividends, see Item 3. Key
InformationRisk FactorsRisks Relating to ChinaWe rely primarily on dividends and other
distributions on equity paid by our subsidiaries, and any limitation on the ability of our
subsidiaries to make payments to us could have a material adverse effect on our ability to conduct
our business as well as our liquidity.
Holders of ADSs are entitled to receiving dividends, subject to the terms of the deposit
agreement, to the same extent as the holders of our ordinary shares. Cash dividends, if any, will
be paid to the depositary in U.S. dollars and paid to holders of ADSs according to the terms of the
deposit agreement. Other distributions, if any, will be paid by the depositary to holders of ADSs
in any means it deems legal, fair and practical. Under the deposit agreement, the depositary is
required to distribute dividends to holders of ADSs unless such distribution is prohibited by law.
The amounts distributed to holders will be net of fees, expenses, taxes and other governmental
charges payable by holders under the deposit agreement.
82
B. Significant Changes
Except as disclosed elsewhere in this annual report, we have not experienced any significant
changes since the date of our audited consolidated financial statements included in this annual
report.
ITEM 9. THE OFFER AND LISTING
A. Offer and listing details
Not applicable.
B. Plan of Distribution
Not applicable.
C. Markets
Price Range of Our ADSs
Our ADSs are listed for trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SFUN. The
following table sets forth the high and low trading prices of our ADSs on the New York Stock
Exchange for the periods indicated:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Price Per |
|
|
ADS(1) |
|
|
High |
|
Low |
|
|
(US$) |
|
(US$) |
2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
September |
|
|
18.50 |
|
|
|
15.28 |
|
October |
|
|
20.57 |
|
|
|
15.58 |
|
November |
|
|
23.88 |
|
|
|
18.00 |
|
December |
|
|
20.04 |
|
|
|
16.25 |
|
2011 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
January |
|
|
21.39 |
|
|
|
17.03 |
|
February |
|
|
23.84 |
|
|
|
18.75 |
|
March |
|
|
20.80 |
|
|
|
16.00 |
|
April |
|
|
23.61 |
|
|
|
17.56 |
|
May |
|
|
27.57 |
|
|
|
20.00 |
|
June
(through June 9, 2011). |
|
|
23.34 |
|
|
|
18.67 |
|
|
|
|
(1) |
|
Closing prices for all periods presented, adjusted to reflect the change
of ratio of our ADSs from one ADS for four Class A ordinary shares to one ADS for
one Class A ordinary share effective February 18, 2011. |
D. Selling Shareholders
Not applicable.
E. Dilution
Not applicable.
F. Expenses of the Issue
Not applicable.
ITEM 10. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
A. Share Capital
Not applicable.
83
B. Memorandum and articles of association.
We incorporated by reference into this annual report the description of our fourth amended and
restated memorandum and articles of association contained in our F-1 registration statement (File
Number 333-169170) originally filed with the SEC on September 2, 2010, as amended. Our shareholders
adopted our fourth amended and restated memorandum and articles of association by a special
resolution on August 4, 2010.
C. Material contracts
Material contracts other than in the ordinary course of business are described in Item
4-Information on the Company and in Item 7. Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions
and elsewhere in this annual report.
D. Exchange Controls
Regulations relating to Foreign Exchange, Taxation and Dividend Distribution
Foreign Exchange
The principal regulation governing foreign exchange in China is the Foreign Currency
Administration Regulations and the Regulations of Settlement, Sale and Payment of Foreign Exchange.
The Renminbi is freely convertible for current account transactions, such as trade and
service-related foreign exchange transactions, but not for capital account transactions, such as
direct investments, loans or investments in securities outside China, without the prior approval of
SAFE. Pursuant to the Foreign Currency Administration Regulations, foreign-invested enterprises in
China may purchase foreign exchange at authorized commercial banks without the approval of SAFE for
trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions by providing commercial documents
evidencing these transactions. They may also retain foreign exchange, subject to a cap approved by
SAFE, to satisfy foreign exchange liabilities or to pay dividends. However, the relevant PRC
government authorities may limit or eliminate the ability of foreign-invested enterprises to
purchase and retain foreign currencies in the future. In addition, foreign exchange transactions
for capital accounts are still subject to limitations and require approval from SAFE.
Taxation and Dividend Distribution
We are incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Under the current laws of the Cayman Islands, we
are not subject to income or capital gains tax. In addition, dividend payments are not subject to
withholding tax in the Cayman Islands.
In March 2007, the National Peoples Congress of China enacted the New EIT Law, which took
effect on January 1, 2008. Under the New EIT Law, since January 1, 2008, foreign-invested
enterprises, such as our subsidiaries and consolidated controlled entities, are subject to
enterprise income tax at a uniform rate of 25.0% if no tax preferential policy is applicable. In
addition, under the New EIT Law, enterprises organized under the laws of jurisdictions outside
China may be classified as either non-resident enterprises or resident enterprises.
Non-resident enterprises without an establishment or place of business in China are subject to
withholding tax at the rate of 20.0% with respect to their PRC-sourced dividend income, which rate
can be reduced by the State Council and is subject to applicable tax agreements or treaties between
China and the respective foreign tax jurisdictions. The State Council has reduced the withholding
tax to 10.0% in the newly promulgated implementing rules for the New EIT Law. As we are
incorporated in the Caymans Islands, we may be regarded as a non-resident enterprise. We hold our
interests in SouFun Media and SouFun Network through Bravo Work, and Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi Zheng
through Max Impact, and Bravo Work and Max Impact are companies incorporated in Hong Kong.
According to the Double Tax Arrangement between Mainland China and Hong Kong, dividends paid by a
foreign-invested enterprise in mainland China to a corporate shareholder in Hong Kong will be
subject to withholding tax at a maximum rate of 5.0%, provided, however, that such Hong Kong
company directly owns at least 25.0% of the equity interest in the PRC company distributing the
dividends.
In August 2009, SAT issued Circular 124. Pursuant to Circular 124, non-tax residents of China
who wish to enjoy a treaty benefit on their China-sourced income under a Sino-foreign double tax
agreement have to go through either an approval application procedure (for passive
incomedividends, interest, royalties and capital gains) or record filing procedure (for active
incomebusiness profits of a permanent establishment, service fees and personal employment income)
in which specific forms attached to Circular 124 have to be submitted to the relevant Chinese tax
authorities together with the relevant supporting documentation. Circular 124 provides details of
the procedures and documentation requirements. Pursuant to Circular 124, we must submit application
to and obtain approval from authorized local tax bureaus to take advantage of the decreased
withholding tax for our Hong Kong-incorporated holding companies under the Tax Agreement.
84
In addition, SAT released Circular 601 in October 2009. Circular 601 provides guidance for the
determination of beneficial ownership for the purpose of claiming benefits under double taxation
arrangements by treaty residents in respect of articles of dividends, royalties and interest under
double taxation arrangements. Under Circular 601, a beneficial owner shall generally engage in
substantive business activities which is further referred to as manufacturing, trading and
management activities under Article 1 of Circular 601. Circular 601 also sets forth several
factors, the existence of which generally does not provide support that the treaty resident is a beneficial owner. The following are two of
the unfavorable factors listed in Circular 601: the treaty resident does not have or almost does
not have any other business activities besides ownership of the assets or rights that generate the
income; where the treaty resident is a corporation, the amount of its assets, scale of operations
and employees is relatively low and not commensurate with the amount of the income. According to
Circular 601, non-resident enterprises which could not provide valid supporting documents as
beneficiary owners could not be approved to enjoy treaty benefits. Therefore, dividends from our
PRC subsidiaries paid to us through our Hong Kong subsidiaries may be subject to a withholding tax
rate of 10.0% if our Hong Kong subsidiaries can not be considered as a beneficial owner under
Circular 601.
Despite the above, the New EIT Law also provides that an enterprise incorporated outside China
with its de facto management bodies located within mainland China may be considered a PRC
resident enterprise and therefore be subject to enterprise income tax on its worldwide income at
the rate of 25.0%.
The implementing rules for the New EIT Law defines de facto management organization as the
body that exercises substantial and comprehensive control over the production, operation,
personnel, accounting, property and other factors of an enterprise. SAT issued Circular 82 in April
2009. Circular 82 provides certain specific criteria for determining whether the de facto
management bodies of a Chinese-controlled offshore-incorporated enterprise is located in China.
Although Circular 82 only applies to offshore enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises, not those
controlled by PRC individuals or foreigners in China, like us, the determining criteria set forth
in Circular 82 may reflect SATs general position on how the de facto management bodies test
should be applied in determining the tax resident status of offshore enterprises, regardless of
whether they are controlled by PRC enterprises, individuals or foreigners.
Substantially all members of our management are currently located in China and we expect them
to continue to be located in China for the foreseeable future. Therefore, if we are deemed to be a
PRC tax resident enterprise, we will be subject to an enterprise income tax rate of 25.0% on our
worldwide income if no preferential tax treatment is applicable. According to the New EIT Law and
its implementing rules, dividends are exempted from income tax if such dividends are received by a
resident enterprise on equity interest it directly owns in another resident enterprise. Therefore,
it is possible that dividends we receive through Bravo Work from SouFun Media and SouFun Network
and through Max Impact from Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi Zheng would be tax exempt income under the New
EIT Law if each of Bravo Work and Max Impact is also deemed to be a resident enterprise.
If we are deemed to be a PRC tax resident enterprise, we would then be obliged to withhold PRC
withholding income tax on the gross amount of dividends paid to shareholders who are non-PRC tax
residents. The withholding income tax rate is 10.0%, unless otherwise provided under the applicable
double tax treaties between China and governments of other jurisdictions.
Although the New EIT Law has been effective for two years, significant uncertainties still
exist with respect to the interpretation of the New EIT Law and its implementing rules. Any
increase in the enterprise income tax rate applicable to us, the imposition of PRC income tax on
our global income or the imposition of withholding tax on dividends distributed by our subsidiaries
to us could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
Regulations relating to Foreign Exchange in Certain Onshore and Offshore Transactions
In October 2005, SAFE issued Notice 75. Under Notice 75, PRC residents, whether natural or
legal persons, must register with the relevant local SAFE branches prior to their establishment, or
prior to their taking control of, an offshore entity established for the purpose of overseas equity
financing involving onshore assets or equity interests held by them, and must also make filings
with SAFE afterwards upon the occurrence of certain material capital changes. Moreover, Notice 75
applies retroactively. As a result, PRC residents who have established or acquired control of
offshore entities that have made onshore investments in China in the past are required to complete
the relevant registration procedures with local SAFE branches. The registration and filing
procedures under Notice 75 are prerequisites for other approval and registration procedures
necessary for capital inflow from offshore entities, such as inbound investments or shareholders
loans, or capital outflow to offshore entities, such as the payment of profits or dividends,
liquidating distributions, equity sale proceeds, or the return of funds upon a capital reduction.
SAFE has further clarified that the term PRC residents as used under Notice 75 refers to those
who (i) have permanent residence in mainland China or will return to mainland China for permanent
residence after temporary leave due to
85
traveling, education, medical treatment, working, request
for residence, and other reasons; (ii) hold domestic-funding interests in domestic entities; or
(iii) are the ultimate holders of foreign-fund interests that have been converted from
domestic-funding interests.
Because of uncertainty over how Notice 75 will be interpreted and implemented, we cannot
predict how it will affect our business operations or future strategies. If SAFE determines that
Notice 75 applies to us, our present and prospective PRC subsidiaries ability to conduct foreign
exchange activities, such as any remittance of dividends or foreign currency-denominated
borrowings, may be subject to compliance with Notice 75 requirements by our PRC resident
shareholders. We cannot assure you that our PRC resident shareholders will be able to complete the
necessary registration and filing procedures required by Notice 75. If Notice 75 is determined to
apply to us or any of our PRC resident shareholders, a failure by our PRC resident shareholders or
beneficiary owners to comply with Notice 75 could subject the relevant PRC residents or
beneficiaries to penalties under PRC foreign exchange regulations, and could subject us to fines or
legal sanctions, restrict our overseas or cross-border investment activities, limit our
subsidiaries ability to make distributions or pay dividends or affect our ownership structure,
which could materially and adversely affect our business and prospects.
E. Taxation
Cayman Islands Taxation
The Cayman Islands currently levies no taxes on individuals or corporations based upon
profits, income, gains or appreciation and there is no taxation in the nature of inheritance tax or
estate duty. There are no other taxes likely to be material to us levied by the government of the
Cayman Islands except for stamp duties which may be applicable on instruments executed in, or after
execution brought within the jurisdiction of, the Cayman Islands. There are no exchange control
regulations or currency restrictions in the Cayman Islands.
PRC Taxation
PRC Taxation Relating to Us and Our Corporate Group
We are a holding company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, which indirectly holds our equity
interest in our subsidiaries in the PRC. Our business operations are principally conducted through
the consolidated controlled entities. The New EIT Law and its implementation rules, both of which
became effective on January 1, 2008, provide that China-sourced income of foreign enterprises, such
as dividends paid by a PRC resident enterprise to non-PRC resident enterprise shareholders, will
normally be subject to PRC withholding tax at a rate of 10.0%, unless there are applicable tax
treaties that reduce such rate. According to the Double Tax Arrangement between Mainland China and
Hong Kong, dividends paid by a foreign-invested enterprise in mainland China to its corporate
shareholder in Hong Kong will be subject to a withholding tax at the maximum rate of 5.0%, provided
that such Hong Kong company directly owns at least 25.0% of the equity interest in the PRC company
distributing the dividends. Bravo Work and Max Impact are both companies we incorporated in Hong
Kong in October 2007. Bravo Work owns 100% of each of SouFun Media and SouFun Network, and Max
Impact owns 100% of Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi Zheng. SouFun Media, SouFun Network and Beijing Zhong Zhi
Shi Zheng are all PRC companies. Accordingly, any dividends that SouFun Media or SouFun Network
pays to Bravo Work and any dividends that Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi Zheng pays to Max Impact will
likely be subject to a withholding tax at the rate of 5.0% under the Tax Agreement.
Pursuant to Circular 124, however, we must submit an application to and obtain approval from
authorized local tax bureaus to be able to claim the benefits of the Tax Agreement. Pursuant to
Circular 124, non-tax residents of China who wish to enjoy a treaty benefit on their China-sourced
income under a Sino-foreign double tax agreement have to go through either an approval application
procedure (for passive incomedividends, interest, royalties and capital gains) or record filing
procedure (for active incomebusiness profits of a permanent establishment, service fees and
personal employment income) in which specific forms attached to Circular 124 have to be submitted
to relevant Chinese tax authorities together with relevant supporting documentation. Therefore, we
must submit an application to and obtain approval from authorized local tax bureaus to take
advantage of the decreased withholding tax for our Hong Kong-incorporated holding companies under
the Tax Agreement.
In addition, in October 2009, SAT further issued Circular 601. According to Circular 601,
non-resident enterprises which could not provide valid supporting documents as beneficiary owners
could not be approved to enjoy treaty benefits. Therefore, dividends from our PRC subsidiaries paid
to us through our Hong Kong subsidiaries may be subject to a withholding tax rate of 10.0% if our
Hong Kong subsidiaries can not be considered a beneficial owner under Circular 601.
86
The implementing rules for the New EIT Law define de facto management organization as the
body that exercises substantial and comprehensive control over the production, operation,
personnel, accounting, property and other factors of an enterprise. The PRC SAT issued the Notice
Regarding the Determination of Chinese-Controlled Offshore-Incorporated Enterprises as PRC Tax
Resident Enterprises on the Basis of De Facto Management Bodies, or Circular 82, in April 2009.
Circular 82 provides certain specific criteria for determining whether the de facto management
bodies of a Chinese-controlled offshore-incorporated enterprise is located in China. Although
Circular 82 only applies to offshore enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises, not those
controlled by PRC individuals or foreigners, like us, the determining criteria set forth in
Circular 82 may reflect SATs general position on how the de facto management bodies test should
be applied in determining the tax resident status of offshore enterprises, regardless of whether
they are controlled by PRC enterprises, individuals or foreigners.
Substantially all members of our management are currently located in China and we expect them
to continue to be located in China for the foreseeable future. Consequently, we may be deemed to be
a PRC tax resident enterprise and therefore be subject to an enterprise income tax rate of 25.0% on
our worldwide income if no preferential tax treatment is applicable. According to the New EIT Law
and its implementing rules, dividends are exempted from income tax if such dividends are received
by a resident enterprise on equity interest it directly owns in another resident enterprise.
Therefore, it is possible that the dividends we receive through Bravo Work from SouFun Media and
SouFun Network and through Max Impact from Beijing Zhong Zhi Shi Zheng would be tax-exempt income
under the New EIT Law if each of Bravo Work and Max Impact is also deemed to be a resident
enterprise.
If we are deemed to be a PRC tax resident enterprise, we would then be obliged to withhold PRC
withholding income tax on the gross amount of dividends we paid to shareholders who are non-PRC tax
residents. The withholding income tax rate is 10.0%, unless otherwise provided under the applicable
double tax treaties between China and governments of other jurisdictions.
Although the New EIT Law and its implementing rules have been effective for over two years,
significant uncertainties still exist with respect to the interpretation of the New EIT Law and its
implementing rules. Any increase in the enterprise income tax rate applicable to us, the imposition
of PRC income tax on our global income or the imposition of withholding tax on dividends
distributed by our subsidiaries to us could have a material adverse effect on our business,
financial condition and results of operations.
In April 2010, SAT announced Circular 157 stating that enterprises recognized as high and new
technology enterprises strongly supported by the state and eligible for the grand-fathering
treatments such as a two-year exemption from enterprise income tax followed by a three-year half
reduction of enterprise income tax under Circular 39 may choose the reduced tax rate of 15.0%
applicable to high and new technology enterprises strongly supported by the state or the tax
exemption/reduction based on the tax rates in the grandfather period as stated in Circular 39.
Enterprises are not allowed the 50.0% reduction based on the preferential tax rate for high and
new technology enterprises strongly supported by the state of 15.0%. Circular 157 applies
retroactively from January 1, 2008.
As a consequence of Circular 157, the income tax rates we used in our audited consolidated
financial statements for SouFun Network, Beijing Technology and Beijing JTX Technology, as high and new technology enterprises strongly supported by the state, were 10.0%,
10.0% and 0% for 2009, respectively, and 11.0%, 11.0% and 11.0% for 2010, respectively, instead of 7.5%, 7.5% and 0% for 2009,
respectively, and 7.5%, 7.5% and 7.5% for 2010, respectively. As we believe Circular 157 is similar to a
change in tax law and should be retroactive from January 1, 2009 an additional tax expense of US$7.5 million was recognized in the year
2010 to account for the cumulative effect of Circular 157 for the two years ended December 31, 2010. This additional tax expense consists of
current income tax expense of US$4.8 million and deferred tax expense of US$2.7 million. We are in the process of discussing the
settlement procedures for the additional tax required under Circular 157.
PRC Taxation Relating to Our Overseas Shareholders
The implementation rules of the New EIT Law provide that (i) if the enterprise that
distributes dividends is domiciled in the PRC or (ii) if gains are realized from transferring
equity interests of enterprises domiciled in the PRC, then such dividends or capital gains are
treated as China-sourced income. It is not clear how domicile may be interpreted under the New
EIT Law, and it may be interpreted as the jurisdiction where the enterprise is a tax resident.
Therefore, if we, Bravo Work or Max Impact are considered to be PRC resident enterprises for tax
purposes, any dividends we pay to our overseas shareholders or ADS holders as well as gains
realized by such shareholders or ADS holders from the transfer of our shares or ADSs may be
regarded as PRC-sourced income and as a result become subject to PRC withholding tax at the rate up
to 10.0% unless a reduced rate is provided under the applicable double tax treaty. See Item 3 Key
InformationRisk FactorsRisks Relating to Our
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ADSsWe may be required to withhold PRC income
tax on any dividend we pay you, and any gain you realize on the transfer of our ordinary shares
and/or ADSs may also be subject to PRC withholding tax.
United States Federal Income Taxation
The following discussion describes the material U.S. federal income tax consequences of the
acquisition, ownership and disposition of our ADSs or ordinary shares under currently applicable
law. This discussion does not address any U.S. federal consequences other than U.S. federal income
tax consequences (such as the gift or estate tax and the Medicare tax on net investment income)
This discussion also does not address any state, local or foreign tax consequences of an investment
in our ordinary shares or ADSs. This discussion applies to you only if you are a U.S. holder (as
defined below) and beneficially own our ordinary shares or ADSs as capital assets for tax purposes.
This discussion does not apply to you if you are a member of a class of holders subject to special
rules, such as:
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dealers in securities or currencies; |
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traders in securities that elect to use a mark-to-market method of accounting for
securities holdings; |
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banks or other financial institutions; |
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insurance companies; |
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tax-exempt organizations; |
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partnerships and other entities treated as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax
purposes or persons holding ordinary shares or ADSs through any such entities; |
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real estate investment trusts; |
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regulated investment companies; |
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persons that hold ADSs as part of a hedge, straddle, constructive sale, conversion
transaction or other integrated investment; |
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U.S. holders (as defined below) whose functional currency for
tax purposes is not the U.S. dollar; |
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U.S. expatriates; |
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persons liable for alternative minimum tax; or |
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persons who actually or constructively own 10.0% or more of the total combined voting
power of all classes of our shares (including ADSs) entitled to vote. |
This discussion is based on the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code,
its legislative history, existing and proposed regulations promulgated thereunder, published
rulings and court decisions, all as currently in effect. These laws are subject to change, possibly
on a retroactive basis. In addition, this discussion relies in part on our assumptions regarding
the projected value of our shares and the nature of our business. Finally, this discussion is based
in part upon the representations of the depositary and the assumption that each obligation in the
deposit agreement and any related agreement will be performed in accordance with its terms.
You should consult your own tax advisor concerning the particular U.S. federal income tax
consequences to you of the purchase, ownership and disposition of our ordinary shares or ADSs, as
well as the consequences to you arising under the laws of any other taxing jurisdiction.
For purposes of the U.S. federal income tax discussion below, you are a U.S. holder if you
beneficially own our ordinary shares or ADSs and are:
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a citizen or resident of the United States for U.S. federal income tax purposes; |
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a corporation, or other entity taxable as a corporation, that was created or
organized in or under the laws of the United States or any political subdivision of the
United States; |
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an estate the income of which is subject to U.S. federal income tax regardless of its
source; or |
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a trust, if (a) a court within the United States is able to exercise primary
supervision over its administration and one or more U.S. persons have the authority to
control all substantial decisions of the trust, or (b) the trust has a valid election in
effect to be treated as a U.S. person. |
If a partnership or other flow-through entity holds ordinary shares or ADSs, the tax treatment
of the holder will generally depend on the status of the partner or other owner and the activities
of the partnership or other flow-through entity. A holder of ordinary shares or ADSs that is a
partnership should consult its own tax advisor regarding the U.S. federal income tax consequences
of the purchase, ownership and disposition of the ordinary shares or ADSs.
The U.S. Treasury has expressed concerns that intermediaries in the chain of ownership between
the holder of an ADS and the issuer of the security underlying the ADS may be taking actions that
are inconsistent with the claiming of foreign tax credits for U.S. holders of ADSs. Such actions
would also be inconsistent with the claiming of the reduced rate of tax, described below,
applicable to dividends received by certain non-corporate holders. Accordingly, the analysis of the
creditability of PRC taxes and the availability of the reduced tax rate for dividends received by
certain non-corporate holders, each described below, could be affected by actions taken by
intermediaries in the chain of ownership between the holder of an ADS and our Company.
ADSs. If you hold ADSs, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, you generally will be treated as
the owner of the underlying ordinary shares that are represented by such ADSs. Accordingly,
deposits or withdrawals of ordinary shares for ADSs will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax.
Dividends on Ordinary Shares or ADSs. We do not anticipate paying dividends on our ordinary
shares or indirectly on our ADSs in the foreseeable future. See Item 8 Financial
InformationDividend Policy.
Subject to the passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, discussion below, if we do make
distributions and you are a U.S. Holder, the gross amount of any distributions (including amounts
withheld to reflect PRC withholding taxes, if any) you receive on your ordinary shares or ADSs are
generally treated as dividend income if the distributions are made from our current or accumulated
earnings and profits, calculated according to U.S. federal income tax principles. Such income
(including any withheld taxes) will be includable in your gross income as ordinary income on the
day actually or constructively received by you, in the case of ordinary shares, or by the
depositary in the case of ADSs. Distributions in excess of current and accumulated earnings and
profits will be treated first as a non-taxable return of capital to the extent of your basis in the
ordinary shares or ADSs and thereafter as a capital gain. However, if you are a non-corporate U.S.
Holder, including an individual, and have held your ADSs for a sufficient period of time, dividend
distributions on our ADSs (but not our ordinary shares) will generally constitute qualified
dividend income taxed at a preferential rate (generally 15.0% for dividend distributions before
January 1, 2013) as long as our ADSs continue to be readily tradable on the New York Stock
Exchange. Based on existing guidance, it is not entirely clear whether a dividend on an ordinary
share will be treated as a qualified dividend, because the ordinary shares are not themselves
listed on a U.S. exchange. You should consult your own tax adviser as to the rate of tax that will
apply to you with respect to dividend distributions, if any, you receive from us.
We do not intend to calculate our earnings and profits according to U.S. tax accounting
principles. Accordingly, notwithstanding the discussion in the preceding paragraph, distributions
on our ordinary shares or ADSs, if any, will generally be taxed to you as dividend distributions
for U.S. tax purposes. Even if you are a corporation, you will not be entitled to claim a
dividends-received deduction with respect to distributions you receive from us. In the event we are
treated as a PRC resident enterprise under PRC law, we may be required to withhold PRC income tax
on dividends paid to you under the New EIT Law. See Item 3 Key InformationRisk FactorsRisks
Relating to Our ADSsWe may be required to withhold PRC income tax on any dividend we pay you, and
any gain you realize on the transfer of our ordinary shares and/or ADSs may also be subject to PRC
withholding tax. Subject to generally applicable limitations, you may claim a deduction or a
foreign tax credit for PRC tax withheld at the appropriate rate. Dividends generally will be
categorized as passive category income or, in the case of some U.S. Holders, as general category
income for foreign tax credit limitation purposes. The rules governing the use of foreign tax
credits are very complex, and you are urged to consult your own tax adviser as to your ability, and
the various limitations on your ability, to claim foreign tax credits in connection with the
receipt of dividends.
Sales and Other Dispositions of Ordinary Shares or ADSs. Subject to the PFIC discussion below,
when you sell or otherwise dispose of ordinary shares or ADSs in a taxable transaction, you will
generally recognize capital gain or loss in an amount equal to the difference between the amount
realized on the sale or other taxable disposition and your adjusted tax basis in the ordinary
shares or ADSs, both as determined in U.S. dollars. Your adjusted tax basis will generally equal
the amount you paid for the ordinary shares or ADSs. Any gain or loss you recognize will be
long-term capital gain or loss if you have held the ordinary shares or ADSs for more than one year
at the time of disposition. If you are an individual, long-term capital gain will be taxed at
preferential rates. Your ability to deduct capital losses will be subject to various limitations.
The gain or loss you recognize on a sale or disposition of our ordinary shares or ADSs
generally will be treated as arising from sources within the United States for foreign tax credit
limitation purposes. However, if gains from the disposition of ordinary shares or ADSs are taxed
under the New EIT Law, see Item 3 Key InformationRisk FactorsRisks Relating to Our ADSsWe
may be required to withhold PRC income tax on any dividend we pay you, and any gain you realize on
the transfer of our ordinary shares and/or ADSs may also be subject to PRC withholding tax, the
income tax treaty between the United States and the PRC provides that such gains would be treated
as arising from sources within China for foreign tax credit limitation purposes. Special
limitations on the use of foreign tax credits apply to income that is so treated. You are urged to
consult your own tax advisors regarding the tax consequences to you under your particular
circumstances if any PRC withholding tax is imposed on the disposition of ordinary shares or ADSs,
including the availability of the foreign tax credit.
Status as a PFIC. If we are a PFIC in any taxable year in which you hold ordinary shares or
ADSs, you will generally be subject to additional taxes and interest charges on certain excess
distributions we make and on any gain realized on the disposition or deemed disposition of your
ordinary shares or ADSs regardless of whether we continue to be a PFIC in the year in which you
receive an excess distribution or dispose of or are deemed to dispose of your ordinary shares or
ADSs. Distributions in respect of your ordinary shares or ADSs during a taxable year will generally
constitute excess distributions if, in the aggregate, they exceed 125% of the average amount of
distributions in respect of your ordinary shares or ADSs over the three preceding taxable years or,
if shorter, the portion of your holding period before such taxable year.
To compute the tax on excess distributions or any gain, (1) the excess distribution or the
gain will be allocated ratably to each day in your holding period, (2) the amount allocated to the
current year and any tax year before we became a PFIC will be taxed as ordinary income in the
current year, (3) the amount allocated to other taxable years will be taxable at the highest
applicable marginal rate in effect for that year, and (4) an interest charge at the rate for
underpayment of taxes for any period described under (3) above will be imposed with respect to any
portion of the excess distribution or gain that is allocated to such period. In addition, if we are
a PFIC or were in the year prior to a distribution, no distribution that you receive from us will
qualify for taxation at the preferential rate discussed in the United States Federal Income
TaxationU.S. Holders Dividends on Ordinary Shares or ADSs section above.
We will be classified as a PFIC in any taxable year if either: (1) 75.0% or more of our gross
income for the taxable year is passive income (such as certain dividends, interest, rents or
royalties), or (2) the average percentage value (determined on a quarterly basis) of our gross
assets during the taxable year that produce passive income or are held for the production of
passive income is at least 50.0% of the value of our total assets. For purposes of the asset test,
any cash, cash equivalents, cash invested in short-term, interest bearing, debt instruments, or
bank deposits, and any other current asset that is readily convertible into cash, will generally
count as a passive asset.
We operate an active online real estate and home furnishing and improvement Internet portal in
China and do not believe we were a PFIC for our 2010 taxable year or that we will become one in any
future taxable years. We have no current intention to change the general manner in which we
organize or conduct our business in later taxable years. Our expectations are based on assumptions
as to our projections of the value of our outstanding shares and of the other cash that we will
hold and generate in the ordinary course of our business. We have not conducted a separate
appraisal of the values of our assets for this purpose. Despite our expectations, there can be no
assurance that we were not a PFIC for the taxable year ended December 31, 2010 or that we will not
be a PFIC in any future taxable years, as PFIC status is re-tested each year and depends on the
actual facts in such year. We could be a PFIC, for example, if our market capitalization (i.e., our
share price multiplied by the total number of our outstanding ordinary shares) at any time in the
future is lower than projected, or if our business and assets evolve in ways that are different
from what we currently anticipate. In addition, though we believe that our assets and the income
derived from our assets do not generally constitute passive assets and income under the PFIC rules,
there is no assurance that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, or the
IRS, will agree with us. Our special U.S. counsel expresses no
opinion with respect to our expectations contained in this paragraph.
If we are a PFIC in any year, as a U.S. holder, you will be required to make an annual return
on IRS Form 8621 regarding your ordinary shares or ADSs. In addition, recently enacted legislation
will require you, as a U.S. holder, to file an annual information return containing such
information as the Secretary of the Treasury may require. The Secretary of the Treasury has not yet
indicated what information will be required on this annual information return. You should consult
your own tax adviser regarding reporting requirements with regard to your ordinary shares or ADSs.
The ADSs will be marketable as long as they remain regularly traded on a national securities
exchange, such as the New York Stock Exchange. As a result, if we are a PFIC in any year so long as
the ADSs are and remain marketable, you will be able to avoid the excess distribution rules
described above by making a timely so-called mark-to-market election with respect to your ADSs.
If you make this election in a timely fashion, you will generally recognize as ordinary income or
ordinary loss the difference between the adjusted tax basis of your ADSs on the first day of any
taxable year and their value on the last day of that taxable year. Any income resulting from this
election and any gain realized on a sale of such stock will generally be taxed at ordinary income
rates and will not be eligible for the reduced rates of tax applicable to qualified dividend income
or long-term capital gain. Any ordinary losses will be limited to the extent of the net amount of
previously included income as a result of the mark-to-market election, if any. Your basis in the ADSs will be adjusted to reflect any such income
or loss. If you make a mark-to-market election, it will be effective for the taxable year for which
the election is made and for all subsequent taxable years, unless the ADSs are no longer regularly
traded on a qualified exchange or the IRS consents to the revocation of the election. You should
consult with your own tax adviser regarding potential advantages and disadvantages to you of making
a mark-to-market election with respect to your ADSs.
In addition, if we are a PFIC in any year, you might be able to avoid the excess distribution
rules described above by making a timely so-called qualified electing fund, or QEF, election to
be taxed currently on your pro rata portion of our income and gain. However, we do not intend to
provide the information that would be necessary for you to make a QEF election.
U.S. Information Reporting and Backup Withholding Rules
In general, dividend payments with respect to the ordinary shares or ADSs and the proceeds
received on the sale or other disposition of those ordinary shares or ADSs may be subject to
information reporting to the IRS, and to backup withholding (currently imposed at a rate of 28.0%).
Backup withholding will not apply, however, if you (1) are a corporation or come within certain
other exempt categories and, when required, can demonstrate that fact or (2) provide a taxpayer
identification number, certify as to no loss of exemption from backup withholding and otherwise
comply with the applicable backup withholding rules. To establish your status as an exempt person,
you will generally be required to provide certification on IRS Form W-9, W-8BEN or W-8ECI, as
applicable. Any amounts withheld from payments to you under the backup withholding rules will be
allowed as a refund or a credit against your U.S. federal income tax liability, provided that you
timely furnish the required information to the IRS.
Recently enacted legislation requires individual U.S. holders to report information to the IRS
with respect to their investment in the ordinary shares of ADSs unless certain requirements are
met. Investors who are individuals and fail to report required information could become subject to
substantial penalties. Prospective investors are encouraged to consult with their own tax advisors
regarding the possible implications of this new legislation on their investment in ordinary shares
or ADSs.
Prospective purchasers should consult their own tax advisors regarding the application of the
U.S. federal income tax laws to their particular situations as well as any additional tax
consequences resulting from purchasing, holding or disposing of ordinary shares or ADSs, including
the applicability and effect of the tax laws of any state, local or foreign jurisdiction, including
estate, gift, and inheritance laws.
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F. Dividends and Paying Agents
Not applicable.
G. Statement by Experts
Not applicable.
H. Documents on display
We have previously filed with the Commission our registration statement on Form F-1 (File
Number 333-169170), as amended, and a prospectus under the Securities Act with respect to our
ordinary shares represented by our ADSs, and a related registration statement on Form F-6 (File Number 333-169176) with respect to our ADSs,
as amended. We have also filed with the Commission a Form S-8 (File Number 333-173157) with respect
to our ADSs, as amended.
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We are subject to the periodic reporting and other informational requirements of the Exchange
Act. Under the Exchange Act, we are required to file reports and other information with the SEC.
Specifically, we are required to file annually a Form 20-F: (1) within six months after the end of
each fiscal year, which is December 31, for fiscal years ending before December 15, 2011; and (2)
within four months after the end of each fiscal year for fiscal years ending on or after December
15, 2011. Copies of reports and other information, when so filed, may be inspected without charge
and may be obtained at prescribed rates at the public reference facilities maintained by the
Securities and Exchange Commission at Judiciary Plaza, 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549.
The public may obtain information regarding the Washington, D.C. Public Reference Room by calling
the Commission at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC also maintains a web site at http://www.sec.gov that
contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding registrants
that make electronic filings with the SEC using its EDGAR system.
As a foreign private issuer, we are exempt from the rules of the Exchange Act prescribing the
furnishing and content of quarterly reports and proxy statements, and our executive officers,
directors and principal shareholders are exempt from the reporting and short-swing profit recovery
provisions contained in Section 16 of the Exchange Act. In addition, we are not required under the
Exchange Act to file periodic reports and financial statements with the SEC as frequently or as
promptly as U.S. companies whose securities are registered under the Exchange Act.
I. Subsidiaries Information
A list of our subsidiaries as of December 31, 2010 is filed as an exhibit to this annual
report.
ITEM 11. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Our primary market risk exposure is interest rate risk associated with short and long-term
borrowings bearing variable interest rates and lease payments under leases tied to floating
interest rates. To manage this interest rate exposure, we enter into interest rate swap and cap
agreements. We are also exposed to foreign currency risk, which can adversely affect our operating
profits. To manage this risk, we enter into forward exchange contracts.
The following discussion should be read in conjunction with Notes 1, 2, 11 and 14 to our
audited consolidated financial statements contained in this annual report, which provide further
information on our debt and derivative instruments contained in this annual report.
Liquidity Risk
The principal method we use to manage liquidity risk arising from liabilities is maintaining
an adequate level of cash and cash equivalents with different banks. In 2008, 2009 and 2010, we
monitored our liquidity risks by considering the maturity of our financial assets and projected
cash flows from operations. Our objective is to maintain a balance between a continuity of funding
and flexibility through settlement from customers and subsequent payment to vendors to meet our
working capital requirements.
Interest Rate Risk
Our earnings are affected by changes in interest rates due to the impact of such changes on
interest income and expense from interest-bearing financial assets and liabilities. Our
interest-bearing financial assets and liabilities are predominately denominated in Renminbi. Our
financial assets consist primarily of cash deposits with fixed interest rates and receivables, and
we do not have any interest-bearing debt obligations as of December 31, 2010. Therefore, our
exposure to interest rate risks has been insignificant.
Foreign Currency Risk
Substantially all of our revenues, cash and cash equivalent assets, costs and expenses, are
denominated in Renminbi, while a portion of our expenditures are denominated in foreign currencies,
primarily the U.S. dollar. Although, in general, our exposure to foreign exchange risks should be
limited, the value of your investment in our ADSs will be affected by the foreign exchange rate
between U.S. dollars and Renminbi as substantially all of our revenues and expenses are denominated
in Renminbi and the functional currency of our principal operating subsidiaries and consolidated
controlled entities is the Renminbi, although we use the U.S. dollar as our functional and reporting currency and the
ADSs will be traded in U.S. dollars. Fluctuations in exchange rates, particularly those involving
the U.S. dollar, may affect our costs and operating margins. Where our operations conducted in
Renminbi are reported in U.S. dollars, appreciation or depreciation in the value of the Renminbi
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relative to the U.S. dollar and other foreign currencies without giving effect to any underlying
change in our business or results of operations. For example, if the Renminbi had weakened 5.0%
against the U.S. dollar with all other variables held constant, our profit for the relevant periods
would have been US$1.1 million, US$2.5 million and US$3.3 million lower for the years ended
December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. See Item 3 Key InformationRisk FactorsRisks
Relating to ChinaFluctuations in the exchange rates of the Renminbi could materially and
adversely affect the value of our shares or ADSs and result in foreign currency exchange losses.
From time to time we manage to convert Renminbi into foreign currencies for purchases of
equipment from overseas suppliers and for certain expenses. The Renminbi is not freely convertible
into foreign currencies. In July 2005, the PRC government discontinued pegging the Renminbi to the
U.S. dollar. However, the PBOC, regularly intervenes in the foreign exchange market to prevent
significant short-term fluctuations in the exchange rate. Nevertheless, under Chinas current
exchange rate regime, the Renminbi may appreciate or depreciate significantly in value against the
U.S. dollar in the medium to long term.
Very limited hedging transactions are available in China to reduce our exposure to exchange
rate fluctuations. To date, we have not entered into any hedging transactions to reduce our
exposure to foreign currency exchange risk. While we may decide to enter into hedging transactions
in the future, the availability and effectiveness of these hedging transactions may be limited and
we may not be able to successfully hedge our exposure at all. In addition, our currency exchange
losses may be magnified by PRC exchange control regulations that restrict our ability to convert
Renminbi into other currencies.
Credit Risk
Substantially all of our cash and cash equivalents are held in banks in mainland China and
Hong Kong that our management believes are of high credit quality. We have policies that limit the
amount of credit exposure to any bank. With respect to credit risk arising from other financial
assets, comprising accounts receivable, commitment deposits to property developers in order to
secure future marketing and listing business, amounts due from related parties and amounts due from
subsidiaries, our exposure to credit risk arises from default of the counterparties, with a maximum
exposure equal to the carrying amounts of these instruments. We perform on-going credit evaluations
of our customers financial condition. Concentration of credit risk with respect to accounts
receivable is limited due to the large number of entities comprising our customer base. No customer
individually accounted for 10.0% or more of our revenues in any of 2008, 2009 and 2010. We
generally do not require collateral for accounts receivable.
Fair Value Risk
Our financial assets mainly include cash and cash equivalents, account receivables, amounts
due from related parties and investments in subsidiaries. Our financial liabilities mainly include
other payables and advances from customers. The carrying amounts of our financial instruments
approximate to their fair values as of the balance sheet date. Fair value estimates are made at a
specific point in time and are based on relevant market information about the financial
instruments. These estimates are subjective in nature and involve uncertainties and matters of
significant judgment and therefore cannot be determined with precision. Changes in assumptions
could significantly affect the estimates.
ITEM 12. DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES OTHER THAN EQUITY SECURITIES
A. Debt Securities
Not applicable.
B. Warrants and Rights
Not applicable.
C. Other Securities
Not applicable.
D. American Depositary Shares
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JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., our depositary, may charge each person to whom ADSs are issued,
including, without limitation, issuances against deposits of shares, issuances in respect of share
distributions, rights and other distributions, issuances pursuant to a stock dividend or stock
split declared by us or issuances pursuant to a merger, exchange of securities or any other
transaction or event affecting the ADSs or deposited securities, and each person surrendering ADSs
for withdrawal of deposited securities in any manner permitted by the deposit agreement or whose
ADRs are cancelled or reduced for any other reason, $5.00 for each 100 ADSs (or any portion
thereof) issued, delivered, reduced, cancelled or surrendered, the case may be. The depositary may
sell (by public or private sale) sufficient securities and property received in respect of a share
distribution, rights and/or other distribution prior to such deposit to pay such charge.
The following additional charges shall be incurred by the ADR holders, by any party depositing
or withdrawing ordinary shares or by any party surrendering ADSs or to whom ADSs are issued
(including, without limitation, issuance pursuant to a stock dividend or stock split declared by us
or an exchange of stock regarding the ADRs or the deposited securities or a distribution of ADSs),
whichever is applicable:
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a fee of U.S.$1.50 per ADR or ADRs for transfers of certificated or direct
registration ADRs; |
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a fee of up to U.S.$0.05 per ADS for any cash distribution made pursuant to the
deposit agreement; |
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a fee of up to U.S.$0.05 per ADS per calendar year (or portion thereof) for services
performed by the depositary in administering the ADRs (which fee may be charged on a
periodic basis during each calendar year and shall be assessed against holders of ADRs as
of the record date or record dates set by the depositary during each calendar year and
shall be payable in the manner described in the next succeeding provision); |
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reimbursement of such fees, charges and expenses as are incurred by the depositary
and/or any of the depositarys agents (including, without limitation, the custodian and
expenses incurred on behalf of holders in connection with compliance with foreign
exchange control regulations or any law or regulation relating to foreign investment) in
connection with the servicing of the ordinary shares or other deposited securities, the
delivery of deposited securities or otherwise in connection with the depositarys or its
custodians compliance with applicable law, rule or regulation (which charge shall be
assessed on a proportionate basis against holders as of the record date or dates set by
the depositary and shall be payable at the sole discretion of the depositary by billing
such holders or by deducting such charge from one or more cash dividends or other cash
distributions); |
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a fee for the distribution of securities (or the sale of securities in connection with
a distribution), such fee being in an amount equal to the fee for the execution and
delivery of ADSs which would have been charged as a result of the deposit of such
securities (treating all such securities as if they were ordinary shares) but which
securities or the net cash proceeds from the sale thereof are instead distributed by the
depositary to those holders entitled thereto; |
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|
stock transfer or other taxes and other governmental charges; |
|
|
|
|
cable, telex and facsimile transmission and delivery charges incurred at your request
in connection with the deposit or delivery of ordinary shares; |
|
|
|
|
transfer or registration fees for the registration of transfer of deposited securities
on any applicable register in connection with the deposit or withdrawal of deposited
securities; and |
|
|
|
|
expenses of the depositary in connection with the conversion of foreign currency into
U.S. dollars. |
We will pay all other charges and expenses of the depositary and any agent of the depositary
(except the custodian) pursuant to agreements from time to time between us and the depositary. The
charges described above may be amended from time to time by agreement between us and the
depositary.
Our depositary has agreed to reimburse us for certain expenses we incur that are related to
establishment and maintenance of the ADR program, including investor relations expenses and
exchange application and listing fees. Neither the depositary nor we can determine the exact amount
to be made available to us because (i) the number of ADSs that will be issued and outstanding, (ii)
the level of fees to be charged to holders of ADSs and (iii) our reimbursable expenses related to
the ADR program are not known at this time. The depositary collects its fees for issuance and
cancellation of ADSs directly from investors depositing ordinary shares or surrendering ADSs for
the purpose of withdrawal or from intermediaries acting for them. The depositary collects fees for
making distributions to investors by deducting those fees from the amounts distributed or
94
by
selling a portion of distributable property to pay the fees. The depositary may collect its annual
fee for depositary services by deduction from cash distributions, or by directly billing investors,
or by charging the book-entry system accounts of participants acting for them. The depositary may
generally refuse to provide services to any holder until the fees and expenses owing by such holder
for those services or otherwise are paid.
95
PART II
ITEM 13. DEFAULTS, DIVIDEND ARREARAGES AND DELINQUENCIES
Not applicable.
ITEM 14. MATERIAL MODIFICATIONS TO THE RIGHTS OF SECURITY HOLDERS AND USE OF PROCEEDS
A. Material Modifications to the Rights of Security Holders
None
B. Use of Proceeds
We completed our initial public offering of 2,933,238 ordinary shares, in the form of ADSs, at
a price of US$42.50 per ADS, in September 2010, after our ordinary shares and American Depositary
Receipts were registered under the Securities Act. The aggregate price of the offering amount
registered and sold was US$124.7 million, of which we received net proceeds of US$9.8 million. The
effective date of our registration statement on Form F-1 (File number: 333-169170) was September 2,
2010. On September 16, 2010, we completed our initial public offering after all of the registered
securities were sold. Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C., were the
underwriters for our initial public offering.
As of March 31, 2011, approximately US$2.8 million of the net proceeds from our public
offerings has been used to pay for our Initial Public Offering expenses and the rest has been
reserved for general corporate purposes.
ITEM 15. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
This annual report does not include a report of managements assessment regarding internal
control over financial reporting or an attestation report of the companys registered public
accounting firm due to a transition period established by rules of the Securities and Exchange
Commission for newly public companies.
Disclosure Controls and Procedures.
Attached as exhibits to this Annual Report are certifications of our CEO and CFO, which are
required by Rule 13a-14 of the Act. This Disclosure Controls and Procedures section includes
information concerning managements evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures referred to in
those certifications and, as such, should be read in conjunction with the certifications of the CEO
and CFO.
We evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31,
2010. Based on that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer
concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective for the reasons set forth
below.
In
connection with the audit of our financial statements used for the
year ended December 31, 2010,
Ernst & Young Hua Ming identified the following as a material
weakness involving internal control over financial reporting: we did not have sufficient
accounting personnel with an appropriate level of knowledge, experience and training in U.S. GAAP
and SEC reporting matters to properly identify, analyze and conclude on accounting issues and to
prepare financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting requirements. Ernst &
Young Hua Ming also identified the following as deficiencies in our internal control over financial
reporting: (1) a lack of formal documentation on transfer pricing policy; (2) a lack of formal
approval and documentation for cash management and investment activities; and (3) ineffective
information technology control environment for accounting and key business systems.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
We are taking steps to remediate all significant deficiencies identified by Ernst & Young Hua Ming.
However, if we fail to timely achieve and maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures on
internal control over financial reporting, we and our independent registered public accounting firm
may not be able to conclude that we have effective disclosure controls and procedures on internal
control over financial reporting at a reasonable assurance level. This could in turn result in the
loss of investor confidence in the reliability of our financial statements and negatively impact
the trading price of our ADSs. In addition, if we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal
controls, as such standards are modified, supplemented or amended from time to time, we may not be
able to provide accurate financial statements, which could cause us to fail to meet our reporting
obligations or provide accurate financial statements, and cause investors to lose confidence in our
reported financial information and have a negative effect on the trading price of our ADSs.
96
ITEM 16A. AUDIT COMMITTEE FINANCIAL EXPERT
Our board of directors has determined that Sam Hanhui Sun is an audit committee financial
expert as defined by SEC rules, and that he satisfies the independent requirements of Section
303A and Rule 10A-3 promulgated under the Exchange Act.
ITEM 16B. CODE OF ETHICS
Our board of directors has adopted our code of conduct, a code that applies to members of the
board of directors including its chairman and other senior officers, including the Chief Financial
Officer and the Chief Operating Officer. This code is publicly available on our website at
ir.soufun.com.
ITEM 16C. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES
In January 2003, the SEC adopted rules requiring disclosure of fees billed by a public
companys independent auditors in each of the companys two most recent fiscal years. Our auditors
charged the following fees for professional services rendered for the years ended December 31, 2009
and December 31, 2010:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2009 |
|
2010 |
|
|
(U.S. dollars in |
|
|
thousands) |
Audit fees(1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1,220 |
|
Audit-related fees(2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tax Fees (3) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
50 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1,270 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1) |
|
Audit Fees are defined as the standard audit work that needs to be performed each year
in order to issue opinions on our consolidated financial statements and to issue reports on
our local statutory financial statements. Also included are services that can only be
provided by our auditor, such as auditing of nonrecurring transactions and implementation
of new accounting policies, reviews of quarterly financial results, consents and comfort
letters and any other audit services required for US Securities and Exchange Commission or
other regulatory filings. |
|
(2) |
|
Audit Related Fees include those other assurance services provided by the independent
auditor but not restricted to those that can only be provided by the auditor signing the
audit report. These fees comprise amounts for services for Sarbanes Oxley 404 controls
design effectiveness review. |
|
(3) |
|
Tax Fees include those tax services provided by the independent auditor for tax
compliance, tax advice and tax planning. |
During the 12-month periods ended December 31, 2009 and December 31, 2010, our auditors were
not engaged to perform any services that are defined as tax fees or for any other type of services.
Policy on Pre-Approval of Audit and Non-Audit Services of Independent Auditors
The Audit Committees policy is to pre-approve all audit and non-audit services provided by
our auditor. These services may include audit services, audit related services, tax services and
other services, as described above. Pre-approval is detailed as to the particular service or
categories of services, and is subject to a specific budget. Our management and our auditor report
to the Audit Committee regarding the extent of services provided in accordance with this
pre-approval and the fees for the services performed to date on an annual basis. The Audit
Committee may also pre-approve additional services on a case-by-case basis.
97
ITEM 16D. EXEMPTIONS FROM THE LISTING STANDARDS FOR AUDIT COMMITTEES
None.
ITEM 16E. PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES BY THE ISSUER AND AFFILIATED PURCHASERS
None.
ITEM 16F. CHANGE IN REGISTRANTS CERTIFYING ACCOUNT
Not applicable.
ITEM 16G. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
As a foreign private issuer with shares listed on the NYSE, we are subject to corporate
governance requirements imposed by the NYSE. Under Section 303A, NYSE listed non-US companies may,
in general, follow their home country corporate governance practices in lieu of some of the NYSE
corporate governance requirements. A NYSE listed non-U.S. company is simply required to provide a
general summary of the significant differences to its U.S. investors either on the company website
or in its annual report distributed to its U.S. investors.
We are committed to a high standard of corporate governance. As such, we endeavor to comply
with most of the NYSE corporate governance practices. However, the following are ways in which our
current corporate governance practices differ from NYSE corporate governance requirements since the
laws of Cayman Islands do not require such compliance:
|
|
|
The majority of our board of directors is not comprised of independent directors. |
|
|
|
|
We are not required to schedule an executive session at least once a year to be
attended by only independent directors and all directors are currently entitled to attend
all of our board meetings |
|
|
|
|
We have not yet adopted or disclosed a method for interested parties to communicate
directly with the presiding director or with non-management directors as a group. |
|
|
|
|
We are not required to obtain shareholder approval for the adoption of, or material
revisions to, our equity compensation plans and our directors may amend, materially
revise, or terminate our equity compensation plans, but no such action will affect any
outstanding award in any manner materially adverse to a participant without the consent
of the participant. |
None of the above practices conflicts with the laws of the Cayman Islands or our amended and
restated memorandum and articles of association.
We may in the future determine to voluntarily comply with one or more of the foregoing
provisions.
98
PART III
ITEM 17. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
We have elected to provide financial statements pursuant to Item 18.
ITEM 18. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Our consolidated financial statements are included at the end of this annual report.
ITEM 19. EXHIBITS
We have filed the following documents as exhibits to this annual report:
|
|
|
Exhibit No. |
|
Description of Exhibit |
|
|
|
1.1
|
|
Fourth Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association
(incorporated by reference to Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Registration
No. 333-169170) filed with the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
2.1
|
|
Specimen ordinary share certificate (incorporated by reference to Registration
Statement on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170) filed with the SEC on
September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
2.2
|
|
Specimen American depositary receipt (incorporated by reference to
Registration Statement on Form F-6 (Registration No. 333-169176) filed with
the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
2.3
|
|
Form of Deposit Agreement (incorporated by reference to Registration Statement
on Form F-6 (Registration No. 333-169176) filed with the SEC on September 2,
2010). |
|
|
|
4.1
|
|
Shareholders Agreement, dated August 31, 2006 (incorporated by reference to
Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170) filed with
the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
4.2
|
|
Stock Related Award Incentive Plan of 1999 (incorporated by reference to
Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170) filed with
the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
4.3
|
|
2010 Stock Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference to Registration Statement
on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170) filed with the SEC on September 2,
2010). |
|
|
|
4.4
|
|
Investors Rights Agreement among the Registrant, General Atlantic, Apax, Next
Decade, Media Partner and Digital Link, dated August 13, 2010 (incorporated by
reference to Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170)
filed with the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
4.5
|
|
Investors Rights Agreement among the Registrant, General Atlantic, Apax, Next
Decade, Media Partner and Digital Link, dated August 13, 2010 (incorporated by
reference to Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170)
filed with the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
4.6
|
|
Options Exercise Agreement among Telstra International, the Registrant and Mr.
Mo, dated August 12, 2010 (incorporated by reference to Registration Statement
on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170) filed with the SEC on September 2,
2010). |
|
|
|
4.7
|
|
Form of Employment Agreement (incorporated by reference to Registration
Statement on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170) filed with the SEC on
September 2, 2010). |
99
|
|
|
Exhibit No. |
|
Description of Exhibit |
|
|
|
4.8
|
|
Form of Indemnification Agreement (incorporated by reference to Registration
Statement on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170) filed with the SEC on
September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
4.9
|
|
Form of Loan Agreement between and among SouFun Network or SouFun Media and
Mr. Mo and Mr. Dai as shareholders of a consolidated controlled entity
(incorporated by reference to Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Registration
No. 333-169170) filed with the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
4.10
|
|
Form of Equity Pledge Agreement among SouFun Network or SouFun Media, Mr. Mo
and/or Mr. Dai and/or other shareholders of a consolidated controlled entity
pledging the shares of the consolidated controlled entity (incorporated by
reference to Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170)
filed with the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
4.11
|
|
Form of Shareholders Proxy Agreement among SouFun Network or SouFun Media, a
consolidated controlled entity, Mr. Mo and/or Mr. Dai and/or other
shareholders of the consolidated controlled entity (incorporated by reference
to Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170) filed with
the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
4.12
|
|
Form of Operating Agreement among SouFun Network or SouFun Media, a
consolidated controlled entity, Mr. Mo and/or Mr. Dai and/or other
shareholders of the consolidated controlled entity (incorporated by reference
to Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170) filed with
the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
4.13
|
|
Form of Exclusive Technical Consultancy and Services Agreement between SouFun
Network or SouFun Media and a consolidated controlled entity (incorporated by
reference to Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170)
filed with the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
4.14
|
|
Form of Exclusive Call Option Agreement among SouFun Holdings Limited, Mr. Mo
and/or Mr. Dai and/or other shareholders of a consolidated controlled entity,
the consolidated controlled entity and SouFun Network and/or SouFun Media
(incorporated by reference to Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Registration
No. 333-169170) filed with the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
4.15
|
|
Form of Amendment Agreement Relating to Exclusive Technical Consultancy and
Services Agreement, Exclusive Call Option Agreement, Operating Agreement and
Other Agreements among SouFun Network and/or SouFun Media, a consolidated
controlled entity, Mr. Mo, Mr. Dai and/or other shareholders of the
consolidated controlled entity and SouFun Holdings Limited (incorporated by
reference to Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170)
filed with the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
4.16
|
|
Form of Intra-group Memorandum of Understanding between SouFun Network or
SouFun Media and a consolidated controlled entity (incorporated by reference
to Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170) filed with
the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
4.17
|
|
Web Promotion Technical Service Contract, dated April 23, 2010, between CNED
Hengshui Zhongcheng Wanyuan Home Co., Ltd. and SouFun Media (incorporated by
reference to Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170)
filed with the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
4.18
|
|
Individual Entrustment Loan Agreement, dated November 5, 2009, between CNED
Hengshui Zhongcheng Wanyuan Home Co., Ltd., as borrower, and Bank of
Communications, as lender, with SouFun Media, as principal (incorporated by
reference to Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170)
filed with the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
100
|
|
|
Exhibit No. |
|
Description of Exhibit |
|
|
|
4.19
|
|
Web Promotion Technical Service Contract, dated February 5, 2010, between
Beijing Dong Fang Xi Mei Investment Consulting Co., Ltd. and Beijing
Technology (incorporated by reference to Registration Statement on Form F-1
(Registration No. 333-169170) filed with the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
4.20
|
|
Termination Agreement With Respect to Web Promotion and Technical Service
Contract, dated July 5, 2010, between Beijing Dong Fang Xi Mei Investment
Consulting Co., Ltd. and Beijing SouFun Technical Development Co. Ltd.
(incorporated by reference to Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Registration
No. 333-169170) filed with the SEC on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
4.21
|
|
Web Promotion Technical Service Contract, dated July 16, 2010, between Beijing
Wei Ye Hang Real Estate Agency Co., Ltd. and Beijing SouFun Technical
Development Co. Ltd. (incorporated by reference to Registration Statement on
Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170) filed with the SEC on September 2,
2010). |
|
|
|
4.22
|
|
Indemnity Agreement among Mr. Mo, CNED Hengshui Zhengcheng Wanyuan Home Co.,
Ltd. and the Registrant (incorporated by reference to Registration Statement
on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-169170) filed with the SEC on September 2,
2010). |
|
|
|
4.23
|
|
Purchase and Sale Agreement between Sahn Eagle LLC and SouFun Holdings Limited. |
|
|
|
8.1
|
|
List of Subsidiaries and Consolidated Affiliated Entities. |
|
|
|
11.1
|
|
Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 99.1
of our Registration Statement on Form F-1 (file no. 333-169170) filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission on September 2, 2010). |
|
|
|
12.1
|
|
Certification by Principal Executive Officer Pursuant to Section 302 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 |
|
|
|
12.2
|
|
Certification by Principal Financial Officer Pursuant to Section 302 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 |
|
|
|
13.1
|
|
Certification by Principal Executive Officer Pursuant to Section 906 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 |
|
|
|
13.2
|
|
Certification by Principal Financial Officer Pursuant to Section 906 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 |
|
|
|
15.1
|
|
Consent of King & Wood PRC
Lawyers |
101
SIGNATURES
The registrant hereby certifies that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form 20-F
and that it has duly caused and authorized the undersigned to sign this annual report on its
behalf.
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|
|
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
|
|
|
By: |
/s/ Vincent Tianquan Mo
|
|
|
Vincent Tianquan Mo |
|
|
Executive Chairman |
|
|
Date:
June 10, 2011
102
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
F-1
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Shareholders and the Board of Directors of
SouFun Holdings Limited:
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of SouFun Holdings Limited (the
Company) and its subsidiaries as of December 31, 2009 and 2010, and the related consolidated
statements of operations, cash flows and changes in shareholders equity for each of the three
years in the period ended December 31, 2010. These financial statements are the responsibility of
the Companys management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements
based on our audits.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight
Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain
reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. We
were not engaged to perform an audit of the Companys internal control over financial reporting.
Our audits included consideration of internal control over financial reporting as a basis for
designing audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of
expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Companys internal control over financial
reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion. An audit also includes examining, on a test
basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the
accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall
financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our
opinion.
In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material
respects, the consolidated financial position of SouFun Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries at
December 31, 2009 and 2010 and the consolidated results of their operations and their cash flows
for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2010 in conformity with U.S. generally
accepted accounting principles.
/s/ Ernst & Young Hua Ming
Shenzhen, the Peoples Republic of China
June 10, 2011
F-2
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(Amounts in thousands of United States dollar (US$) except for number of shares)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As at December 31, |
|
|
|
Notes |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ASSETS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current assets: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash and cash equivalents |
|
|
|
|
|
|
92,239 |
|
|
|
171,520 |
|
Short-term investments |
|
|
4 |
|
|
|
28,558 |
|
|
|
58,133 |
|
Accounts receivable (net of allowance
of US$4,432 and US$7,277 for 2009 and
2010, respectively) |
|
|
5 |
|
|
|
13,985 |
|
|
|
22,353 |
|
Prepayments and other current assets |
|
|
6 |
|
|
|
1,952 |
|
|
|
21,113 |
|
Available-for-sale securities |
|
|
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4,279 |
|
Inventories |
|
|
|
|
|
|
4,390 |
|
|
|
|
|
Amounts due from related parties |
|
|
17 |
|
|
|
7,629 |
|
|
|
|
|
Deferred tax assets, current |
|
|
15 |
|
|
|
471 |
|
|
|
2,129 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total current assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
149,224 |
|
|
|
279,527 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Non-current assets: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Property and equipment, net |
|
|
7 |
|
|
|
4,220 |
|
|
|
7,549 |
|
Deferred tax assets, non current |
|
|
15 |
|
|
|
507 |
|
|
|
619 |
|
Deposit for non-current assets |
|
|
8 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4,600 |
|
Other non-current assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
543 |
|
|
|
1,472 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total Non-current assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
5,270 |
|
|
|
14,240 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
154,494 |
|
|
|
293,767 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements
F-3
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States dollar (US$) except for number of shares)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As at December 31, |
|
|
|
Notes |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS EQUITY |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current liabilities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Short-term loan |
|
|
9 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3,600 |
|
Deferred revenue |
|
|
10 |
|
|
|
28,795 |
|
|
|
56,968 |
|
Accrued expenses and other liabilities |
|
|
11 |
|
|
|
37,342 |
|
|
|
46,349 |
|
Dividend payable |
|
|
12 |
|
|
|
43,906 |
|
|
|
39,635 |
|
Share based compensation liability |
|
|
16 |
|
|
|
11,129 |
|
|
|
|
|
Income tax payable |
|
|
15 |
|
|
|
3,134 |
|
|
|
14,329 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total current liabilities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
124,306 |
|
|
|
160,881 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deferred tax liability, non-current |
|
|
15 |
|
|
|
5,687 |
|
|
|
10,219 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total liabilities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
129,993 |
|
|
|
171,100 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Commitments and contingencies |
|
|
19 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shareholders equity: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ordinary shares (par value of Hong Kong
Dollar (HK$) 1 per share at December 31,
2009 and 2010, respectively;
Authorized600,000,000 shares at
December 31, 2009 and 2010 respectively;
Issued and outstanding73,932,217 and
76,065,755 shares at December 31, 2009
and 2010, respectively) |
|
|
13 |
|
|
|
9,489 |
|
|
|
9,764 |
|
Additional paid-in capital |
|
|
|
|
|
|
9,279 |
|
|
|
39,399 |
|
Accumulated other comprehensive income |
|
|
|
|
|
|
5,670 |
|
|
|
10,293 |
|
Retained earnings |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
63,108 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total SouFun Holdings Limiteds equity |
|
|
|
|
|
|
24,438 |
|
|
|
122,564 |
|
Noncontrolling interests |
|
|
|
|
|
|
63 |
|
|
|
103 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total shareholders equity |
|
|
|
|
|
|
24,501 |
|
|
|
122,667 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total liabilities and shareholders equity |
|
|
|
|
|
|
154,494 |
|
|
|
293,767 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.
F-4
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(Amounts in thousands of United States dollar (US$) except for number of shares and per share
data)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|
|
|
Notes |
|
|
2008 |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Revenues |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Marketing services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
86,252 |
|
|
|
102,367 |
|
|
|
167,711 |
|
Listing services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
16,070 |
|
|
|
17,559 |
|
|
|
40,355 |
|
Other value-added services and
products |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1,802 |
|
|
|
7,123 |
|
|
|
16,424 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total revenues |
|
|
|
|
|
|
104,124 |
|
|
|
127,049 |
|
|
|
224,490 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of revenues |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(22,162 |
) |
|
|
(26,484 |
) |
|
|
(49,120 |
) |
Cost of other value-added
services and products |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(4,863 |
) |
|
|
(12,891 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total cost of revenues |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(22,162 |
) |
|
|
(31,347 |
) |
|
|
(62,011 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gross profit |
|
|
|
|
|
|
81,962 |
|
|
|
95,702 |
|
|
|
162,479 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating expenses: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Selling expenses |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(18,708 |
) |
|
|
(25,186 |
) |
|
|
(42,512 |
) |
General and administrative expenses |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(19,857 |
) |
|
|
(22,176 |
) |
|
|
(41,547 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating income |
|
|
|
|
|
|
43,397 |
|
|
|
48,340 |
|
|
|
78,420 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Foreign exchange loss |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(2,826 |
) |
|
|
(59 |
) |
|
|
(462 |
) |
Interest income (Including related
party amount of nil, US$85 and
US$305 for the years ended
December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010,
respectively) |
|
|
17 |
|
|
|
1,221 |
|
|
|
1,205 |
|
|
|
2,390 |
|
Realized gaintrading securities |
|
|
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
195 |
|
|
|
282 |
|
Government grants |
|
|
|
|
|
|
360 |
|
|
|
730 |
|
|
|
740 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Income before income tax |
|
|
|
|
|
|
42,152 |
|
|
|
50,411 |
|
|
|
81,370 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Income tax (expense) benefit |
|
|
15 |
|
|
|
(18,805 |
) |
|
|
2,199 |
|
|
|
(18,222 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net income |
|
|
|
|
|
|
23,347 |
|
|
|
52,610 |
|
|
|
63,148 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net (loss) income attributable to
noncontrolling interests |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(34 |
) |
|
|
(42 |
) |
|
|
40 |
|
Net income attributable to SouFun
Holdings Limited shareholders |
|
|
|
|
|
|
23,381 |
|
|
|
52,652 |
|
|
|
63,108 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Earnings per share |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Basic |
|
|
21 |
|
|
|
0.32 |
|
|
|
0.71 |
|
|
|
0.85 |
|
Diluted |
|
|
21 |
|
|
|
0.30 |
|
|
|
0.68 |
|
|
|
0.79 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted average number of
ordinary shares outstanding: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Basic |
|
|
21 |
|
|
|
74,020,217 |
|
|
|
73,986,129 |
|
|
|
74,683,593 |
|
Diluted |
|
|
21 |
|
|
|
77,092,197 |
|
|
|
77,418,960 |
|
|
|
80,220,633 |
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.
F-5
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(Amounts in thousands of United States dollar (US$)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net income |
|
|
23,347 |
|
|
|
52,610 |
|
|
|
63,148 |
|
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash
generated from operating activities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Share-based compensation |
|
|
2,717 |
|
|
|
4,140 |
|
|
|
5,075 |
|
Depreciation of property and equipment |
|
|
1,051 |
|
|
|
1,213 |
|
|
|
2,378 |
|
Deferred tax expense (benefit) |
|
|
5,550 |
|
|
|
(7,860 |
) |
|
|
2,601 |
|
Allowance for doubtful accounts |
|
|
3,220 |
|
|
|
4,430 |
|
|
|
6,775 |
|
Unrealized foreign exchange loss |
|
|
2,824 |
|
|
|
41 |
|
|
|
483 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Changes in operating assets and liabilities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Increase in accounts receivable |
|
|
(9,345 |
) |
|
|
(7,053 |
) |
|
|
(14,608 |
) |
Increase in prepayments and other current
assets |
|
|
(243 |
) |
|
|
(551 |
) |
|
|
(8,425 |
) |
Increase in other non-current assets |
|
|
(15 |
) |
|
|
(52 |
) |
|
|
(896 |
) |
Increase in accrued expenses and other
liabilities |
|
|
14,864 |
|
|
|
7,912 |
|
|
|
7,987 |
|
Increase in deferred revenue |
|
|
132 |
|
|
|
12,821 |
|
|
|
26,399 |
|
Change in inventories |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(4,390 |
) |
|
|
4,559 |
|
Increase in income tax payable |
|
|
466 |
|
|
|
2,705 |
|
|
|
11,034 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net cash generated from operating activities |
|
|
44,568 |
|
|
|
65,966 |
|
|
|
106,510 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Payment for short-term investments |
|
|
(24,047 |
) |
|
|
(35,864 |
) |
|
|
(97,045 |
) |
Loan to third party |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(10,508 |
) |
Proceeds received from maturity of
short-term investments |
|
|
23,339 |
|
|
|
32,204 |
|
|
|
68,892 |
|
Acquisition of property and equipment |
|
|
(1,967 |
) |
|
|
(1,642 |
) |
|
|
(5,630 |
) |
Proceeds from disposal of property and
equipment |
|
|
|
|
|
|
107 |
|
|
|
147 |
|
Deposits for purchase of non-current assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(4,600 |
) |
Acquisition of available-for-sale security |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(5,000 |
) |
Change in amount due from related parties |
|
|
77 |
|
|
|
(6,839 |
) |
|
|
7,648 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net cash used in investing activities |
|
|
(2,598 |
) |
|
|
(12,034 |
) |
|
|
(46,096 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
F-6
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(Amounts in thousands of United States dollar (US$)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Repurchase of shares and vested options |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(548 |
) |
|
|
|
|
Proceeds from exercise of share options |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
310 |
|
Proceeds from initial public offering |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10,494 |
|
Proceeds from short-term loan |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3,600 |
|
Payment of dividends |
|
|
(16,210 |
) |
|
|
(24,241 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net cash (used in) generated from financing
activities |
|
|
(16,210 |
) |
|
|
(24,789 |
) |
|
|
14,404 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exchange rate effect on cash and cash
equivalents |
|
|
3,194 |
|
|
|
74 |
|
|
|
4,463 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents |
|
|
28,954 |
|
|
|
29,217 |
|
|
|
79,281 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year |
|
|
34,068 |
|
|
|
63,022 |
|
|
|
92,239 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year |
|
|
63,022 |
|
|
|
92,239 |
|
|
|
171,520 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Supplemental schedule of cash flow information |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Income tax paid |
|
|
307 |
|
|
|
1,657 |
|
|
|
3,955 |
|
Acquisition of property and equipment through
utilization of deposits |
|
|
96 |
|
|
|
52 |
|
|
|
|
|
Non-monetary exchange of services for prepaid
cards |
|
|
|
|
|
|
9,252 |
|
|
|
13,739 |
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.
F-7
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDERS EQUITY
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$) except for number of shares)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total SouFun Holdings Limiteds Equity |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Accumulated |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Number of |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Additional |
|
|
Other |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ordinary |
|
|
Ordinary |
|
|
Paid-in |
|
|
Comprehensive |
|
|
Accumulated |
|
|
Noncontrolling |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shares |
|
|
Shares |
|
|
Capital |
|
|
Income |
|
|
Deficits |
|
|
Interests |
|
|
Total Equity |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Balance as of January 1, 2008 |
|
|
74,020,217 |
|
|
|
9,501 |
|
|
|
33,735 |
|
|
|
2,223 |
|
|
|
(60,888 |
) |
|
|
139 |
|
|
|
(15,290 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Comprehensive income |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net income for the year |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
23,381 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
23,381 |
|
Foreign currency translation adjustments |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3,359 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3,359 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total comprehensive income |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
26,740 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Share-based compensation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1,972 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1,972 |
|
Noncontrolling interests |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(34 |
) |
|
|
(34 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Balance as of December 31, 2008 |
|
|
74,020,217 |
|
|
|
9,501 |
|
|
|
35,707 |
|
|
|
5,582 |
|
|
|
(37,507 |
) |
|
|
105 |
|
|
|
13,388 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Comprehensive income |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net income for the year |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
52,652 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
52,652 |
|
Foreign currency translation adjustments |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
88 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
88 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total comprehensive income |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
52,740 |
|
Share-based compensation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2,898 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2,898 |
|
Repurchase of ordinary shares |
|
|
(88,000 |
) |
|
|
(12 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(429 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(441 |
) |
Repurchase of vested options |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(107 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(107 |
) |
Dividend declared |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(29,219 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(14,716 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(43,935 |
) |
Noncontrolling interests |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(42 |
) |
|
|
(42 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Balance as of December 31, 2009 |
|
|
73,932,217 |
|
|
|
9,489 |
|
|
|
9,279 |
|
|
|
5,670 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
63 |
|
|
|
24,501 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Comprehensive income |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net income for the year |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
63,108 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
63,108 |
|
Foreign currency translation adjustments |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5,344 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5,344 |
|
Unrealized losses on available-for-sale security |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(721 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(721 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total comprehensive income |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
67,731 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Share-based compensation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
16,204 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
16,204 |
|
Initial public offering of ordinary shares |
|
|
987,656 |
|
|
|
127 |
|
|
|
10,367 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10,494 |
|
Exercise of share options |
|
|
1,145,882 |
|
|
|
148 |
|
|
|
160 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
308 |
|
Effect on fixed exchange rate of dividends to shareholders |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3,389 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3,389 |
|
Noncontrolling interests |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
40 |
|
|
|
40 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Balance as of December 31, 2010 |
|
|
76,065,755 |
|
|
|
9,764 |
|
|
|
39,399 |
|
|
|
10,293 |
|
|
|
63,108 |
|
|
|
103 |
|
|
|
122,667 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.
F-8
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
1. |
|
ORGANIZATION AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION |
|
|
The Company was incorporated on June 18, 1999 as SouFun.com Limited under the laws of the
BVI. In June 2004, the Company changed its name to SouFun Holdings Limited and its corporate
domicile to the Cayman Islands and became a Cayman Islands company with limited liability
under the Companies Law. The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the
financial statements of SouFun Holdings Limited (the Company), its subsidiaries and
entities controlled through contractual arrangements (the PRC Domestic Entities). The
Company, its subsidiaries and PRC Domestic Entities are collectively referred to as the
Group. |
|
|
|
The Group is principally engaged in the provision of marketing services, listing services and
other value-added products to the real estate and home furnishing industries in the Peoples
Republic of China (the PRC). In 2010, the Company established four investment holding
subsidiaries registered in Cayman, BVI, and Hong Kong. The four investment companies have not
engaged in any substantive businesses as of December 31, 2010. Details of the Companys
subsidiaries and PRC Domestic Entities as of December 31, 2010 are as follows: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Percentage of |
|
|
|
|
Date of |
|
Place of |
|
Ownership by |
|
|
Company |
|
Establishment |
|
Establishment |
|
the Company |
|
Principal Activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Selovo Investments Limited (Selovo)
|
|
August 10, 2007
|
|
British Virgin
Islands (BVI)
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
Investment holding |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pendiary Investments Limited (Pendiary)
|
|
August 16, 2007
|
|
BVI
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
Investment holding |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Max Impact Investments Limited (Max Impact)
|
|
October 26, 2007
|
|
Hong Kong
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
Investment holding |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bravo Work Investments limited (Bravo Work)
|
|
October 29, 2007
|
|
Hong Kong
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
Investment holding |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
China Index Academy Limited (China Index)
|
|
August 7, 2000
|
|
Hong Kong
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
Investment holding |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
China Home Holdings Limited
|
|
April 16, 2010
|
|
Cayman Islands
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
Investment holding |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
China Home Holdings (BVI) Limited
|
|
April 16, 2010
|
|
BVI
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
Investment holding |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
China Home Holdings (HK) Limited
|
|
May 12, 2010
|
|
Hong Kong
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
Investment holding |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
China Real Estate Agent University
|
|
May 12, 2010
|
|
Hong Kong
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
Investment holding |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beijing SouFun Information
Consultancy Co., Ltd.
(Beijing Information)
|
|
August 5, 1999
|
|
PRC
|
|
|
90 |
% |
|
Provision of
technology and
information
services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shanghai SouFun
Information Co., Ltd
(SouFun Shanghai)
|
|
May 31, 2000
|
|
PRC
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
Provision of
technology and
information
consultancy
services |
F-9
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
1. |
|
ORGANIZATION AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION (continued) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Percentage of |
|
|
|
|
Date of |
|
Place of |
|
Ownership by |
|
|
Company |
|
Establishment |
|
Establishment |
|
the Company |
|
Principal Activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SouFun Information
(Shenzhen) Co., Ltd
(SouFun Shenzhen)
|
|
June 23, 2000
|
|
PRC
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
Provision of
technology and
information
consultancy
services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SouFun Information (Tianjin) Co Ltd (SouFun Tianjin)
|
|
March 2, 2001
|
|
PRC
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
Provision of
technology and
information
consultancy
services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SouFun Media
Technology
(Beijing) Co., Ltd.
(SouFun Media)
|
|
November 28, 2002
|
|
PRC
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
Provision of
technology and
information
services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SouFun.Information
(Guangzhou) Co.
Ltd, (SouFun
Guangzhou)
|
|
November 28, 2002
|
|
PRC
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
Provision of
technology and
information
consultancy
services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beijing SouFun
Network Technology
Co., Ltd. (SouFun
Network)
|
|
March 16, 2006
|
|
PRC
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
Provision of
technology and
information
services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zhongzhishizheng
Data Technology
(Beijing) Co., Ltd.
(Beijing
Zhongzhi)
|
|
June 5, 2007
|
|
PRC
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
Provision of
technology and
information
services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beijing Jia Tian
Xia Advertising
Co., Ltd. (Beijing
Advertising)
|
|
September 1, 2000
|
|
PRC
|
|
Nil
|
|
Provision of
marketing services
and listing
services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beijing SouFun
Internet
Information Service
Co., Ltd. (Beijing
Internet)
|
|
December 17, 2003
|
|
PRC
|
|
Nil
|
|
Provision of
marketing services
and listing
services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beijing China Index
Information Co.,
Ltd. (Beijing
China Index)
|
|
November 8, 2004
|
|
PRC
|
|
Nil
|
|
Provision of other
value-added
services and
products |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shanghai Jia Biao
Tang Advertising
Co., Ltd.
(Shanghai JBT
Advertising)
|
|
July 7, 2005
|
|
PRC
|
|
Nil
|
|
Provision of
marketing services
and listing
services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beijing SouFun
Science and
Technology
Development Co.,
Ltd. (Beijing
Technology)
|
|
March 14, 2006
|
|
PRC
|
|
Nil
|
|
Provision of
marketing services
and listing
services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shanghai China
Index Consultancy
Co., Ltd.
(Shanghai China
Index)
|
|
December 12, 2006
|
|
PRC
|
|
Nil
|
|
Provision of other
value-added
services and
products |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shanghai SouFun
Advertising Co.,
Ltd. (Shanghai
Advertising)
|
|
December 12, 2006
|
|
PRC
|
|
Nil
|
|
Provision of
marketing services
and listing
services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beijing Century Jia
Tian Xia Technology
Development Co.,
Ltd. (Beijing JTX
Technology)
|
|
December 21, 2006
|
|
PRC
|
|
Nil
|
|
Provision of
marketing services
and listing
services |
F-10
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
1. |
|
ORGANIZATION AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION (continued) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Percentage of |
|
|
|
|
Date of |
|
Place of |
|
Ownership by |
|
|
Company |
|
Establishment |
|
Establishment |
|
the Company |
|
Principal Activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tianjin Jia Tian
Xia Advertising
Co., Ltd. (Tianjin
JTX Advertising)
|
|
November 22, 2007
|
|
PRC
|
|
Nil
|
|
Provision of
marketing services
and listing
services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tianjin Xin Rui Jia
Tian Xia
Advertising Co.,
Ltd. (Tianjin Xin
Rui)
|
|
September 1, 2009
|
|
PRC
|
|
Nil
|
|
Provision of
marketing services
and listing
services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beijing Li Tian
Rong Ze Science
&Technology
Development Co.
Ltd. (Beijing Li
Tian Rong Ze)
|
|
September 10, 2009
|
|
PRC
|
|
Nil
|
|
Provision of
marketing services
and listing
services |
|
|
To comply with PRC laws and regulations which restrict foreign control of companies
involved in internet content provision (ICP) and advertising businesses, the Group operates
its websites and provides online marketing advertising services in the PRC through its PRC
Domestic Entities. The equity interests of the PRC Domestic Entities are legally held
directly by Tianquan Vincent Mo, Chairman and CEO of the Company, and Jiangong Dai, president
of the Company. Jiangong Dai held the shares in Beijing Advertising and Beijing Information
on behalf of Tianquan Vincent Mo from September 2000 to June 2004. The effective control of
the PRC Domestic Entities is held by the Company through a series of contractual
arrangements, (the Contractual Agreements). As a result of the Contractual Agreements, the
Company maintains the ability to approve decisions made by the PRC Domestic Entities, is
entitled to substantially all of the economic benefits from the PRC Domestic Entities and is
obligated to absorb all of the PRC Domestic Entities expected losses. Therefore, the Company
consolidates the PRC Domestic Entities in accordance with SEC Regulation SX-3A-02 and
Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 810-10 Consolidation: Overall. |
|
|
|
The following is a summary of the Contractual Agreements: |
|
|
|
Exclusive Technical Consultancy and Service Agreements, and Operating Agreements |
|
|
|
The Company, through its subsidiaries (the WOFEs), provide the following exclusive
technical services to the PRC Domestic Entities: i) access to information assembled by the
WOFEs concerning the real estate industry and companies in this sector to enable the PRC
Domestic Entities to target potential customers and provide research services; and ii)
technical IT system support to enable the PRC Domestic Entities to service the advertising
and listing needs of its customers. |
|
|
|
Equity Pledge Agreement, Shareholders Proxy Agreement, and Exclusive Call Option Agreement |
|
|
|
The legal shareholders have pledged their entire respective ownership interests in each
Domestic PRC Entity to the WOFEs. The legal shareholders entrusted the WOFEs their rights to
attend shareholders meetings and cast votes. The agreements will continue unless terminated
upon written consents by the WOFEs or their designated legal persons. |
F-11
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
1. |
|
ORGANIZATION AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION (continued) |
|
|
The Company has the exclusive right to acquire from the legal shareholders their entire
respective equity interests in each PRC Domestic Entity at a price equivalent to the
historical cost when permitted by applicable PRC laws and regulations. The agreement has a
term of ten years and may be extended indefinitely under the sole discretion by the WOFEs. |
|
|
|
Each Domestic PRC Entity and its legal shareholders have also agreed not to enter into any
transaction that would substantially affect the assets, rights, obligations or operations of
the Domestic PRC Entity without prior written consent from the WOFEs. The PRC Domestic
Entities will not distribute any dividend without the prior written consent from the WOFEs.
In addition, the PRC Domestic Entities will appoint or remove their directors and executive
officers upon instruction from the WOFEs. The WOFEs possess the rights to control the daily
operation and to make management decisions for the PRC Domestic Entities through the
operating agreements. |
|
|
|
Loan Agreements |
|
|
|
The WOFEs provided loans to the legal shareholders to enable them to pay the registered
capital of the PRC Domestic Entities. Under the terms of the loan agreements, the legal
shareholders will repay the loans by transferring their legal ownership in the PRC Domestic
Entities when permitted by applicable PRC laws and regulations. |
|
|
|
Supplementary Agreements |
|
|
|
In addition to the above contractual agreements, on March 25, 2010, the WOFEs and the PRC
Domestic Entities entered into supplementary agreements whereby: |
|
|
|
the WOFEs have unilateral discretion in setting the technical service fees
charged to the PRC Domestic Entities; |
|
|
|
|
the WOFEs are obligated to provide financial support to the PRC Domestic Entities
in the event the PRC Domestic Entities incur losses; |
|
|
|
|
the annual budget of the PRC Domestic Entities should be assessed and approved by
the WOFEs; |
|
|
|
|
the legal shareholders agree to remit any dividends, received from the PRC
Domestic Entities, to the WOFEs; and |
|
|
|
|
the PRC Domestic Entities are obligated to transfer their entire retained
earnings after deduction of PRC income tax to the WOFEs upon the WOFEs request. |
|
|
With the above agreements, the Company demonstrates its ability to control the PRC Domestic
Entities, through the Companys right to all the residual benefits of the PRC Domestic
Entities and the Companys obligation to fund losses of the PRC Domestic Entities. Thus the
results of the PRC Domestic Entities are consolidated in the Companys financial statements.
Business taxes relating to service fees charged by the WOFEs are recorded as cost of
services. |
F-12
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
1. |
|
ORGANIZATION AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION (continued) |
|
|
Supplementary Agreements (continued) |
|
|
|
The aggregate carrying amount of the total assets and total liabilities of the PRC Domestic
Entities as of December 31, 2010 were US$180,122 and US$64,520, respectively. There was no
pledge or collateralization of the PRC Domestic Entities assets. Creditors of the PRC
Domestic Entities have no recourse to the general credit of the WOFEs, which are the primary
beneficiaries of the PRC Domestic Entities. The amounts of the net assets of PRC Domestic
Entities as of December 31, 2010 were US$115,602. |
|
|
|
2. |
|
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES |
|
|
Basis of presentation and use of estimates |
|
|
|
The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with
United States generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP). |
|
|
|
The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires
management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and
liabilities, disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities at the balance sheet dates and
the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. Significant
estimates and assumptions reflected in the Groups financial statements include, but are not
limited to, revenue recognition, allowance for doubtful accounts, useful lives of property
and equipment, realization of deferred tax assets, share-based compensation expense and
uncertain income tax positions. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. |
|
|
|
Principles of Consolidation |
|
|
|
The consolidated financial statements of the Group include the financial statements of the
Company, its subsidiaries and PRC Domestic Entities in which it has a controlling financial
interest. A controlling financial interest is typically determined when the Company holds a
majority of the voting equity interest in an entity. However, if the Company demonstrates its
ability to control the PRC Domestic Entities through the Companys rights to all the residual
benefits of the PRC Domestic Entities and the Companys obligation to fund losses of the PRC
Domestic Entities then the entity is included in the consolidated financial statements. All
significant intercompany balances and transactions between the Company, its subsidiaries and
PRC Domestic Entities have been eliminated in consolidation. |
|
|
|
Foreign Currency Translation and Transactions |
|
|
|
The functional currency of the Company and its overseas subsidiaries, including Selovo,
Pendiary, Max Impact, Bravo Work, China Index, China Home Holdings Limited, China Home
Holdings (BVI) Limited, China Home Holdings (HK) Limited, and China Real Estate Agent
University, is the United States dollar (US$). The Companys PRC subsidiaries and PRC
Domestic Entities determine their functional currency to be the Chinese Renminbi (RMB)
based on the criteria of ASC 830-10, Foreign Currency Matters: Overall. The Company uses
the United State Dollar as its reporting currency. The Company uses the monthly average
exchange rate for the year and the exchange rate at the balance sheet date to translate the
operating results and financial position, respectively. Translation differences are recorded
in accumulated other comprehensive income, a component of shareholders equity. |
F-13
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
2. |
|
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) |
|
|
Foreign Currency Translation and Transactions (continued) |
|
|
|
Transactions denominated in foreign currencies are remeasured into the functional currency at
the exchange rates prevailing on the transaction dates. Foreign currency denominated
financial assets and liabilities are remeasured at the exchange rates prevailing at the
balance sheet date. Exchange gains and losses are included in the consolidated statements of
operations. |
|
|
|
Cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments and available-for-sale securities |
|
|
|
Cash and cash equivalents represent cash on hand, demand deposits placed with banks or other
financial institutions. All highly liquid investments with original stated maturity of 90
days or less are classified as cash equivalents. All highly liquid investments with original
stated maturities of greater than 90 days but less than 365 days are classified as short-term
investments which approximate their fair value. |
|
|
|
The Company accounts for its investments in accordance with ASC 320-10, Investments-Debt and
Equity Securities: Overall. According to ASC 320, the investments in debt securities are
accounted for as held-to-maturity, trading or available-for-sale. Investments that are
bought and held principally for the purpose of selling them in the near term are accounted
for as trading securities recorded at fair value with any change recognized in the
consolidated statements of operations. |
|
|
|
Investments classified as available-for-sale securities are reported at fair value with
unrealized gains (losses), if any, recorded as accumulated other comprehensive income in
shareholders equity. Realized gains or losses are charged to income during the period in
which the gain or loss is realized. If the Company determines a decline in fair value is
other-than-temporary, the cost basis of the individual security is written down to fair value
as a new cost basis and the amount of the write-down is accounted for as a realized loss. The
fair value of the investment would then become the new cost basis of the investment and shall
not be adjusted for subsequent recoveries in fair value. Determination of whether declines in
value are other-than-temporary requires significant judgment. Subsequent increases and
decreases in the fair value of available-for-sale securities will be included in
comprehensive income through a credit or charge to shareholders equity except for an
other-than-temporary impairment, which will be charged to income. |
|
|
|
Investments that the Company has positive intent and ability to hold to maturity are
classified as held-to-maturity securities and are stated at amortized cost. The Company
evaluates whether a decline in fair value below the amortized cost basis is other than
temporary in accordance to ASC 320-10-35 InvestmentsDebt and Equity Securities:
OverallSubsequent Measurement. If the decline in fair value is judged to be other than
temporary, the cost basis of the individual security would be written down to its fair value
as a charge to the consolidated statements of operations. No impairment loss was recognized
on the held-to-maturity securities for any of the years presented. |
F-14
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
2. |
|
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) |
|
|
Accounts receivable and allowance for doubtful accounts |
|
|
|
The Group considers many factors in assessing the collectability of its receivables due from
its customers, such as, the age of the amounts due, the customers payment history and
credit-worthiness. An allowance for doubtful accounts is recorded in the period in which a
loss is determined to be probable. Accounts receivable balances are written off after all
collection efforts have been exhausted. |
|
|
|
Property and Equipment, net |
|
|
|
Property and equipment are stated at cost and are depreciated using the straight-line method
over the estimated useful lives of the assets, as follows: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Category |
|
Estimated Useful Life |
|
|
Estimated Residual Value |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Office equipment |
|
|
5 years |
|
|
|
5-10 |
% |
Motor vehicles |
|
|
5 years |
|
|
|
5 |
% |
Leasehold improvement |
|
|
shorter of lease term or 5 years |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Repair and maintenance costs are charged to expense as incurred, whereas the cost of renewals
and betterments that extend the useful lives of property and equipment are capitalized as
additions to the related assets. Retirements, sales and disposals of assets are recorded by
removing the cost and accumulated depreciation from the asset and accumulated depreciation
accounts with any resulting gain or loss reflected in the consolidated statements of
operations. |
|
|
|
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets |
|
|
|
The Group evaluates its long-lived assets or asset group with finite lives for impairment
whenever events or changes in circumstances (such as a significant adverse change to market
conditions that will impact the future use of the assets) indicate that the carrying amount
of a group of long-lived assets may not be fully recoverable. When these events occur, the
Group evaluates the impairment by comparing the carrying amount of the assets to future
undiscounted cash flows expected to result from the use of the assets and their eventual
disposition. If the sum of the expected undiscounted cash flows is less than the carrying
amount of the assets, the Group recognizes an impairment loss based on the excess of the
carrying amount of the asset group over its fair value. No impairment charge was recognized
for any of the years presented. |
F-15
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
2. |
|
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) |
|
|
Fair Value of Financial Instruments |
|
|
|
Effective January 1, 2008, the Group adopted ASC 820-10 Fair Value Measurements and
Disclosures: Overall which defines fair value, establishes a framework for measuring fair
value and expands disclosures about fair value measurements. Although the adoption of ASC
820-10 did not impact the Groups financial condition, results of operations, or cash flow,
ASC 820-10 requires additional disclosures to be provided on fair value measurement. |
|
|
|
ASC 820-10 establishes a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used
in measuring fair value as follows: |
|
|
|
Level 1 Observable inputs that reflect quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical
assets or liabilities in active markets. |
|
|
|
Level 2 Include other inputs that are directly or indirectly observable in the
marketplace. |
|
|
|
Level 3 Unobservable inputs which are supported by little or no market activity. |
|
|
|
ASC 820-10 describes three main approaches to measuring the fair value of assets and
liabilities: (1) market approach; (2) income approach and (3) cost approach. The market
approach uses prices and other relevant information generated from market transactions
involving identical or comparable assets or liabilities. The income approach uses valuation
techniques to convert future amounts to a single present value amount. The measurement is
based on the value indicated by current market expectations about those future amounts. The
cost approach is based on the amount that would currently be required to replace an asset. |
|
|
|
The carrying amounts of cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, other current assets,
amounts due from related parties, short-term investments approximated their fair values due
to the short-term maturity of these instruments as of December 31, 2009 and 2010. |
|
|
|
Available-for-sale securities are measured at their fair values based on quoted prices from
the active market. |
F-16
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
2. |
|
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) |
|
|
Fair Value of Financial Instruments (continued) |
|
|
|
In accordance with ASC 820-10, the Company measures its trading securities at fair value.
Trading securities and available-for-sales security are classified within Level 2 and Level
1, respectively, because trading securities were valued using a model utilizing market direct
observable inputs, such as historical volatility and risk-free interest rate, while
available-for-sales security used quoted prices from the active market. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fair Value Measurement at December 31, 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quoted Prices in |
|
|
Significant |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Active Markets |
|
|
Other |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
for Identical |
|
|
Observable |
|
|
Unobservable |
|
|
Fair Value at |
|
|
|
Assets |
|
|
Inputs |
|
|
Inputs |
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
(Level 1) |
|
|
(Level 2) |
|
|
(Level 3) |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
Trading securities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Adjustable rate structured notes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
7,550 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7,550 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Available-for-sales security |
|
|
4,279 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4,279 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fair Value Measurement at December 31, 2009 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quoted Prices in |
|
|
Significant |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Active Markets |
|
|
Other |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
for Identical |
|
|
Observable |
|
|
Unobservable |
|
|
Fair Value at |
|
|
|
Assets |
|
|
Inputs |
|
|
Inputs |
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
(Level 1) |
|
|
(Level 2) |
|
|
(Level 3) |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
Trading securities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Adjustable rate structured notes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
7,323 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7,323 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Revenue Recognition |
|
|
|
Revenues are derived from online marketing services, listing services, tangible products and
other value-added services and products. Revenue for each type of service and product sales
is recognized only when the following criteria are met: a) persuasive evidence of an
arrangement exists; b) price is fixed or determinable; c) delivery of services has occurred;
and d) collectability is reasonably assured. |
F-17
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
2. |
|
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) |
|
|
Revenue |
|
|
|
Marketing services |
|
|
|
The Group offers marketing services on the Groups websites, primarily presented as banner
advertisements, floating links, logos and other media insertions (forms of services). These
services are offered to real estate developers and providers of products and services for
home decoration and improvement. Marketing services allow advertisers to place advertisements
on particular areas of the Groups websites, in particular formats and over particular
periods of time. Written contracts, containing all significant terms, signed by the Group and
its customers provide persuasive evidence of the arrangement. The contracts do not contain
any specific performance, cancellation, termination or refund provisions. |
|
|
|
The service fee is negotiated between the customer and the Group but once a price is agreed
to and the written contract is signed by both parties, the price is fixed and not subject to
change. The service fee is due and payable in installments over the service period.
Historically, the service fee has varied widely for marketing services and such variation in
prices exists even when the same forms of services is provided in the same location of our
websites and for the same service duration. The marketing services typically last from
several days to one year. Delivery of the service occurs upon displaying the agreed forms of
services on the Groups websites over the specified service period. The Group performs credit
assessments on its customers prior to signing the written contract to ensure collectability
is reasonably assured. Revenue is recognized ratably over the contract period, as there is
persuasive evidence of an arrangement, the fee is fixed or determinable and collection is
reasonably assured, as prescribed by ASC 605-10 Revenue Recognition: Overall. |
|
|
|
For certain arrangements, the Group provides marketing services that contain multiple
deliverables (i.e., different forms of services to be delivered over different periods of
time). Since the Company sells its marketing services over a broad price range, there is a
lack of objective and reliable evidence of fair value for each deliverable included in the
arrangement. Accordingly, a combined unit of accounting is used pursuant to ASC 605-25
Revenue Recognition Multiple-Element Arrangements whereby revenue is recognized ratably
over the performance period of the last deliverable in the arrangement. |
|
|
|
Listing services |
|
|
|
Listing service revenue consist of revenues derived from both basic listing services and
special listing services. |
|
|
|
The Groups basic or special listing services are provided to agents, brokers, property
developers, property owners, property managers and others seeking to sell or rent new or
secondary residential and commercial properties. |
F-18
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
2. |
|
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) |
|
|
Listing services (continued) |
|
1) |
|
Basic listing services: |
|
|
|
Basic listing services entitle the customers to post and make changes to information for
properties, home furnishings and other related products and services in a particular
area on the website for a specified period of time, which typically range from 1 to 36
months, in exchange for a fixed fee. Written contracts, containing all significant
terms, signed by the Group and its customers provide persuasive evidence of the
arrangement. The amount of fee to be paid is not subject to change once the contract has
been signed. The contracts do not contain any specific performance, cancellation,
termination or refund provisions. Delivery of services occurs by making access to the
websites available for posting by the customers over the specified listing period. The
Group performs credit assessments of its customers prior to signing the written contract
to ensure collectability is reasonably assured. In accordance with ASC 605-25, revenue
is recognized ratably over the duration of the service period as the basic listing
services are being delivered. |
|
2) |
|
Special listing services: |
|
|
|
Special listing services are multiple element arrangements comprising of website listing
services and other coordination of promotional themed events (Offline Services), such
as physical forum discussion or a banquet gathering, each with the special listing as
the theme, where our customers promote their products or services to a live audience.
The Offline Services are not sold separately and are always sold with special listing
services. Written contracts, containing all significant terms, signed by the Group and
its customers provide persuasive evidence of the arrangement. The amount of fee to be
paid is not subject to change once the contract has been signed. The contracts do not
contain any specific performance, cancellation, termination or refund provisions.
Delivery of services occurs by making access to the websites available for posting by
the customers over the specified listing period and upon completion of the Offline
Services. The Group performs credit assessments of its customers prior to signing the
written contract to ensure collectability is reasonably assured. |
|
|
|
The Group is unable to determine the fair value of the Offline Services since these
services are not sold on a standalone basis. Accordingly, a combined unit of accounting
is used pursuant to ASC 605-25 whereby revenue is recognized, upon delivery of the final
deliverable, which is recognized ratably over the duration of the Special listing
service period. |
F-19
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
2. |
|
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) |
|
|
Other value-added services and products |
|
|
Commencing in 2009, the Group provided marketing services to home decoration vendors in
exchange for prepaid cards issued by the vendors. The significant terms of these transactions
are stated in written contracts which are signed by the Group and the customers. The prepaid
cards contain monetary values of varying denomination from RMB20 to RMB2,000 that can be used
to purchase certain products from the vendors specified stores. The prepaid cards are not
redeemable for cash from the vendors. The Group sells the prepaid cards, typically at a
discount to their stated monetary value, to external parties. The exchange of marketing
services for prepaid cards is accounted for in accordance with ASC 845 Nonmonetary
Transactions. In accordance with ASC 845-10-30, the nonmonetary transaction is measured
based on fair value of the assets (or services) involved. The fair value of the services to
be provided is not determinable within a reasonable range because the service fees received
have historically varied widely. The fair value of the prepaid cards is determinable by
reference to the historical cash proceeds received upon the sale of such cards to customers.
The Company reassesses its fair value estimate periodically to reflect changes experienced in
the selling prices of the prepaid cards. Service revenue from this exchange is measured based
on the fair value of the prepaid cards received and is recognized in accordance with the
revenue model stated above in Marketing services. Revenue from sales of prepaid cards is
recognized when the prepaid cards are delivered to the customers and cash is received. The
Group will not provide this kind of service from 2011. |
|
|
The Group generates revenues from other value-added services and products including
subscription services for access to the Groups information database and consulting services
for customized and industry-related research reports and indices. Revenues derived from
subscription services for access to the Groups information database are recognized ratably
over the subscription period. Revenues derived from consulting services for customized and
industry-related research reports and indices are recognized when the relevant services are
completed. |
|
|
The Groups business is subject to business taxes, surcharges or cultural construction fees
levied on advertising-related sales in China. In accordance with ASC 605-45 Revenue
RecognitionPrincipal Agent Considerations, all such business taxes, surcharges and cultural
construction fees are presented as cost of revenues on the consolidated statements of
operations. Business tax and related surcharges and cultural construction fees for the years
ended December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010 are approximately US$8,252, US$10,870 and US$17,103,
respectively. |
|
|
|
Cost of Revenues |
|
|
Cost of revenue comprises of employee costs, business taxes and surcharges, server and
bandwidth leasing fees and other direct costs incurred in providing the related services and
sales of products. These costs are expensed when incurred. |
F-20
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
2. |
|
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) |
|
|
Inventories |
|
|
|
Inventories consist of prepaid cards that can be used to acquire products from the issuing
vendors. Inventories are recorded at the lower of cost or market. An impairment charge is
recognized to the extent the prepaid cards cannot be recovered through sale or have expired.
No impairment charge was recognized for any of the years presented. The prepaid cards
generally expire within one year of the acquisition date. In 2010, cards amounting to
US$5,450 were disposed of due to the expiry of usage terms. Inventory balance of US$5,450 was
written off with a corresponding debit to deferred revenue. |
|
|
|
Advertising Expenditure |
|
|
|
Advertising costs are expensed when incurred and are included in selling expenses in the
consolidated statements of operations. For the years ended December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010,
the advertising expenses were approximately US$944, US$1,526 and US$3,666, respectively. |
|
|
|
Leases |
|
|
|
Leases are classified at the inception date as either a capital lease or an operating lease.
A lease is a capital lease if any of the following conditions exists: a) ownership is
transferred to the lessee by the end of the lease term, b) there is a bargain purchase
option, c) the lease term is at least 75% of the propertys estimated remaining economic life
or d) the present value of the minimum lease payments at the beginning of the lease term is
90% or more of the fair value of the leased property to the lessor at the inception date. A
capital lease is accounted for as if there was an acquisition of an asset and an incurrence
of an obligation at the inception of the lease. All other leases are accounted for as
operating leases wherein rental payments are expensed as incurred. The Group had no capital
lease for any of the years stated herein. |
|
|
|
Income Taxes |
|
|
|
The Group follows the liability method of accounting for income taxes. Under this method,
deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on the difference between the
financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates that will
be in effect in the period in which the differences are expected to reverse. The Group
records a valuation allowance to offset deferred tax assets if based on the weight of
available evidence, it is more-likely-than-not that some portion, or all, of the deferred tax
assets will not be realized. The effect on deferred taxes of a change in tax rate is
recognized in tax expense in the period that includes the enactment date of the change in tax
rate. |
F-21
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
2. |
|
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) |
|
|
On January 1, 2007, the Group adopted ASC 740-10, Income taxes: Overall, to account for
uncertainties in income taxes. There was no cumulative effect of the adoption of ASC 740-10
to beginning retained earnings. Interest and penalties arising from underpayment of income
taxes shall be computed in accordance with the related PRC tax law. The amount of interest
expense is computed by applying the applicable statutory rate of interest to the difference
between the tax position recognized and the amount previously taken or expected to be taken
in a tax return. Interest and penalties recognized in accordance with ASC 740-10 is
classified in the consolidated statements of operations as income tax expense. |
|
|
In accordance with the provisions of ASC 740-10, the Group recognizes in its financial
statements the impact of a tax position if a tax return position or future tax position is
more likely than not to prevail based on the facts and technical merits of the position.
Tax positions that meet the more likely than not recognition threshold are measured at the
largest amount of tax benefit that has a greater than fifty percent likelihood of being
realized upon settlement. The Groups estimated liability for unrecognized tax benefits which
is included in the accrued expenses and other liabilities account is periodically assessed
for adequacy and may be affected by changing interpretations of laws, rulings by tax
authorities, changes and/or developments with respect to tax audits, and expiration of the
statute of limitations. The outcome for a particular audit cannot be determined with
certainty prior to the conclusion of the audit and, in some cases, appeal or litigation
process. The actual benefits ultimately realized may differ from the Groups estimates. As
each audit is concluded, adjustments, if any, are recorded in the Groups financial
statements. Additionally, in future periods, changes in facts, circumstances, and new
information may require the Group to adjust the recognition and measurement estimates with
regard to individual tax positions. Changes in recognition and measurement estimates are
recognized in the period in which the changes occur. |
|
|
|
Share-based compensation |
|
|
The Groups employees and directors participate in the Companys share-based scheme which is
more fully discussed in Note 17. The Company applies ASC 718 Compensation-Stock
Compensation to account for its employee share-based payments. There have been no
share-based payments made to non-employees for any of the years presented. |
F-22
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
2. |
|
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) |
|
|
Share-based compensation (continued) |
|
|
In accordance with ASC 718, the Company determines whether a share option should be
classified and accounted for as a liability award or equity award. All grants of share-based
awards to employees classified as equity awards are recognized in the financial statements
based on their grant date fair values which are calculated using an option pricing model. All
grants of share-based awards to employees and directors classified as liabilities are
remeasured at the end of each reporting period with an adjustment for fair value recorded to
the current period expense in order to properly reflect the cumulative expense based on the
current fair value of the vested rewards over the vesting periods. The Group has elected to
recognize compensation expense using the straight-line method for all employee equity awards
granted with graded vesting based on service conditions, which was not subject to performance
vesting conditions, meanwhile using the accelerated attribution method for the equity awards
with performance conditions on a tranche-by-tranche basis. To the extent the required vesting
conditions are not met resulting in the forfeiture of the share-based awards, previously
recognized compensation expense relating to those awards are reversed. ASC 718-10 requires
forfeitures to be estimated at the time of grant and revised, if necessary, in subsequent
periods if actual forfeitures differ from initial estimates. Share-based compensation expense
was recorded net of estimated forfeitures such that expense was recorded only for those
share-based awards that are expected to vest. |
|
|
|
Earnings per Share |
|
|
Earnings per share are calculated in accordance with ASC 260, Earnings Per Share. Basic
earnings per ordinary share is computed by dividing income attributable to holders of
ordinary shares by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the
period. Diluted earnings per ordinary share reflect the potential dilution that could occur
if securities to issue ordinary shares were exercised. The dilutive effect of outstanding
share-based awards is reflected in the diluted earnings per share by application of the
treasury stock method. |
|
|
|
Comprehensive Income |
|
|
Comprehensive income is defined to include all changes in equity except those resulting from
investments by owners and distributions to owners. For the years presented, the Groups
comprehensive income includes net income, unrealized gains (losses) on available-for-sale
investments and foreign currency translation adjustments and is presented in the statement of
changes in shareholders equity. |
F-23
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
2. |
|
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) |
|
|
Recent Accounting Pronouncements |
|
|
In October 2009, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2009-13 (ASU
2009-13), Multiple-Deliverable Revenue Arrangements. ASU 2009-13 amends ASC sub-topic
605-25, Revenue Recognition: Multiple-Element Arrangements, regarding revenue arrangements
with multiple deliverables. These updates address how to determine whether an arrangement
involving multiple deliverables contains more than one unit of accounting, and how the
arrangement consideration should be allocated among the separate units of accounting. These
updates are effective for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2010 and may be applied
retrospectively or prospectively for new or materially modified arrangements. In addition,
early adoption is permitted. By providing another alternative for determining the selling
price of deliverables, the guidance for arrangements with multiple deliverables will allow
companies to allocate arrangement consideration in multiple deliverable arrangements in a
manner that may better reflect the transactions economics and will often result in earlier
revenue recognition. The new guidance modifies the fair value requirements of previous
guidance by allowing best estimate of selling price in addition to vendor-specific
objective evidence (VSOE) and other third-party evidence (TPE) for determining the
selling price of a deliverable. A vendor is now required to use its best estimate of the
selling price when VSOE or TPE of the selling price cannot be determined. In addition, the
residual method of allocating arrangement consideration is no longer permitted under the new
guidance. The Group will adopt ASU 2009-13 for its fiscal year commencing January 1, 2011.
The Group is still assessing the impact of adoption of ASU 2009-13 on its consolidated
financial statements. |
|
|
In June 2009, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2009-17 (ASU
2009-17), Improvements to Financial Reporting by Enterprises Involved with Variable Interest
Entities, which requires an analysis to determine whether a variable interest gives the
entity a controlling financial interest in a variable interest entity. In addition, ASU
2009-17 requires an ongoing reassessment and eliminates the quantitative approach previously
required for determining whether an entity is the primary beneficiary. ASU 2009-17 is
effective for the Company on January 1, 2010. The adoption of ASU 2009-17 is not expected to
have a material impact on the Groups consolidated financial statements. |
|
|
In January 2010, the FASB issued ASU No. 2010-06 (ASU 2010-06), Fair Value Measurements and
Disclosures: Improving Disclosures about Fair Value Measurements. ASU 2010-06 amends ASC 820
to require a number of additional disclosures regarding (1) the different classes of assets
and liabilities measured at fair value, (2) the valuation techniques and inputs used, (3) the
activity in Level 3 fair value measurements, and (4) the transfers between Levels 1, 2, and
3. The new disclosures and clarifications of existing disclosures are effective for interim
and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2009, except for the disclosures
about purchases, sales, issuances, and settlements in the roll forward of activity in Level 3
fair value measurements. Those disclosures are effective for
fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2010, and for interim periods within those fiscal
years. The Group does not expect that the adoption of ASU 2010-06 will have a material impact
on its consolidated financial statements. |
F-24
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
2. |
|
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) |
|
|
Recent Accounting Pronouncements (continued) |
|
|
In April 2010, the FASB issued ASU No. 2010-17 (ASU 2010-17), Revenue Recognition
Milestone Method. The scope of ASU 2010-17 is limited to arrangements that include milestones
relating to research or development deliverables. The pronouncement specifies guidance that
must be met for a vendor to recognize consideration that is contingent upon achievement of a
substantive milestone in its entirety in the period in which the milestone is achieved. ASU
2010-17 will be effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning
on or after June 15, 2010. Early application is permitted. Companies can apply this guidance
prospectively to milestones achieved after adoption. However, retrospective application to
all prior periods is also permitted. The Group does not expect the adoption of ASU 2010-17
will have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements. |
|
|
In April 2010, the FASB issued ASU No. 2010-13 (ASU 2010-13), Compensation-Stock
Compensation (ASC 718): Effect of Denominating the Exercise Price of a Share-Based Payment
Award in the Currency of the Market in Which the Underlying Equity Security Tradesa
consensus of the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force. ASU 2010-13 clarifies that an employee
share-based payment award with an exercise price denominated in the currency of a market in
which a substantial portion of the entitys equity securities trades should be considered an
equity award assuming all other criteria for equity classification are met. ASU 2010-13 will
be effective for interim and annual periods beginning on or after December 15, 2010, and will
be applied prospectively. Affected entities will be required to record a cumulative catch-up
adjustment for all awards outstanding as of the beginning of the annual period in which the
guidance is adopted. The Group does not expect the adoption of ASU 2010-13 will have a
material impact on its consolidated financial statements. |
|
|
|
3. |
|
CONCENTRATION OF RISKS |
|
|
Concentration of credit risk |
|
|
Assets that potentially subject the Group to significant concentration of credit risk
primarily consist of cash and accounts receivable. As of December 31, 2010, substantially all
of the Groups cash was deposited in financial institutions located in the PRC and in Hong
Kong, which management believes are of high credit quality. Accounts receivable are typically
unsecured and are derived from revenue earned from customers in the PRC. The risk with
respect to accounts receivable is mitigated by credit evaluations the Group performs on its
customers and its ongoing monitoring of outstanding balances. |
|
|
Concentration of customers |
|
|
There are no revenues from customers which individually represent greater than 10% of the
total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2010. |
F-25
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
3. |
|
CONCENTRATION OF RISKS (continued) |
|
|
Current vulnerability due to certain other concentrations |
|
|
The Groups operations may be adversely affected by significant political, economic and
social uncertainties in the PRC. Although the PRC government has been pursuing economic
reform policies for more than 30 years, no assurance can be given that the PRC government
will continue to pursue such policies or that such policies may not be significantly altered,
especially in the event of a change in leadership, social or political disruption or
unforeseen circumstances affecting the PRCs political, economic and social conditions. There
is also no guarantee that the PRC governments pursuit of economic reforms will be consistent
or effective. |
|
|
The Group transacts all of its business in RMB, which is not freely convertible into foreign
currencies. On January 1, 1994, the PRC government abolished the dual rate system and
introduced a single rate of exchange as quoted daily by the Peoples Bank of China (the
PBOC). However, the unification of the exchange rates does not imply that the RMB may be
readily convertible into United States dollars or other foreign currencies. All foreign
exchange transactions continue to take place either through the PBOC or other banks
authorized to buy and sell foreign currencies at the exchange rates quoted by the PBOC.
Approval of foreign currency payments by the PBOC or other institutions requires submitting a
payment application form together with suppliers invoices, shipping documents and signed
contracts. Additionally, the value of the RMB is subject to changes in central government
policies and international economic and political developments affecting supply and demand in
the PRC foreign exchange trading system market. |
|
|
Internet and advertising related businesses are subject to significant restrictions under
current PRC laws and regulations. Specifically, foreign investors are not allowed to own more
than a 50% equity interest in any ICP business. In addition, PRC regulations require any
foreign entities that invest in the advertising services industry to have at least a two-year
track record with a principal business in the advertising industry outside of China.
Currently, the Group conducts its operations in China through contractual arrangements
entered between the WOFESs and PRC Domestic Entities. The relevant regulatory authorities may
find the current contractual arrangements and businesses to be in violation of any existing
or future PRC laws or regulations. If so, the relevant regulatory authorities would have
broad discretion in dealing with such violations. |
F-26
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
4. |
|
SHORT-TERM INVESTMENTS/AVAILABLE-FOR-SALE SECURITIES |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
Short-term investments |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Held-to-maturity securities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fixed rate time deposits |
|
|
* |
|
|
|
21,235 |
|
|
|
50,583 |
|
Trading securities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Adjustable rate investments |
|
|
** |
|
|
|
7,323 |
|
|
|
7,550 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
28,558 |
|
|
|
58,133 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Available-for-sale securities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Syswin Corporation |
|
|
*** |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4,279 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4,279 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
As of December 31, 2009 and 2010, the Group held fixed rate time deposits in
commercial banks and financial institutions with an original maturity of less than one
year. |
|
** |
|
As of December 31, 2010, the Group owned US$7,550 (2009US$7,323) of trading
securities which mature in January 13, 2011 (2009March 15, 2010). This investment will
pay variable interest ranging from 1.5% to 6% (20091.98% to 6%) based on a formula
linked to a trading range between the Euro and US$. |
|
*** |
|
On November 4, 2010, the Group acquired 714,285 ADSs of Syswin Corporation, a US
listed company, at a consideration of US$5,000. The investment constituted a 1.01%
ownership in Syswin Corporation and is classified as available-for-sale security. |
|
|
As of December 31, 2009 and 2010, the fair value of short-term investments approximated
their carrying value. |
|
|
The following is a summary of held-to-maturity securities and available-for-sale
securities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Held-to-maturity securities |
|
|
|
Amortized |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost (Net |
|
|
Gross |
|
|
Gross |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Carrying |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amount) |
|
|
Gains |
|
|
Losses |
|
|
Fair Value |
|
December 31, 2010 |
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
Fixed rate time
deposits |
|
|
50,583 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
50,583 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
F-27
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
4. |
|
SHORT-TERM INVESTMENTS/AVAILABLE-FOR-SALE SECURITIES (continued) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Available-for-sale securities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fair |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Value |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gross |
|
|
Gross |
|
|
(Net |
|
|
|
Amortized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Carrying |
|
|
|
Cost |
|
|
Gains |
|
|
Losses |
|
|
Amount) |
|
December 31, 2010 |
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
Syswin
Corporation |
|
|
5,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(721 |
) |
|
|
4,279 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Held-to-maturity securities |
|
|
|
Amortized |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost (Net |
|
|
Gross |
|
|
Gross |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Carrying |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Fair |
|
|
|
Amount) |
|
|
Gains |
|
|
Losses |
|
|
Value |
|
December 31, 2009 |
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
Fixed rate time
deposits |
|
|
21,235 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
21,235 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Accounts receivable |
|
|
18,417 |
|
|
|
29,630 |
|
Allowance for doubtful accounts |
|
|
(4,432 |
) |
|
|
(7,277 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Accounts receivable, net |
|
|
13,985 |
|
|
|
22,353 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Years Ended |
|
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
Movement in allowance for doubtful accounts: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Balance at beginning of the year |
|
|
1,192 |
|
|
|
3,330 |
|
|
|
4,432 |
|
Additional provision charged to expenses |
|
|
3,220 |
|
|
|
4,430 |
|
|
|
6,775 |
|
Write-offs |
|
|
(1,231 |
) |
|
|
(3,332 |
) |
|
|
(4,093 |
) |
Foreign currency adjustment |
|
|
149 |
|
|
|
4 |
|
|
|
163 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Balance at end of the year |
|
|
3,330 |
|
|
|
4,432 |
|
|
|
7,277 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
F-28
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
6. |
|
PREPAYMENTS AND OTHER CURRENT ASSETS |
|
|
Prepayments and other current assets consist of the following: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Prepaid expenses |
|
|
514 |
|
|
|
669 |
|
Advance to employees |
|
|
355 |
|
|
|
238 |
|
Rental and other deposits |
|
|
625 |
|
|
|
846 |
|
Commitment deposits * |
|
|
|
|
|
|
7,550 |
|
Loan receivable ** |
|
|
|
|
|
|
10,570 |
|
Interest receivables |
|
|
334 |
|
|
|
1,001 |
|
Others |
|
|
124 |
|
|
|
239 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1,952 |
|
|
|
21,113 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
The amount represents a commitment deposit of RMB50,000 (US$7,550) paid by the
Company to Beijing Wei Ye Hang Real Estate Agent Company (Wei Ye Hang), an independent
third party in exchange for being appointed the exclusive online marketing/listing
service provider for a property development in Hainan, China. The deposit was
interest-free and was not secured by any collateral or security interest. The deposit
was to be repaid within six months after the date of receipt of the deposit by Wei Ye
Hang. Wei Ye Hang repaid the commitment deposit in full on February 1, 2011. |
|
** |
|
Loan receivable represents the loan of RMB70,000 (US$10,570) to Beijing Pujin
Finance Company, an independent third party, for a term of six months with an interest
rate of 10% per annum. |
|
|
|
7. |
|
PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT, NET |
|
|
Property and equipment consist of the following: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Office equipment |
|
|
6,015 |
|
|
|
10,124 |
|
Motor vehicles |
|
|
526 |
|
|
|
834 |
|
Leasehold improvement |
|
|
1,185 |
|
|
|
2,259 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
|
7,726 |
|
|
|
13,217 |
|
Less: Accumulated depreciation |
|
|
(3,506 |
) |
|
|
(5,668 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4,220 |
|
|
|
7,549 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Depreciation expenses amounted to approximately US$1,051, US$1,213 and US$2,378 for the years ended
December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. |
F-29
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
8. |
|
DEPOSIT FOR NON-CURRENT ASSETS |
|
|
Deposit for non-current assets represents an interest-free and non-refundable prepayment for
the acquisition of American International Groups (AIG) training center in the United
States of America. The deposit of US$4,600 represents 10% of the total purchase consideration
i.e. US$46,000. As of December 31, 2010, the remaining contractual obligation associated with
this purchase contract is approximately US$41,400, which is further disclosed as a purchase
commitment in Note 19. |
|
|
The short-term loan outstanding as of December 31, 2010 represents the US denominated loan of
US$3,600 obtained from Pioneer China Investment Holdings Limited, an independent third party,
for the purchase of AIGs training center. The loan is interest-free, has a repayment term of
three months and no collateral was required to be pledged. |
|
|
The Company repaid the loan of US$3,600 on March 28, 2011. |
|
|
All service fees and prepaid cards received in advance of the provision of services are
initially recorded as deferred revenue. The balance of deferred revenue as of December 31,
2010 consisted of only service fees received in advance. |
|
|
|
11. |
|
ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER LIABILITIES |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Payroll and welfare benefit |
|
|
5,487 |
|
|
|
13,758 |
|
Other taxes and surcharges payable* |
|
|
11,921 |
|
|
|
20,140 |
|
Accrued unrecognized tax benefits and related interest
and penalties (note 15) |
|
|
18,705 |
|
|
|
10,695 |
|
Others |
|
|
1,229 |
|
|
|
1,756 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
37,342 |
|
|
|
46,349 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
Other taxes and surcharges payable consists of business tax (BT), cultural
industry development surcharges (CIDS), city construction tax (CCT) and withholding
individual income tax (IIT). |
F-30
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
Pursuant to minutes of meetings of directors dated December 12, 2007, and February 20, 2009,
the Companys board of directors declared the distribution of dividends to the shareholders
in the amount of US$41,070 and US$43,935, respectively. During the year ended December 31,
2008, 2009 and 2010, the Group paid US$16,210, US$24,241 and nil, respectively, to
shareholders. According to minutes of the meeting of board and directors dated August 4,
2010, the Company resolved that the outstanding dividend payable to shareholders should be
paid in US dollars using the exchange rates as of December 31, 2007 and December 31, 2008.
Accordingly, the balance of dividend payable as of December 31, 2010 was adjusted based on
the approved exchange rates and the difference was debited to additional paid-in capital. |
|
|
Repurchased 88,000 ordinary shares |
|
|
|
On August 12, 2009, the Company repurchased 88,000 ordinary shares from a shareholder at a
price of US$5.01 per share. The repurchased shares were cancelled and the difference between
the par value and the repurchase price of US$429 was debited to retained earnings. |
|
|
|
Repurchased and cancelled 35,000 vested share option |
|
|
|
At the same day, the Company also repurchased and cancelled 35,000 vested share options at a
price of US$3.04 per option, which approximated its fair value and the repurchase price of
US$107 was debited to additional paid-in capital. |
|
|
|
Qualified initial public offering |
|
|
|
On September 16, 2010, the Company completed its qualified initial public offering of 246,914
ADSs (equivalent to 987,656 ordinary shares) for gross proceeds of US$10,494. For the years
ended December 31, 2009 and 2010, initial public offering of nil and US$2,760, respectively,
were expensed and are included in the general and administrative expenses. The difference
between the par value of the ordinary shares and the gross proceeds of the offering of
US$10,367 was credited to additional paid-in capital. |
|
|
|
14. |
|
RESTRICTED NET ASSETS |
|
|
The Companys ability to pay dividends is primarily dependent on the Company receiving
distributions of funds from its subsidiaries. Relevant PRC statutory laws and regulations
permit payments of dividends by the Groups PRC subsidiaries only out of their retained
earnings, if any, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. The results of operations reflected in the financial
statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP differ from those reflected in the statutory
financial statements of the Companys subsidiaries. |
F-31
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
14. |
|
RESTRICTED NET ASSETS (continued) |
|
|
In accordance with the PRC Regulations on Enterprises with Foreign Investment and their
articles of association, a foreign invested enterprise established in the PRC is required to
provide certain statutory reserves, namely general reserve fund, the enterprise expansion
fund and staff welfare and bonus fund which are appropriated from net profit as reported in
the enterprises PRC statutory accounts. A foreign invested enterprise is required to
allocate at least 10% of its annual after-tax profit to the general reserve until such
reserve has reached 50% of its respective registered capital based on the enterprises PRC
statutory accounts. Appropriations to the enterprise expansion fund and staff welfare and
bonus fund are at the discretion of the board of directors for all foreign invested
enterprises. The aforementioned reserves can only be used for specific purposes and are not
distributable as cash dividends. WOFEs were established as a foreign invested enterprise and
therefore are subject to the above mandated restrictions on distributable profits. |
|
|
Additionally, in accordance with the Company Law of the PRC, a domestic enterprise is
required to provide a statutory common reserve of at least 10% of its annual after-tax profit
until such reserve has reached 50% of its respective registered capital based on the
enterprises PRC statutory accounts. A domestic enterprise is also required to provide a
discretionary surplus reserve, at the discretion of the board of directors, from the profits
determined in accordance with the enterprises PRC statutory accounts. The aforementioned
reserves can only be used for specific purposes and are not distributable as cash dividends.
The PRC Domestic Entities were established as domestic invested enterprises and therefore are
subject to the above mentioned restrictions on distributable profits. |
|
|
As a result of these PRC laws and regulations that require annual appropriations of 10% of
after-tax income to be set aside prior to payment of dividends as general reserve fund, the
Companys PRC subsidiaries are restricted in their ability to transfer a portion of their net
assets to the Company. |
|
|
Amounts restricted include paid-in capital, statutory reserve funds and net assets of the
Companys PRC subsidiaries, as determined pursuant to PRC generally accepted accounting
principles, totaling approximately US$196,991 as of December 31, 2010; therefore in
accordance with Rules 504 and 4.08 (e) (3) of Regulation S-X, the condensed parent company
only financial statements as of December 31, 2009 and 2010 and for each of the three years in
the period ended December 31, 2010 are disclosed in Note 23. |
|
|
Under the current laws of the Cayman Islands, the Company and China Home Holdings Limited are
not subject to tax on income or capital gains. In addition, upon payments of dividends by the
Company to its shareholders, no Cayman Islands withholding tax will be imposed. |
F-32
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
Under the current laws of the British Virgin Islands, Pendiary, Selovo and China Home
Holdings (BVI) Limited are not subject to tax on income or capital gains. In addition, upon
payments of dividends by these companies to their shareholders, no British Virgin Islands
withholding tax will be imposed. |
|
|
Bravo Work, Max Impact, China Index, China Home Holdings (HK) Limited and China Real Estate
Agent University are incorporated in Hong Kong and do not conduct any substantive operations
of their own. |
|
|
No provision for Hong Kong profits tax has been made in the financial statements as the
Company has no assessable profits for the three years ended December 31, 2010. In addition,
upon payment of dividends by Bravo Work, Max Impact, China Index, China Home Holdings (HK)
and China Real Estate Agent University to their shareholders, no Hong Kong withholding tax
will be imposed. |
|
|
Prior to January 1, 2008, PRC enterprise income tax (EIT), was generally assessed at the rate
of 33% of taxable income. However, five PRC entities of the Group including
SouFunMedia, SouFun Network, Beijing Technology, Beijing JTX Technology and Beijing Zhongzhi,
obtained the certificate of High and New Technology Enterprise (HNTE) within the
Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing. SouFun Media, SouFun Network, Beijing Technology and
Beijing JTX Technology were granted a reduced Enterprise Income Tax (EIT) rate of 15% as
well as a tax holiday of three years exemption followed by three years of 50 percent
reduction starting from 2003, 2006, 2006 and 2007, respectively. Beijing Zhongzhi was granted
a one-year EIT exemption for the year 2007. |
|
|
In March 2007, a new enterprise income tax law (the New EIT Law) in the PRC was enacted
which became effective on January 1, 2008. The New EIT Law applies a unified 25% EIT rate to
both foreign invested enterprises and domestic enterprises, unless a preferential EIT rate is
otherwise stipulated. A five-year transition period is allowed for those enterprises which
enjoyed a reduced EIT rate prior to year 2008 with the transitional EIT rates of 18%, 20%,
22%, 24% and 25% for years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively. Thus, the
applicable EIT rate for SouFun Shenzhen and SouFun Shanghai is 18%, 20% and 22% for 2008,
2009 and 2010, respectively. |
|
|
On April 14, 2008, relevant governmental regulatory authorities released qualification
criteria, application procedures and assessment processes for HNTE status under the New EIT
law which would entitle qualified and approved entities to a favorable statutory tax rate of
15%. Up to December 31, 2008, no subsidiary of the Group obtained the certificate of HNTE
under the New EIT law. The Group have accounted for their current and deferred income tax based on the enacted tax rate of 25%
as the applicable EIT rate for 2008. |
F-33
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
In April 2009, the State Administration for Taxation (SAT) issued Circular Guoshuihan
[2009] No. 203 (Circular 203) stipulating that HNTEs recognized under the new criteria
should apply with in-charge tax authorities to enjoy the reduced EIT rate of 15% provided
under the New EIT Law starting from the year when the new HNTE certificate becomes effective.
In addition, an HNTE can continue to enjoy its remaining tax holiday from January 1, 2008
provided that it has obtained the HNTE certificate according to the new recognition criteria
set by the New EIT Law and the relevant regulations. |
|
|
In May and June 2009, SouFun Media, SouFun Network, Beijing Technology, Beijing JTX
Technology and Beijing Zhongzhi obtained the new HNTE certificate with effect from January 1,
2009. As approved by the in-charge tax authority, Beijing Zhongzhi and SouFun Media are
entitled to enjoy the reduced EIT rate of 15% for years 2009, 2010 and 2011. Beijing
Technology, SouFun Network and Beijing JTX Technology are entitled to continue their
remaining tax holiday granted under the old EIT Law. |
|
|
The SAT subsequently issued Circular Guoshuihan [2010] No.157 (Circular 157) in April 2010
to further clarify the applicable EIT rate for HNTEs. According to Circular 157, HNTEs
should elect one of the following two EIT treatments and no changes could be made once the
election is made: |
|
|
|
The applicable EIT rate is 15% but the remaining tax holiday should no longer be
enjoyed; or |
|
|
|
The remaining tax holiday could be enjoyed based on the transitional EIT rates,
i.e. 18%, 20%, 22% 24% and 25% for the years from 2008 to 2012. |
|
|
Circular 157 emphasizes that HNTEs should no longer continue their remaining tax holiday
based on the 15% reduced rate provided under the New EIT Law. The effective date of Circular
157 is January 1, 2008. |
|
|
As a consequence of Circular 157, the applicable EIT rate for Beijing Technology, SouFun
Network and Beijing JTX Technology should be 11% (i.e. 22% with 50% reduction) for 2010. |
|
|
Dividends paid by PRC subsidiaries of the Group out of the profits earned after December 31,
2007 to non-PRC tax resident investors would be subject to PRC withholding tax. The
withholding tax on dividends would be 10%, unless a foreign investors tax jurisdiction has a
tax treaty with China that provides for a lower withholding tax rate and the foreign investor
is recognized as the beneficial owner of the income under the relevant tax rules. |
F-34
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
Income (loss) before income taxes consists of: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Non-PRC |
|
|
(3,194 |
) |
|
|
(174 |
) |
|
|
(7,053 |
) |
PRC |
|
|
45,346 |
|
|
|
50,585 |
|
|
|
88,423 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
42,152 |
|
|
|
50,411 |
|
|
|
81,370 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The income tax expense (benefit) is comprised of: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current tax expense |
|
|
13,255 |
|
|
|
5,661 |
|
|
|
15,621 |
|
Deferred tax expense(benefit) due to tax
rate change |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(9,525 |
) |
|
|
3,487 |
|
Tax benefit of operating loss carryforwards |
|
|
(358 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change in judgment of valuation allowance |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(289 |
) |
Deferred tax expense (benefit) |
|
|
5,908 |
|
|
|
1,665 |
|
|
|
(597 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
18,805 |
|
|
|
(2,199 |
) |
|
|
18,222 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A reconciliation between the income tax expense (benefit) and the amount computed by applying
the statutory tax rate to income before income taxes is as follows: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Income before income taxes |
|
|
42,152 |
|
|
|
50,411 |
|
|
|
81,370 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Income tax at applicable tax rate of 25% |
|
|
10,538 |
|
|
|
12,603 |
|
|
|
20,342 |
|
Effect of international tax rate differences |
|
|
734 |
|
|
|
20 |
|
|
|
445 |
|
Non-deductible expenses |
|
|
1,799 |
|
|
|
2,245 |
|
|
|
3,677 |
|
Effect of tax holiday |
|
|
(2,931 |
) |
|
|
(10,691 |
) |
|
|
(11,790 |
) |
Effect of tax rate changes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(9,525 |
) |
|
|
4,359 |
|
Investment basis difference in PRC Entities |
|
|
6,599 |
|
|
|
1,488 |
|
|
|
863 |
|
Change in valuation allowance |
|
|
203 |
|
|
|
364 |
|
|
|
(357 |
) |
Unrecognized tax benefits |
|
|
(24 |
) |
|
|
(165 |
) |
|
|
(170 |
) |
Changes in interest and penalty on
unrecognized tax benefits |
|
|
1,887 |
|
|
|
1,462 |
|
|
|
853 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
18,805 |
|
|
|
(2,199 |
) |
|
|
18,222 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
F-35
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
A roll-forward of the unrecognized tax benefits, exclusive of related interest and penalties,
is as follows: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Balancebeginning |
|
|
2,667 |
|
|
|
13,810 |
|
|
|
13,657 |
|
Increase for tax positions in current year |
|
|
10,985 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Decrease relating to settlements with tax
authorities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(8,055 |
) |
Decrease relating to prior year tax position |
|
|
(24 |
) |
|
|
(165 |
) |
|
|
(170 |
) |
Foreign currency adjustment |
|
|
182 |
|
|
|
12 |
|
|
|
421 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Balanceending |
|
|
13,810 |
|
|
|
13,657 |
|
|
|
5,853 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Group has recorded an unrecognized tax benefit, including related interest and penalties,
of approximately US$17,391, US$18,705, and US$10,695 as at December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010,
respectively, which is included in the account of accrued expenses and other liabilities.
As of December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010, unrecognized tax benefits of US$17,391, US$18,705,
and US$10,695 respectively, would impact the effective tax rate, if recognized. |
|
|
In April 2010, the Company settled US$8,055 of unrecognized tax benefits originated in 2008
as well as the related interest of US$1,228. |
|
|
During the years ended December 31, 2008, 2009, and 2010, the Company recognized
approximately US$1,887, US$1,462 and US$853 in income tax expenses for interest and penalties
related to uncertain tax positions. Accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized
tax benefits were approximately US$5,048 and US$4,842 at December 31, 2009, and 2010,
respectively. |
|
|
The Companys PRC entities are subject to the New EIT Law since January 1, 2008. The PRC
income tax returns for fiscal years 2006 through 2010 remain open for examination. |
|
|
The aggregate amount and per share effect of the tax holidays are as follows: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
(amounts in thousands except for the per share data) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The aggregate amount |
|
|
(2,931 |
) |
|
|
(10,691 |
) |
|
|
(11,790 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The aggregate effect on
basic and diluted earnings
per share: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Basic |
|
|
0.04 |
|
|
|
0.14 |
|
|
|
0.16 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Diluted |
|
|
0.04 |
|
|
|
0.14 |
|
|
|
0.15 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
F-36
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
The components of deferred taxes are as follows: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deferred tax assets, current portion |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Accrued expenses |
|
|
471 |
|
|
|
2,129 |
|
Inventories |
|
|
123 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total deferred tax assets, current portion |
|
|
594 |
|
|
|
2,129 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deferred tax assets, non-current portion |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net operating losses |
|
|
1,335 |
|
|
|
1,090 |
|
Less: valuation allowance |
|
|
(828 |
) |
|
|
(471 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total deferred tax assets, non-current portion |
|
|
507 |
|
|
|
619 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deferred tax liabilities, current portion |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deferred revenue |
|
|
(123 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deferred tax liabilities, non-current portion |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Investment basis in PRC entities |
|
|
(5,687 |
) |
|
|
(10,219 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deferred tax assets, current portion, net |
|
|
594 |
|
|
|
2,129 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deferred tax assets, non-current portion, net |
|
|
507 |
|
|
|
619 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deferred tax liabilities, current portion, net |
|
|
(123 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deferred tax liabilities, non-current portion, net |
|
|
(5,687 |
) |
|
|
(10,219 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As of December 31, 2010, the Company had net operating losses from several of its PRC
entities of approximately US$2,161 which can be carried forward to offset future taxable
profit. The net operating loss carryforwards as of December 31, 2010 will expire in years
2011 to 2013 if not utilized. |
|
|
Deferred tax liabilities arising from undistributed earnings |
|
|
Aggregate undistributed earnings of the PRC subsidiaries that are available for distribution
to non-PRC parent companies at December 31, 2009 and 2010 are considered to be indefinitely
reinvested under ASC 740-30 Income Taxes: Other Considerations or Special Areas
(Pre-codification: Accounting Principles Board Opinion No. 23 Accounting for Income
Tax-Special Areas) and accordingly, no provision for tax has been provided for the outside
basis of the PRC entities. |
|
|
Deferred tax liabilities arising from the aggregate undistributed earnings of the PRC
entities that are available for distribution to PRC tax resident parent companies (i.e. WOFEs) amounted to US$5,687 and US$10,219 at December 31, 2009 and 2010,
respectively. |
F-37
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
Stock related award incentive plan of 1999 |
|
|
|
On September 1, 1999, the Companys shareholders approved the Stock Related Award Incentive
Plan (the 1999 Plan). Under the 1999 Plan, the Company may issue up to 12% of the fully
diluted ordinary shares of the company to its directors and employees. The purpose of the
1999 Plan is to provide additional incentive and motivation to its directors and employees,
through an equity interest in the Company, to work towards increasing the value of the
Company. The 1999 Plan provides for accelerated vesting, subject to certain conditions, if
there is a change in control. The 1999 Plan has no stated expiry date. |
|
|
|
The exercise price, vesting and other conditions of individual awards are determined by the
Chairman of the Company. Typically the awards are subject to a 3 to 4 year service vesting
condition and expire 10 or 15 years after the grant date. In addition, the grantee must
return all awards and any proceeds from the sale of the awards if he/she violates certain
provisions including a non-compete condition for a period of 2 years after cessation of
employment with the Company. The non-compete condition does not give rise to an in-substance
service condition. |
|
|
|
Starting from December 31, 2006, the Company awarded Special Stock Options to its employees
and directors. Terms for Special Stock Options are the same as other option grants except the
underlying ordinary shares to be received upon exercise of the vested options do not have any
entitlement to vote. Every two Special Stock Options is exercisable into one non-voting
ordinary share. The Companys board of directors has the sole ability to authorize the
creation of any class of ordinary shares pursuant to our Articles of Association; however, no
non-voting class of ordinary shares has been created as at December 31, 2010. Under Cayman
Islands law, the grant of stock options is legally valid even though the underlying
non-voting class of ordinary share has not yet been formed. Since the Company has the ability
to create such a class of shares without approval from any other party at any time, the
Special Stock Options have been accounted for as equity awards and measured at the date on
which the terms of the grant was communicated to the grantee (the grant date). These
Special Stock Options vest 10% after the first year of service, 20% after the second year of
service, 40% after the third year of service and 30% after the fourth year of service. The
contractual life of the Special Stock Option is ten years from the date of grant. |
|
|
|
From 2001 to 2003, the Company granted stock options which contained an exercise price
denominated in HK$. Since this denomination is neither the functional currency of the Company
nor the currency in which the grantee is paid, these stock options are dual indexed to
foreign exchange and the shares of the Company. Accordingly, they are accounted for as
liability awards that are remeasured at fair value with changes recognized in the
consolidated statements of operations. |
F-38
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
16. |
|
SHARE-BASED PAYMENTS (continued) |
|
|
As at December 31, 2009, there were 1,739,500 stock options outstanding with an weighted
average exercise price of HK$2.59 and weighted average remaining contractual term of 7.22
years which are accounted for as liability awards. These liability awards are fully vested.
In April 2010, the Company modified the exercise prices of these vested stock options from a
range of HK$1 to HK$5 to a range of US$0.13 to US$0.64. The modification changed the
liability awards into equity awards because the stock options were no longer dual indexed to
the Companys ordinary shares and foreign exchange. Additionally, as the modification did not
result in any incremental fair value in the new equity awards granted, no additional
compensation expense was recognized. There have been no grants of liability awards during any
of the years presented. |
|
|
Share-based compensation expense for the liability awards were approximately US$745, US$1,242
and nil for the years ended December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010. |
|
|
2010 Stock related award incentive plan |
|
|
On August 4, 2010, the Companys Board of Directors and shareholders approved the Stock
Related Award Incentive Plan (the 2010 Plan). Under the 2010 Plan, the Company may issue up
to 10% of the total number of ordinary shares, including ordinary shares issuable upon
conversion of any preferred shares to its directors and employees. The purpose of the 2010
Plan was to recognize and acknowledge the contributions made to the Company by eligible
employees and to promote the success of the Companys business. The 2010 Plan allows the
board of directors, or its designated committee, to establish the performance criteria when
granting stock options on the basis of any one of, or combination of, increase in share
price, earnings per share, total shareholder return, return on equity, return on assets,
return on investment, net operating income, cash flow, revenue, economic value added,
personal management objectives, or other measures of performance selected by our board of
directors, or its designated committee. Partial achievement of the specified criteria may
result in a vesting corresponding to the degree of achievement as specified in the detail
rules. |
|
|
The exercise price main vesting and other conditions of individual awards are determined by
the Chairman of the Company. Typically the awards are subject to a 4 year service vesting
condition and certain performance conditions and expire 10 years after the grant date. In
addition, the grantee must return all awards and any proceeds from the sale of the awards if
he/she violates certain provisions. |
F-39
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
16. |
|
SHARE-BASED PAYMENTS (continued) |
|
|
A summary of the equity award activity under the 1999 Plan and 2010 Plan for the years
presented is stated below: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted- |
|
|
Weighted- |
|
|
Average |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Average per |
|
|
Average |
|
|
Remaining |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Share |
|
|
Grant-date |
|
|
Contractual |
|
|
Aggregated |
|
|
|
Number of |
|
|
Exercise |
|
|
Fair Value |
|
|
Term |
|
|
Intrinsic |
|
Options Granted to Employees |
|
Shares (*) |
|
|
Price |
|
|
per Share |
|
|
(Years) |
|
|
Value |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Outstanding, December 31, 2009 |
|
|
7,843,600 |
|
|
|
US$4.53 |
|
|
|
US$1.73 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Granted |
|
|
4,037,500 |
|
|
|
US$10.30 |
|
|
|
US$5.61 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Forfeited |
|
|
(92,512 |
) |
|
|
US$8.09 |
|
|
|
US$3.50 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Expired |
|
|
(38,038 |
) |
|
|
US$4.21 |
|
|
|
US$1.47 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Excised |
|
|
(1,166,250 |
) |
|
|
US$0.44 |
|
|
|
US$0.08 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reclassified from liability awards |
|
|
1,739,500 |
|
|
|
US$0.33 |
|
|
|
US$0.02 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Outstanding, December 31, 2010 |
|
|
12,323,800 |
|
|
|
US$6.19 |
|
|
|
US$2.86 |
|
|
|
8.47 |
|
|
|
US$144,080 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vested and expected to vest at
December 31, 2010 |
|
|
12,323,800 |
|
|
|
US$6.19 |
|
|
|
US$2.86 |
|
|
|
8.47 |
|
|
|
US$144,080 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exercisable at December 31, 2010 |
|
|
6,446,020 |
|
|
|
US$3.27 |
|
|
|
US$1.27 |
|
|
|
7.74 |
|
|
|
US$94,166 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
Including both voting and nonvoting shares. |
|
|
The aggregate intrinsic value in the table above represents the difference between the fair
value of the Companys ordinary share as at December 31, 2010 and the exercise price. |
|
|
As of December 31, 2010, there was US$23,942 of unrecognized share-based compensation cost
related to equity awards; that is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average vesting
period of 3.46 years. To the extent the actual forfeiture rate is different from original
estimate, actual share-based compensation costs related to these awards may be different from
the expectation. |
|
|
The fair value for the 1999 Plan was estimated using the Binominal Option Pricing Model by
the Company with assistance from Jones Lang LaSalle Sallmanns, an external valuation firm.
The volatility assumption was estimated based on the price volatility of the shares of
comparable companies in the internet media business because the Company was not a public
company at the grant date and therefore did not have data to calculate expected volatility of
the price of the underlying ordinary shares over the expected term of the option. The
expected term was estimated based on the resulting output of the binomial option pricing
model. The risk-free rate was based on the market yield of US Treasury Bonds & Notes with
maturity terms equal to the expected term of the option awards. Forfeitures were estimated
based on historical experience. The suboptimal exercise factor of 1.5 is based on external consultants research on the early exercise behavior of employees with
stock options. |
|
|
|
The fair value for the 2010 plan was estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option
pricing model by the management. The volatility assumption was estimated based on the implied
volatilities of comparable public companies due to the limited historical volatility of the
Companys share. The expected term was estimated based on the average between the vesting term and
contractual term. The risk-free rate for periods within the contractual life of the option is based
on the U.S. Treasury yield |
F-40
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
16. |
|
SHARE-BASED PAYMENTS (continued) |
|
|
curve in effect at the time of grant. Forfeitures were estimated based on historical
experience. |
|
|
The following table presents the assumptions used to estimate the fair values of the share
options granted in the periods presented: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Risk-free interest rate |
|
|
1.69 |
% |
|
|
3.39 |
% |
|
|
1.96 |
% |
Dividend yield |
|
|
1 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Expected volatility range |
|
|
77.67 |
% |
|
|
36.03 |
% |
|
|
50.86 |
% |
Weighted average expected life |
|
3.59 years |
|
6.32 years |
|
6.35years |
|
|
The total fair value of equity awards vested during the year ended December 31, 2008, 2009
and 2010 were US$1,469, US$2,434 and US$2,442, respectively. |
|
|
Total share-based compensation expense of share-based awards granted to employees and
directors is as follows: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of revenues |
|
|
268 |
|
|
|
489 |
|
|
|
749 |
|
Selling expenses |
|
|
323 |
|
|
|
595 |
|
|
|
1,035 |
|
General and administrative expenses |
|
|
2,126 |
|
|
|
3,056 |
|
|
|
3,291 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2,717 |
|
|
|
4,140 |
|
|
|
5,075 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
17. |
|
RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS |
|
|
|
Name of Related Parties |
|
Relationship with the Group |
|
|
|
Tianquan Vincent Mo
|
|
Executive chairman of the board of directors |
Jiangong Dai
|
|
Chief executive officer of the Company |
CNED Hengshui Zhong Cheng
Wanyuan Home CO., Ltd.
(Hengshui)
|
|
A company under the control of Mr. Tianquan
Vincent Mo |
Beijing Dong Fang Xi Mei
Investment Consulting
Co., Ltd. (Dong Fang Xi
Mei)
|
|
A company under the control of Mr.
Tianquan Vincent Mo |
F-41
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
17. |
|
RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS (continued) |
|
b) |
|
The Group had the following related party transactions for the years ended
December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Short-term interest-free loans to: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tianquan Vincent Mo |
|
|
279 |
|
|
|
326 |
|
|
|
12 |
|
Jiangong Dai |
|
|
272 |
|
|
|
264 |
|
|
|
|
|
Repayment of interest-free loans by: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tianquan Vincent Mo |
|
|
292 |
|
|
|
198 |
|
|
|
633 |
|
Jiangong Dai |
|
|
317 |
|
|
|
235 |
|
|
|
324 |
|
Short-term Loan to: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hengshui * |
|
|
|
|
|
|
7,323 |
|
|
|
|
|
Repayment of short-term loan by: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hengshui * |
|
|
|
|
|
|
637 |
|
|
|
6,693 |
|
Interest on loan to: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hengshui * |
|
|
|
|
|
|
85 |
|
|
|
305 |
|
Commitment deposit paid to: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hengshui * |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7,342 |
|
Dong Fang Xi Mei ** |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2,197 |
|
Repayment of Commitment deposit by |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hengshui* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7,505 |
|
Dong Fang Xi Mei ** |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2,224 |
|
Marketing services provided to: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dong Fang Xi Mei ** |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
375 |
|
Advance received from: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hengshui * |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
88 |
|
|
|
|
* |
|
The amount as of December 31, 2009 represented a loan to Hengshui.
The loan bore a stated interest rate of 10% per annum with a fixed repayment term
of 6 months. The amount has been fully repaid on May 5, 2010. |
|
|
|
On May 4, 2010, the Company paid a commitment deposit of RMB50,000 (US$7,342) to
Hengshui in exchange for being appointed as its exclusive online marketing or
listing service provider. The deposit was interest-free. Hengshui has pledged as
collateral an unperfected security interest over some of its properties. The
deposit of RMB50,000 (US$7,505) has been fully repaid on November 11, 2010. |
|
** |
|
The amount represents a commitment deposit of RMB15,000 (US$2,197) paid by the Company to Dong Fang Xi Mei in exchange for being appointed the exclusive online marketing or
listing service provider for a property development in Hainan, China. The deposit is interest-free
and is not secured by any collateral or security interest. The deposit was to be repaid within six
months after the date of receipt of the deposit by Dong Fang Xi Mei. However, pursuant to a
termination agreement dated July 5, 2010, Dong Fang Xi Mei returned to the Company the commitment
deposit in full RMB15,000 (US$2,224) on July 16, 2010 and the online marketing services contract
was terminated. |
F-42
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
17. |
|
RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS (continued) |
|
c) |
|
The Group had the following related party balances at the end of the periods: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As at December 31, |
|
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amount due from related parties: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tianquan Vincent Mo * |
|
|
621 |
|
|
|
|
|
Jiangong Dai * |
|
|
322 |
|
|
|
|
|
Hengshui |
|
|
6,686 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7,629 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
The balances as of December 31, 2009 were unsecured, interest-free
and repayable on demand. |
|
|
|
18. |
|
EMPLOYEE DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PLAN |
|
|
Full time employees of the Group in the PRC participate in a government mandated defined
contribution plan, pursuant to which certain pension benefits, medical care, employee housing
fund and other welfare benefits are provided to employees. Chinese labor regulations require
that the PRC subsidiaries of the Group make contributions to the government for these
benefits based on certain percentages of the employees salaries. The Group has no legal
obligation for the benefits beyond the contributions made. The total amounts for such
employee benefits, which were expensed as incurred, were approximately US$4,327, US$5,027 and
US$10,083, for the years ended December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. |
|
|
|
19. |
|
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES |
|
|
Operating lease commitments |
|
|
Future minimum payments under non-cancelable operating leases with initial terms in excess of
one year consist of the following at December 31, 2010: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
2011
|
|
|
5,780 |
|
2012
|
|
|
4,333 |
|
2013
|
|
|
770 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10,883 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Payments under operating leases are expensed on a straight-line basis over the periods of
their respective leases. The companys lease arrangements have no renewal options, rent
escalation clauses, restrictions or contingent rents and are all conducted with third
parties. For the years ended December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010, total rental expenses for all
operating leases amounted to approximately US$4,024, US$4,565 and US$7,327, respectively. |
F-43
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
19. |
|
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES (continued) |
|
|
On December 23, 2010, the Group entered into a contract with Sahn Eagle LLC to purchase AIGs
training center in the United States of America for a consideration of US$46,000. As of
December 31, 2010, a deposit of US$4,600 (representing 10% of the total consideration) was
paid and the remaining balance of approximately US$41,400 is scheduled to be paid within the
first six months of 2011. |
|
|
As of December 31, 2010, the Group has recognized approximately US$5,853 accrual for
unrecognized tax benefits (note 15). The final outcome of the tax uncertainty is dependent
upon various matters including tax examinations, interpretation of tax laws or expiration of
statutes of limitation. However, due to the uncertainties associated with the status of
examinations, including the protocols of finalizing audits by the relevant tax authorities,
there is a high degree of uncertainty regarding the future cash outflows associated with
these tax uncertainties. |
|
|
In accordance with ASC 280-10 Segment Reporting: Overall, the Groups chief operating
decision maker has been identified as the chief executive officer, who makes resource
allocation decisions and assesses performance based on the Groups consolidated results; the
Group has only one reportable segment. |
|
|
As the Group generates substantially all of its revenues from customers domiciled in the PRC,
no geographical segments are presented. All of the Groups long-lived assets are located in
the PRC. |
F-44
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
Basic and diluted earnings per share for each of the years presented are calculated as
follows: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
(amounts in thousands except for the per share data) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Numerator: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net income attributable to
ordinary shareholders used in
calculating income per ordinary
sharebasic and diluted |
|
|
23,381 |
|
|
|
52,652 |
|
|
|
63,108 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Denominator: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted average number of
ordinary shares outstanding
used in calculating basic
earnings per share |
|
|
74,020,217 |
|
|
|
73,986,129 |
|
|
|
74,683,593 |
|
Employee stock options |
|
|
3,071,980 |
|
|
|
3,432,831 |
|
|
|
5,537,040 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted average number of
ordinary shares outstanding
used in calculating diluted
earnings per share |
|
|
77,092,197 |
|
|
|
77,418,960 |
|
|
|
80,220,633 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Basic earnings per share |
|
|
0.32 |
|
|
|
0.71 |
|
|
|
0.85 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Diluted earnings per share |
|
|
0.30 |
|
|
|
0.68 |
|
|
|
0.79 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Options to purchase 4,538,946 (exercise price of US$5 per share), 3,012,762 (exercise price
of US$5 to US$10 per share) and 4,021,800 (exercise price of US$10 to US$10.63 per share),
ordinary shares were outstanding during the year ended 2008, 2009 and 2010 but were not
included in the computation of diluted earnings per share as the effect would be
antidilutive. |
|
|
On February 4, 2011, the Company announced a 4-for-1 ADS stock split, representing a stock
ratio change for Class A ordinary shares from one (1) American depositary share (ADS) for
four (4) Class A ordinary shares to one (1) ADS for one (1) Class A ordinary share. The
effect of the stock split on the ADS trading price on New York Stock Exchange took place on
February 18, 2011. |
|
|
On March 2, 2011, China Index, an investment holding subsidiary, obtained bank borrowing of
amount US$45,000 from a financial institution in PRC and secured by restricted cash with a
carrying value of RMB310,000. Interest shall be charged at the rate per annum equal to the
sum of LIBOR plus a margin of1.9% par value and maturity date shall be the earlier of either
the date falling thirty six months after the initial drawdown date or the date falling
fifteen business days before the expiry date of corresponding standby letters of credit which
stated specific secured conditions. |
|
|
Subsequent to December 31, 2010, an unrealized loss of US$1,564 was recorded in other comprehensive income for
the period from January 1, 2011 to June 10, 2011 as a result of the
decline in the share price of the Groups short-term
investments classified as available-for-sale securities. |
F-45
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
23 |
|
PARENT COMPANY ONLY CONDENSED FINANCIAL INFORMATION (See Note 14) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As at December 31, |
|
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ASSETS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current assets: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash |
|
|
112 |
|
|
|
632 |
|
Available-for- sale security |
|
|
|
|
|
|
4,279 |
|
Amount due from related party |
|
|
245 |
|
|
|
225 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total current assets |
|
|
357 |
|
|
|
5,136 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Non-current assets: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Investment in subsidiaries and PRC |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Domestic Entities |
|
|
108,703 |
|
|
|
199,565 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total assets |
|
|
109,060 |
|
|
|
204,701 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS EQUITY |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current liabilities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Short-term loan |
|
|
|
|
|
|
3,600 |
|
Accrued expenses and other liabilities |
|
|
3 |
|
|
|
3 |
|
Dividend payable |
|
|
43,906 |
|
|
|
39,635 |
|
Amount due to subsidiaries |
|
|
40,713 |
|
|
|
38,899 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total liabilities |
|
|
84,622 |
|
|
|
82,137 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Commitments and contingencies |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shareholders equity: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ordinary shares (par value of HK$1 per share at
December 31, 2009 and 2010, respectively;
Authorized600,000,000 shares at December 31,
2009 and 2010 respectively; Issued and
outstanding73,932,217 and 76,065,755 shares at
December 31, 2009 and 2010, respectively) |
|
|
9,489 |
|
|
|
9,743 |
|
Additional paid-in capital |
|
|
9,279 |
|
|
|
39,402 |
|
Accumulated other comprehensive income |
|
|
5,670 |
|
|
|
10,311 |
|
Retained earnings |
|
|
|
|
|
|
63,108 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total shareholders equity |
|
|
24,438 |
|
|
|
122,564 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total liabilities, and shareholders equity |
|
|
109,060 |
|
|
|
204,701 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
F-46
SOUFUN HOLDINGS LIMITED
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
(Amounts in thousands of United States Dollar (US$), except for number of shares and per share data)
|
|
|
23 |
|
PARENT COMPANY ONLY CONDENSED FINANCIAL INFORMATION (See
Note 14) (continued) |
|
|
Condensed statements of operations |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Year |
|
|
For the Year |
|
|
For the Year |
|
|
|
Ended |
|
|
Ended |
|
|
Ended |
|
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
General and
administrative expenses |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1,127 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating loss |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1,127 |
) |
Equity in profits of
subsidiaries and PRC
Domestic Entities |
|
|
26,205 |
|
|
|
52,693 |
|
|
|
64,715 |
|
Foreign exchange loss |
|
|
(2,824 |
) |
|
|
(41 |
) |
|
|
(480 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net income |
|
|
23,381 |
|
|
|
52,652 |
|
|
|
63,108 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Condensed statements of cash flows |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
2009 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
US$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net cash used in operating activities |
|
|
(3 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1,104 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities |
|
|
16 |
|
|
|
29 |
|
|
|
(12,760 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net cash generated from financing activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
14,384 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net increase in cash |
|
|
13 |
|
|
|
29 |
|
|
|
520 |
|
Cash at beginning of the year |
|
|
70 |
|
|
|
83 |
|
|
|
112 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash at end of the year |
|
|
83 |
|
|
|
112 |
|
|
|
632 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Supplemental schedule of cash flow in information: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dividend paid by subsidiaries of the Company: |
|
|
16,210 |
|
|
|
24,241 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the presentation of the parent company, only condensed financial information is required.
The Company records its investment in subsidiaries and PRC Domestic Entities, which it
effectively controls through contractual agreements, under the equity method of accounting as
prescribed in ASC 323-10, Investments-Equity Method and Joint Ventures: Overall. Such
investments are presented on the condensed balance sheets as Investment in Subsidiaries and
PRC Domestic Entities and the subsidiaries and PRC Domestic Entities profit or loss as
Equity in profit or loss of subsidiaries and PRC Domestic Entities on the condensed
statements of operations. The parent companys condensed financial statements should be read
in conjunction with the Companys consolidated financial statements. |
F-47