Interfax China reports that Facebook is in negotiations to buy Chinese social network Tianwang.com. This comes after Facebook denied a Times of London report that it was in negotiations to buy Zhanzuo.com for $85 million, saying that the company was not in talks. In the latest article, Zhanzuo agrees — sort of. A spokesperson tells Interfax "we will not sell out and we have stopped talking with Facebook." Facebook denies acquisition talks were ever started. Maybe Facebook and its Chinese counterparts they were just sharing privacy best practices? In any event, we think all of these deal rumors off the mark. What we hear Facebook is really looking for in Asia is a strategic investor to complete its $500 million financing round — you know, the one for which Microsoft already chipped in $240 million. (Photo by ford)

A Facebook spokesperson tells us the Times of London is full of it. Earlier today, the British newspaper reported that Facebook had purchased Chinese social network Zhanzuo.com for $85 million, but according to Facebook spokeswoman Brandee Barker, "No offer has been made and no acquisition of any company in China is being considered by Facebook." Funny thing is, the Times even goes so far to quote a spokeswoman in its story — but doesn't specify where she works. "We do not know who the spokeperson is that they are referring to in the Times story and were never contacted by the paper to confirm the accuracy of this story," says Barker. So how did this rumor start, and who's this mysterious spokesperson? No answer yet, but we'll let you know what we hear.

Facebook has purchased Chinese social network Zhanzuo.com for $85 million, according to reports. Facebook has yet to confirm the news, though an unnamed PR flack told the Times of London that Zhanzuo's chief executive Jack Zhang and Mark Zuckerberg know each other and that official news should be expected by the end of the month. Zhanzuo.com has 7 million active members and is reportedly popular among students. Meanwhile, now we have at least one theory why Facebook feels comfortable allowing employers to spy on their employees' private profiles. Facebook could just be preparing to operate in the People's Republic of China, where your privacy really is an illusion. Update: Facebook denies the report.

Apple and China Mobile are in talks to bring the iPhone to China in 2008. Apple sold the first iPhones outside the U.S. last week, launching in Britain and Germany. Apple has said it wants to start selling iPhones in Asia in 2008. We suspect both companies want to launch before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing — and make some calls from Mount Everest too. [AP]

Less than a week after Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang was bitchslapped on Capitol Hill, his company has settled with the families of Chinese writers who were jailed in China. Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning were imprisoned based partly on documents Yahoo says it was "legally required" to hand over. Settlement terms were not disclosed. Yahoo will start a fund to provide "humanitarian relief" to dissidents and their families. Reportedly, one part of the settlement stipulates that Yahoo must lobby the Chinese government to release the two journalists. Right. Like Yahoo's boys in Beijing will have more success swaying Communist hardliners than Yahoo's D.C. reps had in avoiding this embarrassing debacle in the first place.

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang's second day on Capitol Hill was less pleasant than his first — and no birthday candles this time, either. Gao Qinsheng, mother of imprisoned journalist Shi Tao, and Yu Lin, wife of jailed dissident Wang Xiaoning, railed against Yahoo for helping China's government silence their family members. This after Yang and Yahoo general counsel Michael Callahan apologized before Congress on Tuesday. Word is the two execs also met privately with the relatives to apologize and discuss out how much Yahoo will have to pay to settle a civil suit filed by the two women. (Photo by drs2biz)

Alibaba.com, the most anticipated IPO since Google, dropped almost 18 percent to HK$32.60 as quick-trading investors captured profits. Yesterday, on the first day of trading, Alibaba.com shot up 300% from HK$13.50 at open to HK$39.50. Perhaps investors who bought at the peak paused to look into Alibaba.com's real business. The Chinese B2B site matches up industrial buyers and sellers — want to buy 50,000 metric tons of Brazilian soybeans? Parent company Alibaba Group runs Yahoo China, which I suspect at least some retail investors thought they were buying. But no — Yahoo China wasn't part of the IPO deal.

Bad enough that Michael Callahan, Yahoo's top lawyer, and Jerry Yang, the company's CEO and cofounder were raked over the coals today by a House committee for the company's role in the imprisonment of Chinese journalist Shi Tao. But Yang suffered the additional indignity of getting the Congressional tongue-lashing on his 39th birthday. Happy birthday, Jerry! Turning 40's going to look easy by comparison.

Alibaba.com, perhaps the most anticipated IPO since Google, nearly tripled in price to HK$39.50 after opening at HK$13.50. If you weren't able to catch any shares, you may get some vicarious plesure from analyst quotes about the company. Hong Kong investors "trade stocks like they're playing at the baccarat table." "There is a total absence of reason and cause" for the high price of the stock. "It's irrational and foolish." Yahoo, which owns 39 percent of parent company Alibaba Group, bought an additional $100 million in Alibaba.com shares. I'm betting they're happy.

Baidu continues to slap Google around in China. According to iResearch, the homegrown service owns 60.8 percent of the search market there, compared to Google's 23.8 percent. Google had been making steady gains, but its Web designers now seem to be getting desperate. How else to explain the horror that is their redesigned homepage? Here's a screenshot, if you dare.

"In an embarrassing admission, Yahoo general counsel Michael Callahan said he failed to give U.S. lawmakers a complete account of his company's role in a Chinese dissident's imprisonment by Beijing authorities in 2004." — San Francisco Chronicle

Google has purchased the shortest possible domain name to make it easier for Chinese users to find Google: g.cn. Interestingly, "g.com," along with most other single-letter and single-digit domain names are reserved by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. The IANA is the master arbiter of domain names and addresses on the Internet. There are a few one-letter domain names out there, though: Z.com is owned by Nissan, Q.com by Qwest, and X.com is owned by PayPal. There was a proposal floated a few years ago to auction off the one-letter domain names, but nothing has come of it.

Chinese rights to the O.J. Simpson sort-of confession weird-thing "If I Did It" have been sold. It's about time China found out the truth about America! The poor Goldman family was presumably not dismayed that rights went for less than $50K. [Publisher's Marketplace]

Cisco is launching a $16 billion expansion into China. The networking giant will double its manufacturing in China, increase venture capital in the region and support technology education. For that last part, read "get local governments to subsidize training high schoolers on router configuration." It's also forming an agreement with the Alibaba Group to develop business services for small and medium-size companies in Asia. [AP]

Facebook has registered Facebook.cn. Already, 100,000 Facebook members belong to its China regional network and alumni groups for Peking Univeristy and Fudan University. The company hasn't yet announced expansion plans and the move might be more of an effort to protect its trademark in China, where a local already owns facebook.com.cn. [Reuters]

First it was the Colorado Rockies who couldn't handle the thousands of Bostonians wishing to buy tickets to see their team crush the mile-high dreams of Rockies fans. Now, a rush of advance purchasers has knocked the 2008 Beijing Olympics ticket server offline. [WSJ]

According to Google Translate 泡沫 is Chinese for "bubble". Chinese search engine Baidu is up another 3.5 percent today to $378.35 — with a market cap just shy of Facebook's notional value at $12.8 billion. The FT Tech Blog notes that Baidu has a forward P/E ratio of 94 — that is, a comparison of its price to next year's earnings — trouncing Google's P/E of 54. Another Chinese search engine, Sohu, reported strong earnings today and anticipated future growth across the Chinese market because of advertisers' interest in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. A chart of Baidu and Google's stocks year-to-date is above.

First Apple, now Nokia. We guess opening a store in China is the fashionable thing nowadays. Nokia is opening its seventh retail store worldwide in Shanghai. The store will even include some ridiculousness that sounds good in a press release but probably doesn't sell phones: "Consumers will be able to send text messages to change the glass walls in the store to colors of their choice." Ah yes, that really makes me want a craptastic Finnish phone. [WSJ]

Apple is opening a retail storefront in China next summer, just in time for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. We're glad Apple's sweatshop workers will finally be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor and buy themselves some overpriced gadgetry. With a year or so worth of wages. [IfoAppleStore]

Chinese search engine Baidu more than doubled its third-quarter profits over last year, bringing them to 181.7 million yuan or $23 million. Baidu is still dominating the market over there, seeing 60.5 percent of China's searches. Google is a distant second with 23.7 percent. [International Herald Tribune]