China's Sina to launch online payment system in April: Paper

SHANGHAI (REUTERS) - China's Sina Corp will launch its own online payment service WeiboPay in April to help make money from its widely used microblogging platform, the official China Daily reported on Friday, quoting a company executive.

The e-payment service will allow microblogging users or Weibo users to buy items off the platform, by teaming up with merchants who want to sell products through their corporate microblogs, Mr Hong Lizhou, general manager of Weibo's marketing strategy, told the newspaper.

Launched in late 2009, Sina's Weibo has over 500 million users to date. The company, which also runs China's largest online Internet portal, has searched for ways to balance users'needs with making money off the platform.

Sina's Weibo is one of China's top social-networking platforms with celebrities and politicians blogging on it.