\\\'Chinese Twitter\\\' firm to go public in US

Sina Weibo, widely known as China's version of Twitter, is to go public in the United States Thursday at a price below expectations after a recent sell-off in technology stocks. The microblogging subsidiary of Chinese Internet behemoth Sina was to make its debut on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol "WB" in an initial public offering (IPO) expected to raise at least $340 million. Sina Weibo -- launched in August 2009 to provide services similar to Twitter, which is banned in China -- is a leading social media site in a country with 618 million Internet users -- the world's largest online community. But the estimated value of the IPO, filed by Weibo with the US Securities and Exchange Commission this month, was down on the sum of up to $500 million indicated in March -- reflecting a gloomy market outlook after the Nasdaq index suffered more than three weeks of declines, according to AFP.