China.com focuses on acquisitions, ventures.

China.com, one of the first Asian Internet companies to list on the Nasdaq Stock Market, said it will continue making losses as it focuses on buying companies and forming ventures with $150 million in cash. The Hong Kong-based company said that its second-quarter net loss, excluding one-time gains, widened to $2.2 million, from $1.7 million in the year-earlier quarter, because of higher advertising and marketing costs. China.com, which boasts China_s Xinhua News Agency and America Online among its shareholders, said it_s focusing more on expanding its sales than on turning a profit. In recent weeks, Hong Kong companies have been on a buying spree. China.com is also active. It bought stakes in five small companies in Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong in the past quarter and is in talks with U.S. Internet companies to form ventures. The China.com Web sites--China.com, Cww.com, Hongkong.com, and Taiwan.com--have Chinese- and English-language pages, including free email, links to e-commerce vendors, and pages on weather, finance, sports, and entertainment. The company_s sites have more than 350,000 registered users, about half of whom live in Hong Kong.