In China's tech world, everyone is pretty much in each other's kitchen. In addition to dominating the short messaging market, Tencent is the biggest online gaming company. But online games account for a large part of Renren's revenue stream. And last year, Chen spent $80 million buying a Chinese video and photo sharing site, 56.com, which moved Renren closer to the space dominated by Youku (YOKU) and Tudou (TUDO), two companies that are often dubbed as the "YouTube of China." The company also launched a group-buying site last year called Nuomi. The three principal platforms -- social network, gaming, and group buying -- drive traffic to each other, and the hope is that the added services (like 56.com) will make the social networking site stickier, and thus more attractive to advertisers.
Chen says that Renren's phase of tacking on new assets is -- for now, anyway -- finished. The focus now is to make the platforms the company controls profitable. In its third quarter 2011 earnings report (the company's most recent report), Renren reported a loss of $1.2 million, even though revenue jumped by 57% to $34.2 million.
The social networking site clearly has some traction. The site counted 38 million active monthly users at the end of September last year, up from 24 million in the comparable quarter in 2010. Advertising revenue, as a result, comprised 57% of overall revenue in the third quarter last year, up from 42% in 2010.
Chen's aware that in the current, guilty-until-proven-innocent environment for China stocks, the attitude among nervous U.S. investors for the foreseeable future will be, simply, "show me." Generate good numbers -- and make sure they are credible. The euphoria that prevailed over everything China prior to last year was ridiculous. So, arguably, is the suspicion that now trails virtually every China play.
Last September, Chen announced a $150 million stock buyback program at Renren, professing his faith in "our position as the real name market leader" among social networking sites in China. As competitive as the space is, the growth potential remains undeniable. If Chen and Renren can deliver, it's possible that its stock troubles will prove to have been excessive -- something that Facebook's plans has apparently reminded some investors.