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Nation takes first step into e-commerce — The Nation
January 25, 2000

BANGKOK (The Nation) - Nation Multimedia Group Ple yesterday announced its foray into the e-commerce business with a major investment to launch www.thailand.com through its 51-per-cent-owned subsidiary Thai Portal Co., Ltd.

The company's top executives said that the new portal was tailored to become an Internet gateway for "a whole spectrum of information and services" on Thailand and Southeast Asia.

At a news conference at the Regent Hotel, Sermsin Samalapa, president and chief operating officer of Thai Portal, said that construction of the website would be completed within six months. He said that the company would invest up to Bt300 million in the first two years of operations.

"This will be the largest sum ever invested in a local portal site here," Sermsin said.

He added that the company was working with a major technology company on the detailed construction of the portal, which would support both "business-to-business" and "business-to-consumer" transactions.

Sermsin said the company expected to make about Bt200 million in revenues in the first year of operations.

The portal's sources of revenue would come from three areas: online booking of air tickets; exports of Thai traditional products, such as handicraft through the Internet; and the leasing of "Export Exhibition Space" to exporters.

The content of the portal would range from travel information, export information, and shopping to business and financial news, he said.

Nation Multimedia Group's chairman and chief executive Thanachai Theerapatvong said the group intended to seek the listing of either Thai Portal or Nation Digital Co., Ltd., another subsidiary tasked to do Internet business, on Nasdaq, probably the new Nasdaq in Japan.

Thai Portal has a registered capital of Bt50 million, 51 per cent-owned by Nation Digital, which is wholly owned by Nation Multimedia Group. Nation Digital was recently set up with a registered capital of Bt100 million aid.

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