Note 7 - Other receivables, net

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Loans, Notes, Trade and Other Receivables Disclosure [Text Block]

7.   Other receivables, net

	As of December 31,
	2011			2010
	US$(’000)			US$(’000)
Short-term loan for marketing campaign		2,985			3,781
Short-term loans to third parties		-			3,781
Staff advances for normal business purpose		279			249
Overdue contract execution deposits		891			-
Allowance for doubtful debts		(524	)		-
Other receivables, net		3,631			7,811

Short-term loan for marketing campaign: for one of the major marketing campaigns, the Company made a marketing-related loan of RMB25,000,000 (approximately US$3,781,000) to a TV series of 36 episodes, called “Xiao Zhang Feng Yun”. This TV series was produced for the commemoration of “The Republican Revolution of 1911” (the Chinese bourgeois democratic revolution led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen which overthrew the Qing Dynasty). By participating in this TV series, the Company will be shown during the credit at the closing of each episode with its logo presented and also shown as a separate card during the closing before the credit screen. This TV series has been broadcasted on CCTV 8 and www.sina.com.cn from September 2011 and is continually selling its broadcasting rights to other provincial TV channels for additional exposure.  In November and December, 2011, the Company collected its first two repayments of RMB6,000,000 (approximately US$942,700) in the aggregate from the borrower. In accordance with the communication between the Company and the debtor, the Company has extended the term of this loan from December 31, 2011 to December 31, 2012, as this TV series had only completed its first round selling broadcasting rights. The Company will continue to assess the collectability of this loan and if an event occurs or circumstances change that could indicate that the collectability of this loan is remote, a full allowance of bad debts provision will be provided for the remaining outstanding balance of this loan.

The Company lends third parties on a subjective condition of search and/or obtaining other potential value added communication channel resources with lower cost from time to time. Any of the third parties is required to pay back the capital within three months or on demand if they have not contributed any searches. The acquired resources are mainly used to self-advertising and marketing or advertising for clients in internet bundle packages in second and third tier cities or regions. The outstanding third party loans as of December 31, 2010 were paid in full in March 2011. As of December 31, 2011, there was no third party loan outstanding under these arrangements.

For all advertising resources purchase contracts signed by the Company with its resources providers, the Company is required to deposit contract execution guarantees, the contract execution guarantees will be used to offset the contact amount need to be paid for the resources provided in the last month of each contract period or refunded to the company upon expiration of the purchase contract.  Overdue contract execution deposits as of December 31, 2011 represented the portion of the contract execution deposits, which related advertising resources purchase contracts had been completed as of December 31, 2011. Based on the assessment of the collectability of these overdue contract execution deposits as of December 31, 2011, the Company provided approximately US$524,000 allowance for doubtful debts for the year ended December 31, 2011, which was related to the contract execution deposits of its TV advertising business segment.