China's Internet giant Alibaba Group Holding plans to acquire Sina Corp, the leading domestic Internet media company, media reports said.
据媒体报道称，中国互联网巨头阿里巴巴集团控股拟收购国内领先的网络媒体公司新浪。
The companies are negotiating the terms of the acquisition, Shanghai-based news portal thepaper.cn reported, citing a person close to Alibaba's investment department.
上海新闻门户网站thepaper.cn援引一位阿里巴巴投资部门有关人员的话称，该公司正在谈判收购的条款。
Neither company would comment when contacted by the Global Times on Thursday.
《环球时报》在周四联系了两家公司，但两家公司都拒绝发表评论。
Separately, a rumor circulated widely this week saying that Sina had suspended recruitment of experienced staff to allow it to integrate and optimize its businesses, news portal huanqiu.com reported. That rumor was denied on Wednesday by Sina CEO Cao Guowei.
另外，新闻门户网站环球网报道，本周有一个广泛流传的谣言称，新浪已经暂停招聘有经验的员工来整合和优化其业务。这一传言在星期三被新浪首席执行官曹国伟否认。

However, the two companies have a history of cooperation. Alibaba set up the Alibaba Sports Group together with Sina in September, with the goal of reshaping China's sports industry through the Internet, the Xinhua News Agency reported in September. The joint company is majority owned by Alibaba.
然而，两家公司有合作的历史。据新华社报道，九月，阿里巴巴与新浪共同成立了阿里巴巴体育集团，目的是通过互联网重塑中国体育产业的发展。阿里巴巴持有该合资公司多数股权。
Also, Alibaba invested $586 million for a stake of 18 percent in Sina's Weibo microblogging service in April 2013.
此外，阿里巴巴于2013年4月投资了五亿八千四百万美元，买入新浪微博18%的股份。
Sina Weibo has added e-commerce features to its platform recently, with direct links to Taobao and Tmall, two of Alibaba's main online shopping platforms.
新浪微博最近加入了电子商务平台功能，与阿里巴巴的两个主要在线购物平台，淘宝和天猫都有直接链接。
"Alibaba's online shopping platforms will acquire more users if a merger is achieved, considering that Sina has a solid user base," Yu Ming, the chairman of ZC, a Beijing-based Internet communication group, told the Global Times on Thursday. "This may be the biggest driving force for Alibaba behind this merger."
“如果实现合并，阿里巴巴的在线购物平台将获得更多的用户，因为新浪有坚实的用户基础”，北京互联网通信集团ZC董事长玉明，星期四告诉《环球时报》，“这可能是这一并购背后的最大驱动力。”
As for Sina, Yu noted that the company could attract more advertisers and increase its sales if shoppers could directly go to Taobao or Tmall by simply clicking on advertisements on Sina's pages.
至于新浪，玉明指出，该公司可以吸引更多的广告客户并增加其销售，条件是顾客能够直接通过点击新浪的广告页面而转到淘宝或天猫。
Chen Wei, a senior consultant at the Beijing-based investment consultancy ChinaVenture Investment Consulting Group, agreed with Yu.
北京一家投资顾问公司中投咨询集团的高级顾问陈炜，同意玉明的看法。
"The two companies can monetize their user flows in this way," said Chen.
“这样的话两家公司可以合并他们的用户流，”陈炜说。