The Internet search giant Google Inc. has bought a stake in a Chinese software provider as part of the company's bid to extend its dominance beyond Internet searches to other online services, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

A Google spokesman said the Internet company has made an unspecified investment in Xunlei Network Technology Co., which provides video and game downloads. The two companies plan to unveil their partnership during a news conference late Friday, said the report.

Google, the world's largest search-engine provider, has sought to broaden its Internet presence globally.

In October, the company agreed to buy online-video-sharing company YouTube Inc., for about US$1.8 billion in stock, a move that could at one stroke make Google a leader in the fast-growing online-video market, said the report.

Yet Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., has had some difficulty extending beyond its dominant English-language search site to sites in other languages around the world, where local competitors are enjoying linguistic and other home-grown advantages.

In China, the world's second-largest Internet market after the US, Google is second behind rival Baidu.com Inc, according to the report by the US business daily.

(Xinhua News Agency January 6, 2007)