Amazon.com has agreed to buy China's biggest Web retailer, Joyo.com, for about US$75 million in its first foray into Chinese market.

Reports say the deal is expected to close during the third quarter of this year and will give Amazon its seventh international Web site.

The US Internet retailing giant searched the Chinese market for months to find the right partner to enter a fledgling sector that some analysts expect to be worth 16 billion US dollars a year by 2005.

Amazon follows Internet icons Google, Yahoo and eBay in expanding into the fast-growing Chinese market, which is expected to have some 111 million Web surfers by the end of this year.

Joyo.com has established itself as the leading online destination for books, music and videos in China that can compete with Sohu.com, NetEase.com, Sina, Dangdang.com and Bertelsmann.

(CRI August 20, 2004)