(Yicai Global) Sept. 29 -- Shares of Sina and its popular Twitter-like platform Weibo climbed in New York trading after the Chinese social media company agreed to a sweetened privatization offer of USD2.6 billion.

Sina's stock price [NASDAQ: SINA] jumped 5.9 percent to USD42.55 yesterday, while Weibo [NASDAQ: WB] soared 7.4 percent to USD34.96. At the closing bell, Weibo's market cap was USD7.9 billion, nearly triple that of Sina's USD2.78 billion.

New Wave MMXV, a holding company controlled by Sina Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Cao, raised its offer to USD43.30 a share in cash, the Beijing-based target firm said in a statement. That is 5.6 percent more than the USD41 New Wave offered on July 6.

Founded in 1998, Sina was among the first Chinese internet companies to go public, pricing its equity at USD17 in early 2000. The shares hit a record high of USD147.10 in 2011, but have failed to top USD100 in the past two years. Since July, the stock has hovered around USD40.

A growing number of Chinese companies traded on US stock markets are choosing to go private or seek secondary listings on Chinese bourses, or so-called homecomings. Recent returnees include fast-food restaurant chain operator Yum China Holdings and e-commerce giants Alibaba Group Holding and JD.Com.

Sina's performance has been adversely affected by a drop in advertising revenue at Weibo, which constituted more than four-fifths of its parent company's revenue last year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sina's net profit slumped 78 percent to USD25.4 million in the second quarter of this year from a year earlier, according to its earnings report published yesterday. Revenue fell 5 percent to USD508 million after dropping 8 percent in the first three months of the year.

Cao owns nearly 15 percent of Sina's shares before the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of next year.

Editor: Emmi Laine