Twitter defies China ban to open Hong Kong office
Micro blogging service Twitter has announced it is to open an office in Hong Kong by the first quarter of 2015 – despite being banned by the Chinese authorities.
The social media service has been absent from the rising power since 2009 over government fears that it was being utilised as a tool for organising dissent. As such the new base will house sales staff focussed on growth in Greater China and throughout Asia.
This comes as Twitter seeks to cash in on the ever elusive income from its huge user base, a goal which looked as far away as ever as its fourth quarter revenue look likely to fall short of expectations at just £283m.
Speaking to the BBC Twitter said: “Our upcoming Hong Kong office in the first quarter will enable us to pursue strategic opportunities in Greater China, such as China export advertising market, Hong Kong and Taiwan advertising markets, media partnerships, and our new Twitter Fabric integrated with MoPub for mobile developers.”
Twitter currently has offices in Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney and Singapore with plans to open a fifth, in Jakarta, soon.