(Yicai Global) March 23 -- Twenty-one years after it became the first Nasdaq-listed Chinese internet firm, Sina Corporation officially announced yesterday that it had completed its delisting and privatization and will be renamed Sina Group Holdings.

Sina Group will remain the controlling shareholder of social media subsidiary Weibo after its privatization, Chairman Cao Guowei said in an internal letter yesterday. The former Sina portal business, mainly Sina Mobile, will be integrated with Weibo, while some of its businesses including Sina Finance and Sina Sports will develop independently. Sina Group will also increase its investment in mergers and acquisitions in the future to diversify the group’s business.

The privatization aims to improve Sina’s capital structure and “provide more flexibility for the group’s future diversified development,” Cao said.

The privatization is a result of the company’s overall performance, Pan Helin, executive director of the Institute of Digital Economy at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, told Yicai Global. Weibo is the only strong part of the company, Pan said, as Sina’s livestreaming and short video services have lagged behind, putting the firm at a disadvantage in the US capital market.

Chinese stocks have also been hit by a confidence crisis in the US, which is another reason why Sina decided to delist, Pan said, adding that the company will have more freedom to diversify after going private.

Sina announced in September last year that it had agreed to be taken private by New Wave Holdings at a price of USD43.3 per share, with the move expected to be completed in the first quarter of this year. New Wave Holdings is a company registered in the British Virgin Islands and controlled by Cao.

Sina is known as a leading online media company serving the Chinese community in China and around the world, but it is best-known for its Twitter-like social media unit Weibo.

Editor: Tom Litting