据路透社报道，日本社交网站GREE周五称，其已经超越Mixi，成为日本最大的社交网站。GREE称，在过去的两年中，由于其移动游戏受到了更多用户的青睐，其用户数量也翻了近三倍。GREE此前还宣布，公司将实施一项“股票拆细”计划，即把现有的每股股票拆分成5股新股票，提供给股东。

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GREE网站还向用户提供手机版免费游戏，该公司表示，截至今年7月底，其用户数量同比增长56%，达到了2113万，超过Mixi的2100万。取得如此快速的发展，主要还是因为 GREE此前能够比Mixi及其它竞争对手更早地关注移动设备。目前，越来越多的日本用户喜欢使用手机来登录社交网站。

另外，3G手机在日本的广泛渗透也推动了日本社交网络服务提供商能够保持对其它国外社交网站的领先优势，例如Facebook只是针对个人电脑用户，但在移动社交网站方面就逊色一些。日本目前的3G手机用户数量已经超过1亿。

今年6月，GREE手机用户浏览网页的数量达到了350亿页，而期间个人电脑浏览网页的数量只有4000亿页。GREE网站大约五分之四的营收主要是通过销售虚拟服装和附件而获得，网络用户会在GREE社交网站上购买这些物品，以装备他们在网络中的化身。比较而言，Mixi的多数营收来自广告业务。

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GREE周五还表示，今年第二季度运营利润与去年同期基本持平，约为53亿日元（相当于6200万美元），而销售营收却同比增长18%，达到93亿日元。

GREE 是由田中良和（Yoshikazu Tanaka）于2004年创建。去年，《福布斯》杂志曾将田中良和评为亚洲最年轻的自主创业型亿万富翁，田中良和今年只有33岁。Mixi的创始人笠原健治(Kenji Kasahara)也是日本最富有的年轻人之一，今年其只有32岁。

周五，在GREE宣布上述结果之前，其股价上涨2.8%，达到6340日元，这一涨幅也超过了日经225指数0.4%的涨幅。

TOKYO, Aug 13 (Reuters) – Gree Inc (3632.T) said on Friday that it has overtaken Mixi Inc (2121.T) to become Japan’s biggest social networking site, having seen a near tripling in subscribers in just the past two years as users flocked to its mobile games.

The company, whose founder Yoshikazu Tanaka was named Asia’s youngest self-made billionaire last year by Forbes magazine, also announced a stock split, saying it will offer shareholders five new shares for each existing share.

Gree, which offers subcribers free games on their mobile phones, said it had 21.13 million users — or about one in six Japanese — by the end of July, up 56 percent from a year earlier and topping Mixi’s 21 million subscribers.

The rapid growth came as Gree focused earlier on mobile services than Mixi and other rivals, as many Japanese favour cellphones for social networking.

Deep penetration of third-generation mobile phones in Japan has also helped to keep Japanese SNS providers ahead of foreign sites such as Facebook that target PC users.

More than 100 million phones in Japan are 3G, about 30 million more than in the United States.

In June, Gree recorded 35 billion page views from cellphones compared with only 400 million from PCs. At Mixi the ratio was 25 billion to 5 billion.

Gree makes about four-fifths of its revenue by selling virtual clothing and accessories that online users buy for their avatars. In contrast, most of Mixi’s sales come from advertising.

On Friday, Gree also said that its operating profit in the April-June quarter was flat from a year earlier at 5.3 billion yen ($62 million), while sales rose 18 percent to 9.3 billion yen.

Tanaka, 33, founded Gree in 2004. The company’s name is derived from the concept of six degrees of separation proposed by psychologist Stanley Milgram that argues no one is more than six connections away from anyone else.

Mixi founder Kenji Kasahara is also one of Japan’s wealthiest people.

Shares of Gree ended up 2.8 percent at 6,340 yen before the announcement, outperforming the benchmark Nikkei’s .N225 0.4 percent rise. Mixi shares gained 1.4 percent to 430,000 yen. （source：reuters/tencent）