Sina, China’s largest internet portal, is prepared for continuing losses as it invests heavily in its Twitter-like micro-blogging platform Sina Weibo despite the government’s tight grip on internet content. Sina Weibo is the top social-networking platform in China, where Twitter is banned. In a growing number of cities, users setting up a Sina Weibo account must register with their real name and a mobile number. The new rules “had an impact” on Sina Weibo’s growth, said Charles Chao, Sina’s CEO. The service added about 30 million users in the first quarter, for a total of 324 million at the end of March. In the previous quarter it added 50 million users. Nonetheless, Sina said it would invest USD160 million in the micro-blog service this year, up 45% from last year, to improve the service. “It is essential for us to build a more dominant scale in order for us to be successful in the long term,” Chao said. The firm warned that owing to the increased spending on Sina Weibo, it might post another loss in the following quarter. The Nasdaq-listed company reported a year-on-year net loss of USD13.7 million in the first quarter, compared to a profit of USD15 million in the same period last year. The loss was smaller than the market expected, as advertising income, which makes up the bulk of Sina’s revenue, rose 9% to USD78.5 million. Meanwhile, net profit at Tencent, China’s largest provider of instant messaging and online games, grew only 2.8% year-on-year in the first quarter to CNY2.95 billion, as sales surged 52.2% to CNY9.65 billion. The firm’s profit margin was trimmed to 46.2% from 53.1% a year earlier because of a lower profit margin at its e-commerce business, which has been a standalone unit since January, the South China Morning Post reports.