PR Newswire and Firstock Join Forces to Offer Greater Access to Chinese-Language News
Strategic alliance provides Firstock members with direct access to Chinese-language news releases from PR Newswire
PRNewswire
NEW YORK

PR Newswire and Firstock Global Investment Services Inc. (Firstock), a specialized Chinese financial Web site, today announced a strategic alliance in which PR Newswire will deliver Chinese-language news releases directly to Firstock, and its up to 10,000 unique visitors, the vast majority of whom are stock traders and come to the site on a regular basis to update themselves on the latest stock and financial markets news.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000306/PRNLOGO )

Chinese-language news releases from PR Newswire will be available through a designated channel on Firstock's Web site as the news crosses the wire. News releases will be displayed in chronological order from most recent to most distant, and users will have the option to access specific company and industry information through ticker and category searches.

"The rapid expansion of China's economy has created a groundswell of investor interest from the more than 3.8 million people of Chinese origin in the United States and Canada. Yet, this incentive to invest has been offset by a difficulty for Chinese speakers to obtain news and financial information in their native language," commented Patricia Canary, vice president of International Services for PR Newswire. "The alliance between PR Newswire and Firstock helps to remedy this situation by providing Chinese-language news releases to Firstock's content-rich, in-language financial web site, thus giving Chinese investors a full complement of strategic and actionable investment tools and market information."

Distribution to Firstock is part of PR Newswire's North American Chinese-language circuit. News releases distributed via this circuit are written or translated into Chinese and disseminated to the over 280 Chinese-language newspapers, magazines, TV stations, radio stations, satellite broadcasters, online news outlets, portals and websites across the United States and Canada -- from major newspapers including World Journal, Ming Pao Daily, Sing Tao Daily, International Daily and the China Press to local and regional newspapers and radio stations in cities and regions with a Chinese community across North America.

Cities and metropolitan areas covered in the circuit include Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami Beach/Fort Lauderdale, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland (Ore.), St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco/Silicon Valley, Seattle, Tucson and Washington in the USA; and Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg in Canada. Distribution to AFX Asia, Bloomberg, Charles Schwab, Dow Jones Chinese Language Service, Reuters (Chinese Domestic and Chinese News Services), Yahoo! Chinese, and Factiva among others, is also included. Members can choose to distribute to the circuit on its own or in combination with PR Newswire's premium national newsline, US1, or any of the company's in-region newslines in China.

"It is a challenge for the majority of Chinese investors who must work in English to obtain information or participate in investment opportunities involving stocks, options, bonds or foreign exchange trading," said Yu Chiping, Firstock founder, president and CEO. "By partnering with PR Newswire, Firstock will be able to provide our users with up-to-the-second Chinese-language news on the leading companies in North America and China."

About PR Newswire

Now in its 50th year, PR Newswire Association LLC (http://www.prnewswire.com/) provides electronic distribution, targeting, measurement, translation and broadcast services on behalf of some 40,000 corporate, government, association, labor, non-profit, and other customers worldwide. Using PR Newswire, these organizations reach a variety of critical audiences including the news media, the investment community, government decision-makers, and the general public with their up-to-the-minute, full-text news developments.

Established in 1954, PR Newswire has offices in 10 countries and routinely sends its customers' news to outlets in 135 countries and in 30 languages. Utilizing the latest in communications technology, PR Newswire content is considered a mainstay among news reporters, investors and individuals who seek breaking news from the source. PR Newswire's leading services include ProfNet Experts(SM), eWatch™, MEDIAtlas™, NewsPrompt™, Search Engine Visibility (SEV) and MultiVu™. PR Newswire is a subsidiary of United Business Media plc of London.

Through its International Services division, PR Newswire offers companies around the world the ability to disseminate news in their language of choice, and also have releases translated into several languages, including Simplified and Traditional Chinese.

About Firstock Global Investment Services Inc.

Founded in 2002, Toronto-based Firstock Global Investment Services Inc. (Firstock) provides investors with Chinese-language financial news, market trends, company information, stock price quotes, share performance analysis, technical analysis, stock charting and buy recommendations to over 2,500 registered members in the USA, Canada and 15 countries around the world. With its functionality-rich and content-rich, easy-to-navigate and quick response online investment information service, Firstock's functionality-rich and content-rich, easy-to-navigate and quick response investment information website is North America's most specialized in-language financial information service for Chinese investors who prefer to do their investing in their native language. According to website ranking analyzer http://www.alexa.com/, Firstock's website http://www.firstock.com/ is the leading Chinese-language investment web site in North America. Firstock is a Canadian federally registered limited liability company.

Firstock has developed a top of the line Chinese-language classification system for 7,000 leading US and Canadian stocks as well as for all PRC, Hong Kong and Taiwanese companies that trade on US and Canadian exchanges, allowing comparison and sorting by ticker symbol, quoted price, trading price range, earnings, P/E ratios, analysts rankings among other data points.

   For more information, please contact:

   PR Newswire:
   Rachel Asche, Director, Public Relations
   Tel: 212.282.1929
   Fax: 212.596.1506
   Email: Rachel.asche@prnewswire.com

   Firstock:
   Sherry Peng, Senior Assistant to President
   Tel: 416.386.9919
   Fax: 416.696-5427
   Email: sherrypeng@firstock.com
Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000306/PRNLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/

SOURCE: PR Newswire

CONTACT: Rachel Asche, Director, Public Relations of PR Newswire,
+1-212-282-1929, or fax, +1-212-596-1506, Rachel.asche@prnewswire.com; or
Sherry Peng, Senior Assistant to President of Firstock, +1-416-386-9919, or
fax, +1-416-696-5427, sherrypeng@firstock.com