Microsoft will pay 94 million yuan (US$12 million) for 15 million new shares of the second-biggest Chinese television maker at 6.27 yuan each, according to a statement today by the Chinese company, based in southwestern China's Mianyang city. Changhong shares soared to 9.93 yuan on June 14 on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Bloomberg reported.

Microsoft is taking advantage of China's move to let overseas investors buy shares of publicly traded companies, getting a stake in one of world's largest television makers. The sale to Microsoft is part of Changhong's plan to raise 2.5 billion yuan to buy 75 percent of Dutch company Sterope Investments BV, owner of South Korean plasma-panel maker Orion PDP Co.

Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, is one of the 10 institutional investors who will be buying the 400 million new shares Changhong planned to sell in April. Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, agreed to hold the shares for at least three years, Changhong said today.

Changhong's first-quarter net income rose 2.4 percent from a year earlier to 72.5 million yuan and sales increased 28 percent to 4.97 billion yuan, the company said in April.

Changhong's shares jumped by their 10 percent daily limit on June 14 to an 11-day high of 9.93 yuan.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)