TOM Online ran a Chinese web portal, and most of its money came from ringtones. It also sold pictures, games and text message alerts to phone users through China Mobile. Early in 2004 China had more mobile phones than any other country. TOM Online was part of TOM Group, a Hong Kong conglomerate. It listed in New York and Hong Kong in March 2004, in the middle of a rush of Chinese internet offerings.

Small Fees, Over and Over

TOM Online bet that Chinese users would pay small amounts, over and over, for content on their phones. The carriers collected the fees and passed a share back. The model could grow quickly. It also rested on rules the carriers set, and the carriers could change their billing policies with little warning. Many Chinese internet companies of that era depended on the same kind of mobile revenue.

China Mobile Changes the Rules

TOM Online priced its shares at about $15.55 per ADS in March 2004, the top of its expected range. It traded on Nasdaq as TOMO and on the Hong Kong exchange. Changes in China Mobile's billing rules hit the wireless business hard over the next few years. In 2007 the parent company, TOM Group, bought out the minority shareholders and took TOM Online private.

Cover: The Harbour, Hong-Kong, John Thomson. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for Hong Kong harbour.