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Twitter to open greater China office in Hong Kong

Twitter Inc. plans to open a Greater China headquarters in Hong Kong next year as it seeks to cooperate with local advertisers and developers even as its services remain blocked on the mainland.

Workers will be hired for sales and to build media partnerships, Jim Prosser, a Twitter spokesman, said by text message. The office is expected to open in the first quarter, he said.

The social-media site is blocked in China while Weibo Corp.'s similar microblogging service is allowed in the country. Twitter last month unveiled a set of services that allows developers in China to use the San Francisco-based company's platform even without using the social network.

Greater China comprises the territories of China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan and has a population of more than 1.3 billion people. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported Twitter's plan to open a Hong Kong office.

Twitter has 284 million monthly active users with 77 percent of its accounts outside the U.S., according to its website. Weibo, which listed on the Nasdaq in April and remains controlled by China's Sina Corp. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., had 156.5 million monthly active users for June, it said in August.

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