Vnet Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNET)

First Quarter 2020 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 25.1% to RMB1.09 billion (US$154.1 million) from RMB871.9 million in the same period of 2019.
  
• PROFIT/LOSS PER SHARE: Basic and diluted loss per share were RMB0.18 (US$0.03) in the first quarter of 2020, which represents the equivalent of RMB1.08 (US$0.18) per American Depositary Share ("ADS"). Each ADS represents six ordinary shares. 

Mr. Alvin Wang, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company, stated, “During the first quarter of 2020, we delivered solid financial and operating results despite the immediate challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. In the face of these near-term headwinds, our preventative measures and effective execution allowed us to operate our data centers without interruptions, report zero infection cases, maintain our cabinet delivery schedule, and promptly resume construction upon the virus’ containment. Notably, our operating efficiency was further bolstered by the industry’s healthy growth trajectory in the period, which continued to ramp up due to the ongoing trend of corporate digitization. Moreover, we also benefited from industry tailwinds in both online education and cloud computing, which experienced an uptick in business activity during the quarantine period. All of our cabinet construction projects have resumed to date. As such, while we advance into 2020, we remain confident in our ability to meet the deadlines of our three-year growth plan for the year, emboldened by our growth prospects, and determined to help advance the industry going forward.”

Ms. Sharon Liu, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, “We delivered a strong financial performance in the first quarter of 2020, with revenue hitting the high end of our guidance and adjusted EBITDA being around the midpoint of our previous range. Notably, while we continued to expand our cabinet capacity and bolster our client base, we also leveraged our robust client network and established market leadership to further refine our operating efficiency. Going forward, we will continue to invest in line with our three-year growth plan while closely monitoring the market landscape to capitalize on those opportunities that we judge to have attractive returns and enhance our growth trajectory.”

Financial Outlook

For the second quarter of 2020, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB1,140 million to RMB1,160 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB290 million to RMB310 million.

For the full year of 2020, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB4,600 million to RMB4,800 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB1,250 million to RMB1,350 million. The midpoints of the Company’s updated estimates imply an increase of 24.0% year over year both in net revenues and adjusted EBITDA.

Fourth Quarter 2019 Financial Results

• REVENUES: Net revenues in the fourth quarter of 2019 increased by 16.2% to RMB1.05 billion (US$150.6 million) from RMB901.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, representing an increase of 6.8% from RMB981.0 million in the third quarter of 2019. 
• PROFIT/LOSS PER SHARE: Basic and diluted loss per share were RMB0.02 (US$0.3 cent) in the fourth quarter of 2019, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.12 (US$1.8 cent) per American Depositary Share ("ADS")

Mr. Alvin Wang, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company, stated, “2019 was a productive year for 21Vianet as we met both our capacity expansion and financial targets. Notably, during the quarter, we signed a memorandum of understanding with an industry-leading wholesale customer, marking a significant milestone for the company and illustrating the attractiveness of our IDC services for large-scale clients. Moreover, during the quarter, we continued to see strong demand from our retail customers for both scalable space and turn-key hybrid IT solutions. As such, we remain optimistic about future opportunities in China’s IDC industry and confident in our ability to seize them, owing to our established competitive advantages in the field. Going forward, we will remain focused on securing additional pipeline resources in key markets, upgrading our technology on a continual basis, and ensuring the reliability of our operations to provide customers with premium IDC services.”

Ms. Sharon Liu, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, “With both our revenues and adjusted EBITDA meeting our previous guidance expectations, we delivered a solid quarterly financial performance to conclude 2019. In particular, we are pleased to have obtained additional capital as part of our three-year growth plan to fund those initiatives which will enable us to reach our development goals going forward. Looking into 2020, we will maintain our focus on expanding our cabinet capacity, ramping up our financial growth, and optimizing our operational efficiency. In addition, we will also continue to implement a prudent financial policy while closely monitoring the development of the COVID-19 epidemic.”

Financial Outlook

For the first quarter of 2020, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB1,070 million to RMB1,090 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB245 million to RMB265 million.

For the full year of 2020, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB4,600 million to RMB4,800 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB1,250 million to RMB1,350 million. The midpoints of the Company’s updated estimates imply an increase of 24% year over year both in net revenues and adjusted EBITDA.

BEIJING, Feb. 19, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier- and cloud-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that it has entered into convertible note purchase agreements with a group of investors led by Goldman Sachs Asia Strategic Pte. Ltd., (“Goldman Sachs”).  Pursuant to these agreements, 21Vianet will issue and sell convertible notes in an aggregate principal amount of US$100 million through a private placement to the investors. The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

The convertible notes will mature in five years, bearing interest at the rate of 2% per annum from the issuance date which shall be payable semiannually in arrears in cash. At any time after the issuance, each note is convertible into Class A ordinary shares of the Company at the holder’s option at a conversion price of US$2 per share, or US$12 per American depositary share (“ADS”), representing a premium of 26.56% to the volume weighted average price of 21Vianet’s ADSs for the 60 trading days immediately preceding the signing date, subject to customary anti-dilution adjustments.  Unless previously redeemed or converted, the Company shall redeem the note on the maturity date at 115% of the then outstanding principal amount plus all accrued but unpaid interest.  In addition, if any portion of the outstanding principal amount of the notes has not been converted into shares of the Company by the third anniversary of the note issuance date, the holders have the right to require the Company to redeem, in whole or in part, the outstanding principal amount of the note at 109% of the principal amount plus all accrued but unpaid interest. Additional information regarding the private placement and the notes will be included in a Form 6-K to be filed by 21Vianet with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mr. Alvin Wang, Chief Executive Officer and President of 21Vianet, commented, “We are delighted to welcome our new institutional investors, and we are appreciative of the continued support of many of our existing shareholders as well. The transaction provides us with an efficient and flexible source of capital to fund our three-year growth plan and development projects across key markets.”

Mr. Luke Wei, a managing director at Goldman Sachs, commented, “Over the past years, we have witnessed tremendous growth in China’s Internet data center industry. We are excited about our investment in 21Vianet, and look forward to more cooperation with the company in supporting its growth.”

BEIJING, Dec. 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier- and cloud-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Alibaba to initiate the second phase of construction as part of the previously announced memorandum of understanding (the “MoU”). The construction is planned to be completed in different stages. The first building is expected to be completed by the first half of 2020. During the contract term, the first building is expected to generate revenue of over RMB600 million.

Mr. Alvin Wang, Chief Executive Officer and President of 21Vianet, stated, “We are excited to move forward with Alibaba in the second phase of IDC service deployment as we continue to help them expand throughout Eastern China. In light of the rising demand for dedicated hosting solutions, we plan to continue leveraging our differentiated offerings to secure new market opportunities and cultivating our relationships with industry partners. Such partners have a strong desire for large-scale and hyperscale IDC services that are both reliable and capable of consistently operating at a high level of performance.”

BEIJING, Dec. 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier- and cloud-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that its board of directors has approved a share repurchase program to repurchase up to US$20 million worth of its American Depositary Shares ("ADSs"), representing its Class A ordinary shares, during a 13-month period ending on December 31, 2020.

Under the share repurchase program, 21Vianet may purchase its ADSs through various means, including open market transactions, privately negotiated transactions, any combination thereof or other legally permissible means. The Company may effect repurchase transactions in compliance with Rule 10b5-1 and Rule 10b-18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The number of ADSs repurchased and the timing of repurchases will depend on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, price, trading volume and general market conditions, along with 21Vianet's working capital requirements, general business conditions and other factors. 21Vianet's board of directors will review the share repurchase program periodically, and may modify, suspend or terminate the share repurchase program at any time.

Third Quarter 2019 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 12.7% year over year to RMB981.0 million (US$137.2 million).
• PROFIT/LOSS PER SHARE: Basic and diluted loss per share were RMB0.10 (US$1 cent) in the third quarter of 2019, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.60 (US$6 cent) per American Depositary Share ("ADS").

Mr. Alvin Wang, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company, stated, “In the third quarter, both our revenues and adjusted EBITDA exceeded the high end of our previous guidance range. This strong performance was attributable to our elevated value propositions and increased partnerships across industry sectors. We also continued to refine our product offerings and expand our capacity pipeline in response to the increasing demands for scalable and dependable IT solutions amid the current network transformation. Such advances were in sync with our three-year growth plan, increasing the appeal of our offerings to large-scale partners like Alibaba and enabling us to explore new opportunities for cooperation with a diverse group of retail clients through our innovative services. With the right solutions, rich industry knowledge, and a highly-experienced team in place, we are confident in our ability to generate superior, sustainable shareholder value in the long term.”

Ms. Sharon Liu, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, “During the third quarter, our revenues increased by 12.7% year over year and our adjusted EBITDA increased by 11.1% year over year, driven by the expanding scope of corporate digitalization across China. We also continued to actively engage in dialogues with our clients to remain at the vanguard of industry trends, better position ourselves to secure additional business opportunities, and ramp up our cabinet deliveries, which further contributed to our healthy cash position in the period.”

Financial Outlook

For the fourth quarter of 2019, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB1,030 million to RMB1,050 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB245 million to RMB265 million.

For the full year of 2019, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB3,771 million to RMB3,791 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB1,033 million to RMB1,053 million. The midpoints of the Company’s updated estimates imply an increase of 11.2% year over year in total revenues and an increase of 13.6% year over year in adjusted EBITDA.

BEIJING, Oct. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier- and cloud-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Personal Group Limited (the “Purchaser”), a British Virgin Islands company wholly owned by Mr. Sheng Chen, the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company, pursuant to which the Company agrees to issue up to 60,000 newly created Class C ordinary shares to the Purchaser, subject to certain existing shareholders’ participation right as discussed below, at a price of US$1.35 per share, which is equal to the volume weighted average price of the Company’s American depositary shares (“ADSs”) for the 30 trading days up to and including October 11, 2019, adjusted by the ADS-to-share ratio. Each ADS represents six Class A ordinary shares of the Company.

Pursuant to an investor right agreement, two of the Company’s existing shareholders, King Venture Holdings Limited and Xiaomi Ventures Limited, have the participation right to subscribe up to 5,049 and 1,468 Class C ordinary shares, respectively, on the same terms as the Purchaser. If these two shareholders exercise their participation right, the number of Class C ordinary shares issued to the Purchaser will be reduced accordingly.

This issuance of the newly created Class C ordinary shares is an initiative by the Company to enhance its ability to execute business strategies over the long term under the leadership of the Company’s board and senior management. Class C ordinary shares entitle the holders thereof the same rights as Class A ordinary shares except for veto right on three corporate matters and conversion right. Please see Annex A hereto for the rights of Class C ordinary shares.

The issuance has been approved by the Company’s audit committee and board of directors.

BEIJING, Oct. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier- and cloud-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (the “MoU”) with Alibaba to deploy IDC services. Located in Eastern China, this project will be deployed in two phases. The first phase expects to complete construction and delivers by the first half of 2020. During the term of the project contract, the first phase is expected to generate revenue of RMB1.6 billion.

Mr. Alvin Wang, Chief Executive Officer and President of 21Vianet, stated, “We are thrilled to play a key role in supporting Alibaba Group during this exciting time of cloud development as it continues to grow. This MoU testifies our in-depth domain expertise and proven technology solutions in IDC industry and ability to deliver on time as our customer expand. We look forward to working with Alibaba in its continued expansion.”

BEIJING, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) (“21 Vianet” or the “Company”), a leading carrier- and cloud-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced the acceptance and results of the Company’s previously announced invitation to eligible holders of the US$300 million senior notes, due 2020 at a coupon rate of 7.000% per annum (the “2020 Notes”, ISIN: XS1640517907: Common Code: 164051790 ), to tender their 2020 Notes for purchase for cash (the “Tender Offer”) upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in an offer to purchase dated March 29, 2019 (the “Offer to Purchase”).

The Company also announced that the Company has priced the offering of US$300 million in aggregate principal amount of the USD-denominated notes due 2021 at an interest rate of 7.875% per annum (the “New Notes”). The New Notes are being offered outside the United States in offshore transactions to non-U.S. persons in reliance on Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). The New Notes will initially be subject to certain resale restrictions in the United States during the 40-day distribution compliance period pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act.

Reference is made to the announcement dated March 29, 2019 relating to the Tender Offer and the offering of the New Notes (the “Concurrent New Money Issuance”).

BEIJING, March 28, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier- and cloud-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that it has filed its annual report containing its audited consolidated financial statements on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 27, 2019 Eastern Time. The annual report can be accessed on 21Vianet's investor relations website at http://ir.21vianet.com/. The Company will provide hard copies of the annual report, free of charge, to its shareholders and ADS holders upon request.

Fourth Quarter 2018 Financial Results

• Revenues from hosting and related services increased by 17.8% year over year to RMB901.9 million (US$131.2 million).
• Basic and diluted loss per share were RMB0.17 (US$0.02) in the fourth quarter of 2018, which represents the equivalent of RMB1.02 (US$0.12) per American Depositary Share ("ADS").

“We concluded a fruitful 2018 with a solid fourth quarter performance,” commented Mr. Alvin Wang, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company. “Our resilient financial growth and improving operating performance once again demonstrated the effectiveness of our business operation optimization and our ability to capitalize on the increasing market demand for high-quality data hosting, hybrid IT, and cloud services. To sustain our strong growth momentum, we actively acquired new land resources and new customers while expanding our footprint to new Tier-1 markets and beyond. In addition, we continued to deepen our strategic partnerships with world-class technology companies such as Red Hat Inc. to explore more solutions that can empower our customers’ business expansions. Looking ahead to 2019 and beyond, we are confident that the counter-cyclical nature of our business as well as our leadership in the Chinese IDC market will facilitate our pursuit of long-term sustainable growth.”

Ms. Sharon Liu, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, “We delivered a strong quarter with healthy top- and bottom-line growth. In the fourth quarter of 2018, we had net revenues of RMB901.9 million, again exceeding the high end of our previous guidance range. More importantly, our adjusted EBITDA margin further increased to 28.3%, maintaining its consistent improvement over the previous quarters. In 2018, we improved adjusted EBITDA margin significantly to 27.0% from 22.5% in the previous year. In 2019, we are confident that as we continue to execute on our growth strategies and fortify our market leading position, we will yield long-term value for our shareholders.”

Financial Outlook

For the first quarter of 2019, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB860 million to RMB880 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB230 million to RMB250 million.

For the full year of 2019, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB3,760 million to RMB3,860 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB1,000 million to RMB1,100 million. The midpoints of the Company’s updated estimates imply an increase of 12% year-over-year in total revenues and an increase of 14% year-over-year in adjusted EBITDA.

BEIJING, Feb. 28, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier- and cloud-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that it will provide integrated hybrid cloud solutions to Baozun Inc. (“Baozun”) based on OpenShift container platform technology provided by Red Hat Inc. Such solutions will contribute to the further implementation of Baozun’s e-commerce strategy in China.

Baozun Inc. (BZUN) is a leading brand e-commerce service partner that helps brands execute their e-commerce strategies in China by selling their goods directly to customers online or by providing services to assist with their e-commerce operations. Baozun’s integrated end-to-end brand e-commerce capabilities encompass all aspects of the e-commerce value chain, covering IT solutions, store operations, digital marketing, customer services, warehousing and fulfillment.

Having witnessed the increasing prevalence of cloud computing, many enterprises understand the importance of the digital transition to cloud-based services. Baozun has helped hundreds of partners implement their e-commerce strategies successfully by leveraging its advanced IT infrastructure, extensive data analysis, and superior insight. Advancements in science and technology fuel Baozun’s continuous upgrades and transformations. The cooperation on cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence will enable brand partners to embrace the future of technology.

21Vianet has more than 20 years of experience in building and operating internet data centers. Utilizing the most cutting-edge technologies, such as container solutions, the Company has helped numerous customers with the deployment of their hybrid cloud architecture. Meanwhile, 21Vianet has assisted multiple SaaS companies to successfully localize their cloud services in China. This extensive experience in cloud operations enables 21Vianet to offer Baozun a comprehensive hybrid cloud-based container solution ranging from the design stage to full-fledged operations.

Mr. Alvin Wang, Chief Executive Officer and President of 21Vianet, said, “It is our corporate culture to provide high-quality services and innovative solutions to our customers to propel them to further success. This project again demonstrates 21Vianet’s professional service capability in cooperation with the world's leading providers of open-source solutions. We are pleased to support Baozun’s growth by providing comprehensive hybrid cloud solutions that will eventually help Baozun win and serve more brand partners in China.”

Mr. Vincent Qiu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Baozun, said, “21Vianet has advanced solutions and professional services which help Baozun build our hybrid cloud-based container platform, improving our capabilities to fulfill a large amount of concurrent requests and to quickly upgrade our applications to address the market's ever-evolving needs. This customized hybrid cloud service solution from 21Vianet brings rapid deployment and elastic scalability to Baozun’s cloud platform and provides a strong foundation for the future development of our business.”

Third Quarter 2018 Financial Results

• Revenues from hosting and related services increased by 14.6% year over year and 5.0% quarter over quarter to RMB870.1 million (US$126.7 million).
• LOSS PER SHARE: Basic and diluted loss per share was RMB0.04 (US$0.01) in the third quarter of 2018, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.24 (US$0.06) per American Depositary Share ("ADS"). Each ADS represents six ordinary shares. Diluted profit per share is calculated using net profit divided by the weighted average number of shares.

Mr. Alvin Wang, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company, stated, “We maintained our strong momentum in revenue growth and profitability expansion during the third quarter of 2018. Our revenues grew by 14.6% year over year as we won new orders from existing customers, attracted additional notable customers, and experienced growth of Microsoft cloud service in China. Meanwhile, our adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 28.2%, as we continuously grew our scale and improved our operational efficiency. While remain cautiously optimistic about our growth prospect and profitability against a backdrop of macroeconomic uncertainties, we will continue to execute our long-term strategy by accelerating our capacity growth in Tier 1 cities, nearby satellite cities and quasi-tier 1 cities. As we maintain our focus on sharpening our competitive edges in network quality and technology capability, we will be well-positioned to capitalize on the increasing market demand in China going forward.”

Ms. Sharon Liu, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, “We once again delivered a solid quarter with strong top- and bottom-line growths. In the third quarter of 2018, our net revenues reported RMB870.1 million, beating the high-end of our guidance. More importantly, our adjusted EBITDA margin further increased to 28.2%, showcasing constant improvement in the past three quarters. We are raising our full year 2018 adjusted EBITDA guidance to reflect our achievement.”

Financial Outlook

For the fourth quarter of 2018, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB870 million to RMB890 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB245 million to RMB265 million.

Consequently, for the full year of 2018, the Company now expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB3,370 million to RMB3,390 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB905 million to RMB925 million. The midpoints of the Company’s updated estimates imply an increase of 13.6% year-over-year in total revenues and 36.4% year-over-year in adjusted EBITDA.

The forecast reflects the Company’s current and preliminary view on the market and its operational conditions, which is subject to change.

Second Quarter 2018 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 11.4% to RMB828.3 million (US$125.2 million) in the second quarter of 2018 from RMB743.4 million in the same period of 2017 and increased by 3.4% from RMB800.8 million in the first quarter of 2018. The increase was primarily due to continuously increasing demand from the Company’s new and existing customers.
• PROFIT/LOSS PER SHARE: Basic and diluted loss per share was RMB0.14 (US$0.02) in the second quarter of 2018, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.84 (US$0.12) per American Depositary Share ("ADS"). Each ADS represents six ordinary shares. Diluted profit per share is calculated using net profit divided by the weighted average number of shares.

Mr. Alvin Wang, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company, stated, “Our strategy of focusing entirely on our core hosting and related services business continued to drive revenue and profitability growth. During the second quarter, we further improved our operational efficiency and achieved an adjusted EBITDA margin of 26.7%. Also we expanded our data center capacity, garnered new significant client wins in the Internet and financial services sectors, and expanded the order size from our existing clients. In addition, we have methodically entered into the promising wholesale data center market. We are confident that our commitment to network safety, availability, reliability, neutrality, and quality shall enable us to continuously gain market share and solidify our industry leadership.”

Ms. Sharon Liu, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, “During the second quarter of 2018, we sustained solid growth in revenue and continued rapid improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin. Our net revenues from hosting and related services increased by 11.4% year over year to RMB828.3 million, while our adjusted EBITDA grew by 29.1% to RMB221.1 million. As we keep close track of our business development and maintain stringent internal control, we have been able to achieve or exceed our own guidance three quarters in a row. For the remainder of 2018, we expect continuous improvement in economy of scale and operational efficiency to result in EBITDA growth outpacing revenue growth and EBITDA margin expanding further.”

Financial Outlook

For the third quarter of 2018, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB840 million to RMB860 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB230 million to RMB250 million.

Based on solid first half 2018 results, the Company is raising its full year 2018 guidance for both net revenues and adjusted EBITDA. For the full year, the Company now expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB3.28 billion to RMB3.38 billion. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year is expected to be in the range of RMB800 million to RMB880 million.

The forecast reflects the Company’s current and preliminary view on the market and its operational conditions, which is subject to change.

BEIJING, July 19, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) (“21Vianet” or the “Company”), a leading carrier- and cloud-neutral Internet data center services provider in China today has announced, that on 16 July 2018 at the Microsoft Inspire 2018 Worldwide Partner Conference its wholly-owned subsidiary Shanghai Blue Cloud Technology Co., Ltd. (“21V Blue Cloud”) has entered into distribution agreements (the “Agreements”) with four world-class cloud service providers including Unify Cloud, AvePoint, Agile Point and Fadada.com (collectively, the “Partners”) who have officially authorized 21V Blue Cloud as a distributor of their products and services in mainland China.

According to the Agreements, 21V Blue Cloud will be responsible for the sales and marketing of the Partners’ cloud solutions, as well as all related implementation and maintenance services. Through these collaborations, 21V Blue Cloud will once again demonstrate its expertise and capabilities in the localization of high quality cloud solutions in China, especially with its landmark collaboration with Microsoft.

Key Facts:

Over the past four years, 21V Blue Cloud has established a sustainable and trusted model for global public cloud operation. The partnership between 21V Blue Cloud and Microsoft has continued to attract cloud service providers worldwide by showcasing the effectiveness of 21V Blue Cloud’s turn-key solutions in helping foreign cloud service providers enter into the Chinese market.
 
21V Blue Cloud has extensive experience in providing its turn-key solutions to internet service providers. In addition, 21V Blue Cloud’s Cloud Landing in China (CLIC) strategy has a strong track record in helping service providers successfully localize their services in the Chinese market. 21V Blue Cloud’s existing partners include BitTitan MigrationWiz, GigaTrust Intelligent Rights Management, and Bespin Intelligent Cloud Management among others.
 
The cooperation with the Partners will allow 21V Blue Cloud to provide a more comprehensive range of cloud services, including a complete cloud ecosystem, to customers in China.
 
As an industry pioneer, 21V Blue Cloud’s operations are in full compliance with international and domestic legislation, regulations and standards. 21V Blue Cloud is committed to leveraging its licenses and relevant experiences to help its partners navigate through the obstacles in the Chinese market.
21V Blue Cloud Service Offerings:

Cloud operation and management services in China, for international cloud service providers in need of local deployment and implementation services;
 
Localization of operation systems of customer management, contract management and financial management, as well as localized sales channels to expand the local distribution channels;
 
Constant and comprehensive pre-sales and post-sales customer service systems for cloud service providers;
 
Intelligence gathering and educational services for international service providers to gain an insight into the demands, characteristics, and other elements that are necessary for successful operations and expansions in the Chinese market.
Mr. Alvin Wang, Chief Executive Officer and President of 21Vianet, stated, “We are delighted with the development of our cloud computing business, which is an integral part of our long-term growth strategy. By collaborating with Microsoft, we have established 21V Blue Cloud as the leading operator of international cloud services in China, able to provide customers with optimal service quality and reliability. Looking ahead, we remain committed to bringing more world-class cloud services to Chinese customers. We are confident that our strong localization capabilities as well as our experience and expertise in cloud operations will make us the preferred operator for domestic and international cloud solution services”.

Mr. Wenda “Wing” Ke, President of 21V Blue Cloud, stated, “With the rapid expansion of the cloud computing market in China, we aim to establish a mature and robust industry ecosystem by utilizing our localization and solution expertise to facilitate and accelerate mutually-beneficial cooperation with cloud solutions service providers. We are pleased to see an increasing number of enterprise users who now have access to stronger and more efficient support and are able to advance their business innovations through our products and services. Going forward, by building upon our competitive advantages and forging close partnerships with more world-class cloud service providers, we will remain committed to making localization easier for all the industry-leading cloud products and ensuring that all the solutions are easily-accessible and safe for users in China.”

Mr. Alain Crozier, Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Chairman and CEO of Greater China Region, stated, "Since Microsoft Azure and Office 365 were launched in China four years ago under 21Vianet’s operation, they have performed beyond our expectations and achieved rapid growth. Our close cooperation with 21V Blue Cloud have provided the global market with an archetype for how international cloud services should be successfully commercialized in China. Currently in China, Azure serves more than 110,000 corporate customers and is favored by more than 1,400 partners, while Office365 currently has more than 1.5 million paying enterprise users. The two Azure data center areas, which we utilized for commercial use in Beijing and Shanghai recently, will offer better support to domestic and international customers with cloud business deployment and innovation projects in the Chinese market. With an open and welcoming business environment, China is the ideal market for Microsoft Azure intelligent cloud to scale quickly and efficiently. Moving forward, we will continue to work closely with 21V Blue Cloud to build the best development platform for cloud partners. Additionally, this cooperation will expand the Chinese cloud computing market with diversified cloud innovations that will drive digital transformations in various industries.”

BEIJING, March 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that the Company and Microsoft Corp. (“Microsoft”) have agreed to extend their partnership to provide world-class public cloud services to Chinese customers.

Combining Microsoft’s global technological leadership and 21Vianet’s outstanding local operations, Microsoft Azure and Office 365 operated by 21Vianet have achieved an unanticipated and robust three-digit growth for nearly four consecutive years in China, successfully providing Azure public cloud services to more than 100,000 Chinese enterprise customers, and attracting over 1,300 cloud partners and over 100,000 active Azure DevOps developers; meanwhile 1.2 million Chinese enterprise users and 20 million educational users currently conduct their daily work using Office 365. This breakthrough cooperation model pioneered by Microsoft and 21Vianet has been recognized as an effective and successful method for a legal and compliant operation of international cloud services in China.

Josh Chen, 21Vianet Founder and Chairman said, “The fruitful collaboration between 21Vianet and Microsoft to introduce Azure and Office 365 to China has been well proven by our business success over the last four years. 21Vianet has been recognized as a reliable local operator with whom to run network, data center, and cloud services. Together with Microsoft, we are providing world-leading, qualified, trustworthy, and intelligent cloud services to Chinese customers. With our agreement now extended, we will continue to invest more in providing ever-evolving cloud services to our mutual customers.”

Alain Crozier, Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Chairman and CEO of Greater China Region, said, “Digital transformation powered by technological innovation is unveiling significant opportunities for businesses in every industry. China, with its clear strategy of innovation-driven development, possesses unique strengths that will allow it to win with the new industrial revolution. With years of successful operations behind us, we are confident of our strong partnership with 21Vianet and of the unique business model we have created. We believe in the long-term potential of the China market, which is why we want to reconfirm our commitment and are extending our agreement with 21Vianet.”

Announced in 2013 and officially launched in March 2014, Microsoft Azure operated by 21Vianet is the first international public cloud service generally available in the China market. Customers and partners range from established Chinese brands such as Haier, Lenovo, and Huawei to emerging powerhouses such as smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi, bike-share company Mobike, automobile manufacturer BYD, world-leading sporting goods company Amer Sports and Arcplus Data & Innovation Technology, an integrated solutions provider for construction engineering industry. 

Office 365 operated by 21Vianet was launched in China in April 2014 and now ranks # 1 in China’s SaaS market. Huawei, Tencent, and Pactera currently use Office 365 operated by 21Vianet to empower their employees and optimize their daily business operations.

Since its establishment in 2013, 21Vianet’s cloud operation and maintenance group for Azure and Office 365 in China has grown from dozens of people to one of the largest professional cloud operation and maintenance teams in China, and more than half of the current staff members are senior engineers. With user satisfaction over 98%, Microsoft Azure and Office 365 operated by 21Vianet have been widely recognized in the industry and have received 10 trusted cloud certifications, including cloud hosts, cloud storage, databases, cloud engines, network load balancing, enterprise-class e-mail, file sharing, online meeting, cloud backup and hybrid cloud, making 21Vianet the cloud service provider with the most trusted cloud certifications in China. In 2017, Microsoft Azure operated by 21Vianet, passed the industry's first "Hybrid Cloud Solution Assessment" and was awarded the only "Trusted Cloud Technology Innovation Award-Hybrid Cloud Award" by the Trusted Cloud Conference. In accordance with the latest regulatory requirement on cloud services, 21Vianet, as the operator, obtained the newly required Internet Resource Collaboration Service (IRCS) license in August 2017, which ensures the compliance of its cloud services in China.

With a growth mindset and strong confidence in the China market, 21Vianet and Microsoft are in the process of expanding their capacity. As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced at the Microsoft Tech Summit 2017 in November, Microsoft Azure operated by 21Vianet will triple its capacity in China in the beginning of 2018. Azure’s enlarged capacity will provide increased flexibility and wider access to cutting-edge Azure cloud services. It will also make it easier for multinational companies to meet the needs of Chinese customers through the scale, power, and secure infrastructure of the Azure cloud.

Fourth Quarter 2017 Financial Results

• Net revenues for hosting and related services increased by 8.9% year over year to RMB765.8 million (US$117.7 million).
• PROFIT PER SHARE: Diluted profit per share was RMB1.18 (US$0.18) in the fourth quarter of 2017, which represents the equivalent of RMB7.08 (US$1.09) per American Depositary Share ("ADS"). Each ADS represents six ordinary shares.
• Adjusted diluted profit per share was RMB0.08 (US$0.01) in the fourth quarter of 2017, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.48 (US$0.06) per ADS.

Mr. Steve Zhang, Co-Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, “2017 was an exciting and milestone year for 21Vianet. We completed the restructuring of the Company by optimizing and then ultimately divesting our loss-generating managed network services (MNS) business, which allows us to fully focus our resources on our core hosting and related services business. During the past quarter, we further expanded our client base, including new relationships with Meitu, Douyu, and 99Bill, while many of our large clients, such as Xiaomi, Momo, Huawei and Lianjia, continued to expand their capacity at our IDC centers. As China’s internet companies migrate from public cloud to the hybrid cloud, their demand for customized cloud solutions rose continuously throughout 2017. To satisfy our customers’ specific requirements, we have proactively expanded our service offerings with more customized solutions. We are confident that our carrier- and cloud-neutral solutions coupled with customization will enable us to capitalize on rising demand and solidify our leadership position in this blooming Chinese market.”

Ms. Sharon Liu, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, “We are pleased to once again deliver better-than-expected financial and operating results in the fourth quarter. Our revenue from the core hosting and related services business increased by 8.9% to RMB765.8 million and our Adjusted EBIDTA increased by 228.9% to RMB171.0 million, both of which exceeded the upper end of our guidance. Furthermore, in December of last year, we successfully completed the divestiture of the remaining equity stake in Sichuan Aipu Network Co. Ltd (“Aipu”), as well as the elimination of the Aipu put option. As we move toward a leaner business model with an improved cost structure, we expect our financial and operating metrics to show continued improvement going forward.”

Financial Outlook

The following forecast reflects the Company’s current and preliminary view on the market and its operational conditions, which is subject to change.

For the first quarter of 2018, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB770 million to RMB790 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB178 million to RMB190 million.

For the full year of 2018, the Company now expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB3.25 billion to RMB3.35 billion. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2018 is expected to be in the range of RMB750 million to RMB830 million.

Fourth Quarter 2017 Financial Results

• Net revenues for hosting and related services increased by 8.9% year over year to RMB765.8 million (US$117.7 million).
• PROFIT PER SHARE: Diluted profit per share was RMB1.18 (US$0.18) in the fourth quarter of 2017, which represents the equivalent of RMB7.08 (US$1.09) per American Depositary Share ("ADS"). Each ADS represents six ordinary shares.

Mr. Steve Zhang, Co-Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, “2017 was an exciting and milestone year for 21Vianet. We completed the restructuring of the Company by optimizing and then ultimately divesting our loss-generating managed network services (MNS) business, which allows us to fully focus our resources on our core hosting and related services business. During the past quarter, we further expanded our client base, including new relationships with Meitu, Douyu, and 99Bill, while many of our large clients, such as Xiaomi, Momo, Huawei and Lianjia, continued to expand their capacity at our IDC centers. As China’s internet companies migrate from public cloud to the hybrid cloud, their demand for customized cloud solutions rose continuously throughout 2017. To satisfy our customers’ specific requirements, we have proactively expanded our service offerings with more customized solutions. We are confident that our carrier- and cloud-neutral solutions coupled with customization will enable us to capitalize on rising demand and solidify our leadership position in this blooming Chinese market.”

Ms. Sharon Liu, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, “We are pleased to once again deliver better-than-expected financial and operating results in the fourth quarter. Our revenue from the core hosting and related services business increased by 8.9% to RMB765.8 million and our Adjusted EBIDTA increased by 228.9% to RMB171.0 million, both of which exceeded the upper end of our guidance. Furthermore, in December of last year, we successfully completed the divestiture of the remaining equity stake in Sichuan Aipu Network Co. Ltd (“Aipu”), as well as the elimination of the Aipu put option. As we move toward a leaner business model with an improved cost structure, we expect our financial and operating metrics to show continued improvement going forward.”

Financial Outlook

The following forecast reflects the Company’s current and preliminary view on the market and its operational conditions, which is subject to change.

For the first quarter of 2018, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB770 million to RMB790 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB178 million to RMB190 million.

For the full year of 2018, the Company now expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB3.25 billion to RMB3.35 billion. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2018 is expected to be in the range of RMB750 million to RMB830 million.

BEIJING, Feb. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that Mr. Shiqi Wang has been appointed Co-CEO and President of the Company, effective immediately.

Mr. Wang will be responsible for managing the Company’s daily operations, strengthening the Company’s cooperation with its shareholders, including TUS Holdings Co., Ltd. (“TUS Holdings”), Kingsoft, Xiaomi, and Temasek, among others, and forging strategic partnerships with various external parties to provide additional support and resources for the Company.

Mr. Wang has been a frequent attendee of the Company’s board meetings and has been actively involved in building the relationship between TUS Holdings and the Company as well as exploring potential synergies between the two. Mr. Wang currently serves as Vice President of TUS Digital Group, a subsidiary of TUS Holdings, and serves on the board of directors of Beijing CIC Technology Co., Ltd. (Ticker:Ticker::430109) and Guangzhou Tuwei Technology Co., Ltd. (Ticker:Ticker::833320). Mr. Wang has nearly 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, working at various renowned international companies, including 11 years with Ericsson, focusing primarily on strategy development and execution, corporate management, and equity investments. Mr. Wang received a bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University and an MBA from Peking University-Vlerick MBA Programme (BiMBA).

Mr. Steve Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated: “I am pleased to welcome Shiqi to 21Vianet’s management team. Shiqi possesses a unique combination of expertise in the telecommunications industry, strong management ability, and vast investment experience. I am confident that he will take 21Vianet’s strategic focus and operational optimization to the next level.”

Mr. Josh Chen, Executive Chairman of the Company, stated: “Since May of 2016, when TUS Holdings made its strategic investment in 21Vianet, Shiqi has been in charge of all TUS Holdings post-investment management responsibilities towards 21Vianet, and has worked very closely with the Company’s board of directors and core management team. He has a comprehensive understanding of both our Company and the IDC industry, and we believe he will provide considerable value to the Company going forward.”

BEIJING, Jan. 09, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that Mr. Terry Wang, its Chief Financial Officer (CFO), has decided to resign due to personal reasons, effective immediately. Mr. Wang will serve as an advisor to the Company and facilitate a smooth CFO transition. Mr. Wang has served as the Company’s CFO since June 2015. The Company also announced that Ms. Sharon Xiao Liu will succeed Mr. Wang as CFO of 21Vianet.

Ms. Liu will be undertaking the Company’s finance, legal, internal controls, merger and acquisitions, capital markets, and investor relations responsibilities. Ms. Liu currently serves as the Company’s vice president of finance, primarily responsible for finance-related matters in the Company’s hosting and related services business. Ms. Liu joined 21Vianet in October 2010, and was previously responsible for pre- and post-IPO finance matters, investor relations, financial reporting, FP&A, and financial BP. Prior to joining 21Vianet, Ms. Liu was a manager at KPMG China in its audit division since 2003. Ms. Liu is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the state of North Dakota. Ms. Liu received a dual Bachelor’s degree in economics and law from Peking University.

Mr. Steve Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated: “I would like to welcome Sharon as 21Vianet’s new CFO. Having been with the Company for over 7 years, she has deep knowledge about 21Vianet and the data center industry. Her broad financial experience as well as her rich experience as part of the senior management team make her an ideal candidate for the CFO position, and will also ensure a seamless transition. Having worked with her extensively since joining the Company, I am confident that Sharon is capable of handling her new role and responsibilities.” Mr. Zhang further stated, “This change did not arise from any issues involving the Company’s financial results, business practices, internal controls, or financial reporting.”

“Furthermore, I would like to thank Terry for his contributions over the past few years. I appreciate his dedication to 21Vianet, as his leadership played a pivotal part in the Company’s reorganization and turnaround. We wish him nothing but the best in the future,” added Mr. Zhang.

BEIJING, Dec. 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that the Company has completed the divestiture of its remaining 50% equity interest minus 1 share in Sichuan Aipu Network Co., Ltd. ("Aipu") on December 19, 2017, representing all the equity interest held by the Company in Aipu (“Aipu Transaction”).

As part of the Aipu Transaction, 21Vianet transferred its 50% equity interest minus 1 share in Aipu to Tibet Xingtao Culture Communications Co., Ltd., one of Aipu’s current shareholders, for a nominal consideration of RMB 1. Also as part of the Aipu Transaction, Aipu shareholders have waived their put option right to request 21Vianet to purchase their equity interest in Aipu and right to request 21Vianet to provide loans to such Aipu shareholders as stipulated in the original investment agreements entered between 21Vianet, its affiliates, Aipu and certain other parties thereto in June 2014.

BEIJING, Nov. 02, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that the Company has signed a five-and-half-year contract with BMW, the world’s leading automobile manufacturer.

By leveraging its strong expertise and technology advantages in data center and cloud computing, 21Vianet, along with Shanghai Connext Information Technology Co., Ltd, will provide a cutting-edge turnkey solution to BMW, which includes hosting, equipment and management services, as well as private and hybrid cloud services, to support BMW’s strong capacity needs in China.

“We are delighted to be BMW’s preferred service provider in data center and cloud computing,” stated Mr. Steve Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of the Company. “This is a strong testament of our capability to provide high-performance data center services and superior operational standards to our clients. With the ever-growing demands for data center and cloud computing services driven by the high growth in internet traffic in China, we see great potentials going forward to further expand our customer base and solidify our position as a leading internet data center services provider in China.”  

BEIJING, Sept. 29, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that the Company has priced the offering of USD100 million in aggregate principal amount of the USD-denominated notes due 2020 at a coupon rate of 7.000% per annum (the "Notes"). The notes were priced at a slightly premium of 100.04, with an effective yield of 6.98%. The Notes are being offered outside the United States in offshore transactions to non-U.S. persons in reliance on Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). The Notes constitute a further issuance of, and will be consolidated and form a single series with, the Company’s USD200 million 7.000% notes due 2020 issued on August 17, 2017 (the “Original Notes”). The Notes will initially be subject to certain resale restrictions in the United States during the 40-day distribution compliance period pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act. The Notes are not fungible with the Original Notes until the expiration of the initial 40-day distribution compliance period.

Interest on the Notes is payable semi-annually in arrears on, or nearest to, August 17 and February 17 in each year, beginning on August 17, 2017. The Notes are not rated. The holders of the Notes will have the right, at their option, to require the Company to repurchase for cash all of their Notes or any portion of the principal thereof that is equal to US$200,000 or integral multiples of US$1,000 in excess thereof on August 17, 2019.

The Company intends to use the Notes proceeds to refinance outstanding indebtedness, fund future capital needs, and for general corporate purposes.

China Industrial Securities International and Orient Securities (Hong Kong) are acting as the joint global coordinators, joint book-runners and joint lead managers for the transaction. Barclays is acting as a joint book-runner and joint lead manager for the transaction.

The Company expects to close the offering of the Notes on or about October 11, 2017, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any of the Notes, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale of the Notes in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. No public offering of the Notes will be made in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of any U.S. person, and the Company does not intend to register any part of the offering in the United States.

This press release contains information about the pending offering of the Notes, and there can be no assurance that the offering will be completed.

BEIJING, Sept. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that the Company has completed divesting two business units within its Managed Network Services (MNS) business.

Prior to completion of this transaction, the Company's MNS business included content delivery network (CDN) services, hosting area network services, route optimization and last-mile broadband businesses.

For its CDN, hosting area network services and route optimization businesses, 21Vianet transferred 66.67% of the equity interest in each of its six (6) wholly-owned companies engaged in the CDN, hosting area network services and route optimization businesses (collectively, the “WiFire Entities”), for a nominal consideration of RMB 1 for each of the WiFire Entities, to Beijing TUS Yuanchuang Technology Development Co., Ltd. (“TUS”), a company wholly owned by Tus-Holdings Co., Ltd. (“Tus-Holdings”). Tus-Holdings currently holds more than 50% of the Company’s voting power through its affiliated investment vehicle and is a controlling shareholder of the Company. Following completion of the transfer, TUS holds 66.67% and 21Vianet holds 33.33% equity interest in each of the WiFire Entities.

For its last-mile broadband business, 21Vianet transferred 2 shares in Sichuan Aipu Network Co., Ltd. (“Aipu”) to Jian Li, Co-CEO and a director of Aipu, for a nominal consideration of RMB 1. Immediately prior to the transfer, 21Vianet held 50% equity interest plus 1 share in Aipu. Following completion of the transfer, 21Vianet holds 50% equity interest minus 1 share in Aipu. 21Vianet is also in the process of identifying potential investors to acquire the remaining 50% equity interest minus 1 share in Aipu.

In recent years, all of the Company’s MNS businesses have faced increasing competition, and as a result, are currently loss-making. Duff and Phelps, LLC, an independent financial advisor to the Company’s Audit Committee, delivered a fairness opinion to the Company’s Audit Committee to confirm that the nominal consideration to be received by the Company is fair from a financial perspective.

“We are pleased to announce the agreements today to sell parts of our Managed Network Services businesses,” said Steve Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of the Company. “With the completion of this divestiture, 21Vianet will be able to focus more on expanding our core IDC business and capturing the growing demand in this market.”

“Following the completion of this transaction, we expect to incur a material one-time noncash impairment in the third quarter of 2017, which will include assets such as goodwill, intangibles, and long-term investments,” said Terry Wang, Chief Financial Officer of the Company. “However, going forward, we expect that our core IDC business will continue its strong growth and our cash flows and EBITDA will see improvements.”

This transaction has received approval from both of the Company’s Audit Committee and board of directors.

BEIJING, May 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) (“21Vianet or the “Company”) today announced that it has partnered with Microsoft and Tencent to launch Microsoft Office Online.

In partnering with Tencent and Microsoft to offer Tencent Cloud users enhanced convenience of a mobile office anytime, anywhere as well as Microsoft office collaboration among multiple enterprise users, 21Vianet will provide enhanced services, including operational and maintenance solutions enabling cross-platform technical support.  This will enable streamlined use of Microsoft Office Online for Tencent Weiyun users by eliminating technical difficulties such as account sharing, authentication and storage barriers, thus significantly enhancing working efficiency.

The cloud-based document process will require no pre-installation and will enable both individual and enterprise Tencent Cloud users to collaborate on and directly edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents from multiple devices via Tencent Weiyun. All changes will be automatically saved onto the cloud storage platform. It also simplifies cloud-based document processing procedures by eliminating the cumbersome steps, such as downloading, saving and uploading.

Mr. Steve Zhang, CEO of 21Vianet, stated, “We are excited to deepen the partnership with Microsoft and Tencent into their cloud-based services. Combining Tencent Cloud’s large user base, the industry-standard features of Microsoft Office Online and our strong expertise in operational and maintenance technology and solutions, we believe our partnership will build a solid foundation for accelerated growth going forward.”

Fourth Quarter 2016 Financial Results

• REVENUES: Net revenues for the fourth quarter of 2016 were RMB900.6 million (US$129.7 million), as compared with RMB983.4 million in the comparative period in 2015. The decrease was primarily due to a decrease in MNS revenues.
• LOSS PER SHARE: Diluted loss per share for the fourth quarter of 2016 was RMB0.69, which represents the equivalent of RMB4.14 (US$0.60) per American Depositary Share ("ADS"). Each ADS represents six ordinary shares. Adjusted diluted loss per share for the fourth quarter of 2016 was RMB0.08, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.48 (US$0.07) per ADS. Adjusted diluted loss per share is calculated using adjusted net loss as discussed above divided by the weighted average number of shares.

Mr. Steve Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "Despite facing severe headwinds in our managed network services business, we continue to see stable growth in our core IDC, VPN, and cloud businesses this quarter. Last December, in partnership with Microsoft, we launched Power BI, a business data analytics cloud service, adding to our wide-array of cloud offerings for our customers. Most recently, we finalized and signed an investment agreement with Warburg Pincus, which expands upon the strategic agreement previously announced. The end result remains the same, as we will establish joint ventures for our digital real estate business with a focus on the customized wholesale data center market, and will aim to build out 80,000 to 100,000 additional cabinets in the next five to seven years. Our core retail colocation and cloud services will be supplemented with wholesale data center services, providing more complete and expanded service offerings to our customers. This restructuring of our business will allow us to continue to fine-tune our Capex structure, improve our operating leverage, and provide customers with more value-added services such as hybrid cloud solutions. With the evolving internet landscape in China and the strong demands of internet traffic, computing, and data storage, we will solidify our position as a leading internet infrastructure services provider and meet the ever-changing needs of our customers."

Mr. Terry Wang, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, further commented, "We are pleased to announce that we met our fourth quarter and full year guidance for both top line net revenues and adjusted EBITDA. In 2016, we increased our total revenues to RMB3.64 billion, which was primarily driven by a 14.2% year-over-year increase in revenues from our hosting and related businesses. During the fourth quarter of 2016, we added over 300 cabinets in our self-built data centers, bringing the total number of cabinets up to 26,380. Our cloud business maintained its growth trajectory, which was mainly attributable to the robust results from our partnerships with Microsoft and IBM. Looking forward, we will aim to consistently deploy new cabinets and enhance our monthly recurring revenues in order to reignite our top line growth and realize margin expansion. Additionally, even though our MNS and CDN businesses continued to experience pricing pressure and intense competition in 2016, we began seeing signs of price stabilization. We are confident that we will generate further value for our shareholders through our continuous effort to optimize operations, our sustainable investment in asset-light businesses and the emerging opportunities in customized wholesale data centers."

Financial Outlook

For the first quarter of 2017, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB820 million to RMB880 million, as compared with RMB862.3 million in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB65 million to RMB85million, as compared with RMB108.6 million in the prior year period.

For the full year of 2017, the Company now expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB3.7 billion to RMB3.9 billion, as compared with RMB3.64 billion in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2017 is expected to be in the range of RMB420 million to RMB460 million, as compared with RMB243.9 million in the prior year. These forecasts reflect the Company's current and preliminary view, which may be subject to change.

BEIJING, Oct. 31, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral internet data center services provider in China, and Warburg Pincus, a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing, today announced the two companies have signed a strategic investment agreement (the “JV Agreement”) to form a joint venture and establish a digital real estate platform (the “JV”) in China. The JV will be dedicated to pursuing development and acquisition opportunities in the wholesale and built-to-suit segments of China’s data center market.

Pursuant to the JV Agreement, 21Vianet will seed the JV with four existing high-performing IDC assets, valued at over US$300 million, and Warburg Pincus will contribute direct capital and extensive industry network and resources in the real estate sector. Also pursuant to the JV Agreement, 21Vianet will continue to own 51% of the equity interests in the four existing IDC assets while Warburg Pincus will own the remaining 49%. With respect to future projects to be developed by the JV, 21Vianet will initially own 49% of the equity interests and Warburg Pincus will initially own 51% of the equity interests.  The transactions contemplated by the JV Agreement are expected to close in multiple tranches in the first half of 2017 subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions.

With strong demand for data center space driven by the exponential growth in data usage and cloud services, the JV will serve as a dedicated vehicle that focuses on wholesale customers and enterprises and an expanded product offering across turn-key data centers, standard modules and built-to-suit solutions. The goal is for the platform to grow to 80,000 to 100,000 cabinets over the next five to seven years.

Mr. Steve Zhang, CEO of 21Vianet, stated, “We are extremely excited to partner with Warburg Pincus, one of the world’s leading private equity firms, and establish a specialized platform to address China’s wholesale data center market.  While the Company stays focused on its core retail colocation and cloud services, which are centered on interconnection and an open cloud ecosystem, the JV will help strengthen our IDC competitive advantages through broader product offerings and specialized business solutions. As China’s data center industry moves towards increased specialization and verticalization, we firmly believe that the JV will enable us to effectively capture incremental market opportunities from diverse customers and attract more world-class talent.”

“Combining 21Vianet’s 20 years of experience in data center operations and Warburg Pincus’ rich resources in capital markets, industry network and track record in partnering with leading enterprises in China, the JV represents a strategic alliance to advance the development of data center real estate opportunities in China,” commented Mr. Terry Wang, CFO of 21Vianet. “By separating the capital intensive data center infrastructure layer from the Company’s asset light businesses, we are confident that we will lessen our dependence on Capex, improve our free cash flow, capital structure and with it, overall shareholders’ value.”

Ellen Ng, Managing Director of Warburg Pincus, commented, "Data centers have been one of the best performing real estate asset classes globally and one supported by compelling secular trends in China.  We have tracked the sector in China for years and are delighted to collaborate with 21Vianet to form the JV.  Our partnership will create significant synergies by combining 21Vianet’s deep industry knowhow and client resources with Warburg Pincus’ international resources, financing channels and industry networks in both the real estate and TMT sectors in China.”

BEIJING, Oct. 20, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that IBM Bluemix cloud services, which are operated by 21Vianet, are now generally available in China.

With a rapidly growing population of developers, industries in China continue to progress the ways in which they use and build with advanced technologies via the cloud. The potential is tremendous across China's vast network of enterprises and startups, including its manufacturing and financial services industries.

Since 21Vianet and IBM Cloud joined forces to bring IBM Bluemix to China in 2015, this partnership has helped to place technology at the center of a new wave of entrepreneurship and innovation throughout the country. With today's news, the deepening partnership now brings a comprehensive set of blockchain and IoT services to China's burgeoning developer community.

"Strategically, with China's domestic cloud, the international cloud and high performing data centers as the starting point, 21Vianet Group is committed to creating an open hybrid cloud ecosystem. IBM Cloud has long been a vital partner for 21Vianet's cloud strategy, and in the future we will work together to facilitate a wider range of cooperation. We also plan to continue working with IBM to build a robust and comprehensive cloud ecosystem in China, combining our 20 years of experience in data center operations with IBM's advanced cloud services and deep technical expertise. This will give Chinese businesses the right mix of tools to innovate and succeed," commented Mr. Steve Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of 21Vianet.

Mr. Ernie Hu, China General Manager of IBM Cloud, stated, "Providing the infrastructure of Bluemix, combined with the latest technologies from both IBM and a growing roster of partners and Chinese service providers, will equip our country's developers with the set of tools they need to fuel more intelligent and advanced innovations across the fastest-growing industries in China, including manufacturing and financial services."

Second Quarter 2016 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased to RMB910.8 million (US$137.1 million) from RMB866.8 million in the comparative period in 2015.
• LOSS PER SHARE: Diluted loss per ordinary share for the second quarter of 2016 was RMB0.22, which represents the equivalent of RMB1.32 (US$0.20) per American Depositary Share ("ADS"). Each ADS represents six ordinary shares. Adjusted diluted loss per share for the second quarter of 2016 was RMB0.19, which represents the equivalent of RMB1.14 (US$0.17) per ADS.

Mr. Steve Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "Despite headwinds in certain market segments, we are pleased to report that core business areas, including IDC, Cloud and VPN gained solid growth momentum in the second quarter. Following a slow start during the first quarter this year, new cabinet additions in our self-built data centers were back on track and utilization continued to trend up and we expect the momentum in our core IDC segment to continue.  Additionally, we are experiencing solid growth in our cloud business, driven by both steady growth from our existing Microsoft cloud business, as well as contributions from IBM cloud business. However, challenges in our managed network services (“MNS”) segment remain, which we are proactively and aggressively addressing. As we continue to focus on our key growth areas and optimizing our revenue mix, we believe that we are well positioned to capture the tremendous growth potential in China and maintain our position as a leading internet infrastructure service provider in China."

Mr. Terry Wang, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "We see positive signs in terms of new business opportunities and cost control initiatives, even as pricing pressure continued to limit our top line growth in the managed network services. Our total revenues in the second quarter of 2016 increased to RMB910.8 million (US$137.1 million), primarily driven by improving year-over-year growth in the hosting related business, including IDC, Cloud and VPN services. Overall number of cabinets reached 24,098 during the quarter and those in our self-built data centers accounted for 69% of total. Utilization rate further improved to 76.2%, from 74.6% in the first quarter and 67.5% a year ago as cabinet billing growth remained strong. Further, we are pleased with our operations team’s progress on cost control front, which is yet to be fully reflected in our quarterly financial results and should yield positive results in the coming quarters. With our core hosting business steadily growing, new business opportunities opening up and cost-control effort progressing, we remain confident to reignite margin growth going forward."

Financial Outlook

For the third quarter of 2016, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB900 million to RMB940 million, representing approximately 0.4% year-over-year decline at the mid-point. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB40 million to RMB60 million, representing approximately 59% year-over-year decline at the mid-point.

For the full year 2016, the Company now expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB3.62 billion to RMB3.66 billion, representing approximately 0.2% growth over 2015 at the mid-point. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2016 is expected to be in the range of RMB240 million to RMB260 million, representing approximately 54% decline over 2015 at the mid-point. These forecasts reflect the Company's current and preliminary view, which may be subject to change.

BEIJING, July 06, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral internet data center services provider in China, today announced that 21Vianet and Kingsoft Corporation Limited (3888.HK) ("Kingsoft"), a leading internet based software developer, distributor and service provider, have extended the strategic cooperation on data center cabinets leasing.

Following the completion of Kingsoft’s US$172 million investment in 21Vianet in January 2015, 21Vianet and Kingsoft signed a strategic cooperation agreement, pursuant to which 21Vianet agreed to establish, operate and manage a new data center, and provide at least 5,000 new cabinets to Kingsoft and its affiliates over a period of three years until January 2018.

The renewed agreement extends the term of the strategic cooperation on data center cabinets leasing by three years until January 2021. Pursuant to the renewed agreement, 21Vianet will continue to provide new cabinets to Kingsoft and its designated third-parties to help them meet the demand for next-generation cloud computing infrastructure. The two companies will also share 21Vianet’s resources and infrastructure development, as well as explore innovative supply chain finance solutions together during the effective period of the renewed agreement.

Mr. Steve Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, commented, “We are very excited to extend the strategic cooperation agreement with Kingsoft, one of our key strategic partners. The renewed agreement will continue to serve as an incremental source of demand for our IDC business, further strengthening our core operations. Looking forward, we will continue to work closely with our partners, to strengthen our leadership role in China's data center and cloud computing services market."

BEIJING, June 30, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that 21Vianet was selected as one of the first batch of companies to participate in the Cornerstone Plan launched by Tsinghua Holdings, a wholly state-owned technology conglomerate solely invested in by Tsinghua University.

The Cornerstone Plan aims to support research on and the implementation of strategic technologies as well as transformational scientific and technological advancements in China. Over the next five years, one of Cornerstone Plan’s main objectives is to invest RMB 50 billion (US$7.54 billion) into technical research and development, set up a fund of RMB 10 billion (US$1.5 billion) to transform scientific and technological advancements, and build a 500,000-square-meter incubation center to accelerate the transformation of 50 major advancements.

21Vianet and Tsinghua Holdings reached an agreement that the Cornerstone Plan will support 21Vianet’s long term vision to transform from an internet data center (“IDC”) company to a full open-source internet infrastructure ecosystem. By leveraging rich resources of Tsinghua University and Tsinghua Holdings, such as capital, talent, real estate and technology, 21Vianet will focus on expanding its data center portfolio and developing cross connection and hybrid cloud opportunities, while tapping into new markets, such as big data and clean energy. 21Vianet will play a key role in implementing technology innovations in the next generation internet infrastructure area of the Cornerstone Plan.  

Mr. Steve Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, commented, “We are very excited to be among the first batch of companies selected to participate in Tsinghua Holdings’ Cornerstone Plan.  This honor demonstrates our leadership throughout the Chinese market and our commitment to the long term vision of building an open and seamless network ecosystem. With strong support from Tsinghua Holdings, we look forward to strengthening our core operations and drive both near- and long-term value for our customers and shareholders.”

BEIJING, June 30, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that its board of directors (the "Board") has authorized a US$200 million share repurchase program.

The Board has authorized, but not obligated, to repurchase up to an aggregate of US$200 million of its own outstanding shares within the next 12 months. The share repurchases may be made on the open market at prevailing market prices pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 and/or Rule 10b-18 plans, in privately negotiated transactions, in block trades or legally permissible ways from time to time depending on market conditions and in accordance with applicable rules and regulations.

The Board will review the share repurchase program periodically, and may authorize adjustments to its terms and size. The Company plans to fund repurchases made under this program from its available cash balance.

First Quarter 2016 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased to RMB862.3 million (US$133.7 million) from RMB860.1 million in the comparative period in 2015.
• LOSS PER SHARE: Diluted loss per ordinary share for the first quarter of 2016 was RMB0.28, which represents the equivalent of RMB1.68 (US$0.26) per American Depositary Share ("ADS"). Each ADS represents six ordinary shares. Adjusted diluted loss per share for the first quarter of 2016 was RMB0.14, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.84 (US$0.13) per ADS. Adjusted loss per share is calculated using adjusted net loss as discussed above divided by the weighted average number of shares.

Mr. Steve Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "First of all, we are very excited to welcome an industry leader, Tus-Holdings, as a major strategic investor in our company and believe that its investment offers significant strategic values in strengthening our core operations and expanding new business opportunities. During the first quarter, we continued to execute on our strategies to grow our core businesses organically while maintaining a disciplined approach in our cost structure. Our IDC business remains a steady growth engine, driven by improving utilization rate, relatively low churn and strong billing cabinet sales, especially in tier one markets. Additionally, we are pleased to see demand for our cloud services remained strong thanks to continued traction with the Windows Azure and Office 365 product offerings. However, as we restructure our business and invest in our core growth opportunities, we also witnessed certain industry challenges and non-recurring factors. Solid year-over-year growth in IDC, cloud and VPN revenues were offset by continued weakness in MNS business, seasonal headwinds in our content delivery network business and the optimization process in Aipu business. However, going forward, we are confident that we can overcome these challenges, reignite growth and profitability and strengthen our position as a leading internet infrastructure services provider."

Mr. Terry Wang, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "Our total revenues in the first quarter increased to RMB862.3 million (US$133.7 million), primarily driven by solid year-over-year growth in our hosting line, including IDC, cloud and VPN. Overall number of cabinets reached 23,825 and our data center utilization rate improved to 74.6% from 71.7%. Additionally, we also tightened our cost by reducing sales agency fees and consulting fees, reducing our total operating expenses to RMB254.5 million (US$39.5 million) in the first quarter of 2016. However, hosting revenue growth was partially offset by the continued bandwidth pricing pressure in our MNS business and as we trimmed some of the lower margin revenue in the Aipu business. As the entire operations team is proactively working to address these challenges, we will continue to fine-tune our cost structure and become more disciplined in our capital investment programs going forward."

BEIJING, May 23, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier-neutral internet data center services provider in China, announced today that Tus-Holdings Co., Ltd. (“Tus-Holdings”), a large integrated enterprise established in reliance on Tsinghua University, has, through its affiliated investment vehicle, entered into definitive share subscription agreement (“Share Subscription Agreement”) to make US$388 million equity investment in the Company.

Pursuant to the Share Subscription Agreement, an affiliated investment vehicle of Tus-Holdings will make a US$388 million investment in 21Vianet, with a share subscription price of approximately US$2.712 per ordinary share, or US$16.274 per ADS. The investment will be comprised of newly issued 31,996,874 Class A ordinary shares and 111,053,390 Class B ordinary shares. Immediately after the closing of the transaction, Tus-Holdings will, through its affiliated investment vehicle, hold approximately 21.4% equity ownership in 21Vianet, representing approximately 51.0% of the voting power. The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, with the closing expected to occur in June 2016. The investor agrees to be restricted from transferring or otherwise disposing of the newly issued shares within 180 days after closing.

“We welcome the new strategic investments by Tus-Holdings,” said Mr. Josh Chen, co-founder and chairman of 21Vianet. "We are very excited to see that Tus-Holdings, a leading enterprise engaging in fostering technological innovations and entrepreneurship, shares our vision and strategy in developing a more open, more innovative, next generation cyberspace infrastructure in China. As we remain fully committed to our customer-focused value proposition, we are confident that its investments offer significant strategic value in strengthening our core operations and expanding new business opportunities."

Mr. Jiwu Wang, Chairman of Tus-Holdings, stated, “We are excited of the strategic investment in 21Vianet as we believe the growth strategies from both Tus-Holdings and 21Vianet are highly aligned and complementary. With a strategic focus in 'digital industries, digital cities and digital science parks,' Tus-Holdings strives to become a leading force in building a digital economy in China with key growth engines including Cloud Computing, Big Data and Internet of Things. By sharing resources and facilitating innovation and cooperation, we believe Tus-Holdings and 21Vianet can work together to achieve that common goal. Additionally, we are confident in 21Vianet’s management team’s ability to execute its business strategies, capture growth in the internet infrastructure market and generate shareholder value over the long term."

BEIJING, April 29, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier-neutral internet data center services provider in China, today announced that Beijing Yiyun Network Technology Co., Ltd. (�Beijing Yiyun�), a various interest entity of the Company and the main operating entity of 21Vianet, has agreed to issue an aggregate of RMB1.75 billion convertible bonds to a group of investors (the �Investors�), including Beijing Nuoyuan Innovation Equity Investment Centre (Limited Partnership), Shanghai SDIC Xieli Development Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership), Ningbo Huagai Detao Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), Shenzhen Qianhai Luojia Fangyuan Shunjing Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) and others.  The Company intends to use the convertible bonds proceeds to repay its existing bonds, to fund the Company�s working capital and for other general corporate purposes.

Each investor will fund its convertible bonds proceeds to Beijing Yiyun in two payments, with 50% of the proceeds funded at the first payment, and the remaining funded at the second payment subject to certain conditions.  Both payments are expected to complete in the second quarter of 2016.  

The convertible bonds, due in 60 months from the date of the first payment, will have zero coupon rate. At the option of the holders, the convertible bonds are convertible into shares represented by American depositary shares (�ADSs�) in the Company within 13 to 48 months following the date of the first payment.  The conversion price will be based on a 25%, 20% and 15% premium over the 30-day average prices of the Company�s ADSs prior to the intended conversion date, if such conversion occurs in the second year, third year and fourth year following the first payment date, respectively.

The bonds will, subject to the satisfaction of certain other conditions precedent, be convertible into equity interest of Beijing 21Vianet Broad Band Data Center Co., Ltd. (�21Vianet Beijing�), a wholly owned subsidiary of Beijing Yiyun. The Investors (collectively) are entitled to nominate one candidate as the board observer of 21Vianet Beijing before the conversion date, or as a board member of 21Vianet Beijing after the bonds are converted into equity interests in 21Vianet Beijing.

If the bonds are not converted into ADSs of the Company or equity interest in 21Vianet Beijing within 60 months following the first payment date, the Investors may, via written notices, require Beijing Yiyun to repay the loan principal and interest. The loan interest is calculated at a compound annual interest rate of 8% or 6.55% based on two pre-determined scenarios.

• Net revenues increased by 18.7% to RMB924.1 million (US$145.4 million) from RMB778.5 million in the comparative period in 2014.
• EARNING/LOSS PER SHARE: Diluted loss per ordinary share for the third quarter of 2015 was RMB0.12, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.72 (US$0.11) per American Depositary Share ("ADS"). Each ADS represents six ordinary shares.

Mr. Steve Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "We are pleased with our top-line growth in the third quarter, which was driven by an increase in billable cabinets and additional revenue contribution from the Microsoft cloud business. Through our partnership with IBM, we gained a major deal with BlueMix in October to provide comprehensive datacenter services through 2018. In addition, we are focusing on restructuring our company into different business units in order to better serve the evolving and increasingly specialized market segments. We believe this greater level of autonomy will allow the various units to specialize and optimize in a way to further improve scale, profitability and operating efficiencies. As we expand our datacenter footprint, and leverage our strong partnerships with global tech companies, we remain confident in our ability to scale our business both financially and operationally."

Mr. Terry Wang, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "The third quarter witnessed steady top-line growth with revenues increasing 18.7% year over year, which came in above the mid-point of our revenue guidance, despite the ongoing decline of bandwidth pricing in the market. We deployed nearly 600 cabinets in the third quarter, and will accelerate deployment as we close out 2015. We also further increased our data center utilization rate to 71.8% from 67.5% in the preceding quarter, while improving our already low hosting churn rate to 0.26% from 0.37%. On the other hand, EBITDA came in softer than expected, due to the higher spending on telecommunication costs and some lower margin equipment sales to certain broadband retail customers. We continue to face certain challenges in this market, but we are confident that as we restructure our business and invest in growth opportunities, we can reignite growth and solidify our position as a leading internet infrastructure services provider."

Financial Outlook

For the fourth quarter of 2015, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB960 million to RMB1.0 billion, representing approximately 15% year-over-year growth at the mid-point. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB100 million to RMB120 million, representing approximately 31% year-over-year decline at the mid-point.

For the full year 2015, the Company now expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB3.61 billion to RMB3.65 billion (revised from prior guidance of RMB3.58 billion to RMB3.68 billion), representing approximately 26% growth over 2014 at the mid-point. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2015 is expected to be in the range of RMB538 million to RMB558 million (revised from prior guidance of RMB620 million to RMB660 million), representing approximately 2% decline over 2014 at the mid-point. These forecasts reflect the Company's current and preliminary view, which may be subject to change.

• Net revenues increased by 31.7% to RMB866.8 million (US$139.8 million) from RMB658.0 million in the comparative period in 2014.
• Adjusted diluted loss per share for the second quarter of 2015 was RMB0.02, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.12 (US$0.02) per ADS. 

Mr. Josh Chen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "During the second quarter, we further executed on our strategy with steady growth in our core internet data center ("IDC") and CDN businesses. For our IDC businesses, demand remains strong as we had another quarter of increasing cabinet sales. Following a seasonally soft first quarter, our CDN business also started to recover and is expected to further improve in the second half of 2015. However, this quarter also brought with it some challenges, including delays in new cabinet builds, continued headwinds in bandwidth prices and incremental costs due to organizational transitions. As we further optimize our operations, strengthen our organization and continue to invest in core growth opportunities, we are confident in our ability to address these challenges and re-accelerate our growth organically and profitably."

Mr. Terry Wang, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "We finished another quarter of steady growth, with net revenues growing by 31.7% year over year and adjusted EBITDA growing by 13.2% year over year. We further improved our data center utilization rate to 67.5% from 65.0%, while maintaining our low hosting churn rate of 0.37%. In addition, our days-sales-outstanding ("DSO") also further improved to 77 days in the second quarter of 2015. However, we also recognize that our operating results this quarter were softer than expected in a few areas, and we are actively working with our operations team to address these issues. As we fine-tune our cost structure and become more disciplined in our capital investment programs in a market that is increasingly sophisticated and value-driven, we believe we are well positioned to capitalize on our strategy as a leading internet infrastructure services provider."

Financial Outlook

For the third quarter of 2015, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB900 million to RMB940 million, representing approximately 18% year-over-year growth at the mid-point. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB146 million to RMB166 million, representing approximately 1% year-over-year growth at the mid-point. For the full year 2015, the Company now expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB3.58 billion to RMB3.68 billion (revised from prior guidance of RMB3.91 billion to RMB4.11 billion), representing approximately 26% growth over 2014 at the mid-point. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2015 is expected to be in the range of RMB620 million to RMB660 million (revised from prior guidance of RMB760 million to RMB860 million), representing approximately 15% growth over 2014 at the mid-point. These forecasts reflect the Company's current and preliminary view, which may be subject to change.

BEIJING, June 22, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier-neutral internet data center services provider in China, today announced that Mr. Shang-Wen Hsiao, its Chief Financial Officer, has decided to resign from his current role and will serve as an advisor to the Board of Directors effective July 1, 2015. Mr. Hsiao has served as the Company's CFO since June 2010. The Company also announced that Mr. Terry Wang will succeed Mr. Hsiao as Chief Financial Officer of 21Vianet.

Mr. Wang will be undertaking the Company's finance, legal, merger and acquisitions, capital markets and investor relations and internal control responsibilities. Prior to joining 21Vianet, Mr. Wang has served as the Company's independent director and Chair of the Audit Committee since April 2011. Mr. Wang has over 20 years of extensive experience in international financial service industry and management experience in technology, manufacturing industries and capital markets. Mr. Wang has been the chief financial officer since 2014 at GalaxyCore, a company for designing and providing CMOS image sensor. From 2008 to 2014, Mr. Wang served as the chief financial officer at Trina Solar Ltd., a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Prior to joining Trina Solar Ltd., Mr. Wang served as the executive vice president of finance of Spreadtrum Communications, Inc., a wireless and fabless semiconductor company listed on NASDAQ, from 2004 to 2007. Mr. Wang received an MBA from University of Wisconsin and Master of Science degrees from Brown University. Mr. Wang received his master and bachelor's degrees from Fudan University.

Mr. Josh Chen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated: "We welcome Mr. Wang as 21Vianet's new Chief Financial Officer. His broad financial experience and deep operating knowledge make him an ideal addition to 21Vianet's management team in helping to guide 21Vianet through the next stages of its transformation and further strengthening the Company's leadership position in its industry. Furthermore, I would like to thank Mr. Hsiao for his many contributions during the past five years. I appreciate his dedication with the Company and the important leadership he has played in not only enhancing the Company's financial foundation, but also helping to steer 21Vianet through one of its most successful periods of growth. We all wish him every success in the future."

Mr. Hsiao said: "It has been an incredibly rewarding experience at 21Vianet and I would like to thank everyone associated with 21Vianet for the opportunity to contribute to the Company over the past five years. I am delighted with the progress 21Vianet has made over the past five years and proud of many achievements we have made both financially and strategically. I came to 21Vianet with the belief of its strategic direction and I'm leaving with even greater confidence in the Company's opportunity as a leader in China's internet infrastructure sector."

BEIJING, June 16, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that in response to the preliminary non-binding proposal dated June 10, 2015 (the "Proposal") from Mr. Josh Sheng Chen, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, Kingsoft Corporation Limited and Tsinghua Unigroup International Co., Ltd. (collectively, the "Buyer Group") that the Company's board of directors (the "Board") received, the Board has formed a special committee of independent directors (the "Special Committee") to review and evaluate the Proposal.

The Special Committee is composed of Mr. Yoshihisa Ueno, Mr. Kenneth Chung-Hou Tai and Mr. Steve Zhang, who are independent directors of the Company and are unaffiliated with the Proposal. Mr. Ueno will be the chairman of the Special Committee. The Board also expects that the Special Committee will retain independent advisors, including independent financial and legal advisors, to assist it in this process.

The Company cautions its shareholders and others considering trading its securities that neither the Board nor the Special Committee has made any decision with respect to the Company's response to the Proposal. There can be no assurance that any definitive offer will be made by members of the Buyer Group or any other person, that any definitive agreement will be executed relating to the proposed transaction, or that the proposed transaction or any other transaction will be approved or consummated.

• Net revenues increased by 46.8% to RMB860.1 million (US$138.7 million) from RMB586.0 million in the comparative period in 2014.
• Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the first quarter of 2015 was RMB0.02, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.12 (US$0.02) per ADS.

Mr. Josh Chen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "Our year is off to a solid start with demand for our internet data center ("IDC") and cloud businesses driving top-line revenue growth and EBITDA expansion. For our IDC business, we had a strong quarter of cabinet sales and a robust pipeline. We further expanded our data center portfolio to a total of 22,024 cabinets at the end of the first quarter, representing a growth of 46.1% year-over-year. In the first quarter, we also extended the commercial operator agreement for public cloud services with Microsoft for four additional years. The extension further strengthens our leadership position in China's cloud computing services market and speaks to our unique competitive advantage in the market. However, we also experienced some softness in our MNS and CDN businesses this quarter, due to stronger than expected seasonality and the continued industry-wide decline in bandwidth prices. We are actively working with our customers and suppliers to further optimize our cost structure and address these challenges. As we enter seasonally strong second half of 2015, we are confident in our ability to re-accelerate our growth and continue executing on our strategies to capture a greater share of the growing data center and cloud services markets."

Mr. Shang-Wen Hsiao, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "We began the year with another quarter of solid growth, with total revenues growing by 46.8% year-over-year and adjusted EBITDA growing by 47.8% year-over-year. Our adjusted operating expenses as a percentage of revenues decreased from the fourth quarter of 2014. In addition, we continue to effectively manage our working capital, as days-sales-outstanding ("DSO") remained stable at 78 days in the first quarter of 2015. Furthermore, we completed the equity investments from Kingsoft, Xiaomi, and Temasek. These transactions not only provide us with capital that further strengthens our financial position, but also afford us additional opportunities in our IDC business and related services. Recognizing the ongoing expansion of internet usage, mobile traffic, and cloud services demand in China, we believe we are well-equipped to address the growing data needs of our customers and further improve our top line growth and profitability.

Financial Outlook

For the second quarter of 2015, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB886 million to RMB922 million, representing approximately 37% growth year-over-year at the mid-point. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB152 million to RMB172 million, representing approximately 23% growth year-over-year at the mid-point. For the full year 2015, the Company now expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB3.91 billion to RMB4.11 billion, representing approximately 39% growth over 2014 at the mid-point. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2015 is expected to be in the range of RMB760 million to RMB860 million, representing approximately 45% growth over 2014 at the mid-point. These forecasts reflect the Company's current and preliminary view, which may be subject to change.

KIRKLAND, WA--(Marketwired - Apr 29, 2015) -BitTitan, the cloud enablement provider, today announces it has increased its global footprint through a reseller partnership with 21Vianet Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: VNET), a leading carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider and the official operator of Microsoft� Office 365� and Microsoft Azure� in mainland China. The partnership will help push the adoption of Office 365 in the region by enabling resellers to provide seamless mailbox and data migration for their customers with BitTitan's cloud-based migration solution MigrationWiz�.

The rapid adoption of Office 365 by local Chinese companies and multinational corporations is a key opportunity for the channel to capitalize on Office 365 activations and adoptions. To achieve this goal, 21Vianet needed a solution that eliminated the complexities typically experienced when moving data and mailboxes to the cloud. By partnering with BitTitan, 21Vianet eliminates this chaos, enabling a simple, automated migration that makes the move to cloud quick and easy and without disrupting the customer's business.

"Our goal is to make the transition to the cloud easy for resellers and companies in the Chinese market by providing migration and automation services direct from within China. Our partnership with 21Vianet is a major stepping stone in helping us reach this goal," said Geeman Yip, CEO of BitTitan. "With MigrationWiz, 21Vianet's partners can lower overall project costs and time, easily scale to the needs of their customers, receive five-star customer service, and remove the barriers that often prevent a company from moving to the cloud."

"BitTitan is gaining a worldwide reputation for its understanding of the unique needs and immense opportunities involved with the move to Office 365 and the cloud," said Wing-Dar Ker, president of MS Cloud Business Unit at 21Vianet. "By partnering with BitTitan, 21Vianet can offer the customers a cloud platform with rich leading cloud solutions and world-class local support, providing a major value add for both the Chinese reseller channel and customers."

BitTitan's partnership with 21Vianet is one of many recent global wins for the company. BitTitan already works with some of the largest distributors in the United States, Canada, Latin America and Europe. This includes Tech Data, Synnex, WestCoast, Nexys and Intcomex.

MigrationWiz is being offered as part of 21Vianet's Cloud Computing Services through its MS Cloud Business Unit. This unit provides flexible, reliable and high-value Azure and Office 365 public cloud services for enterprises of all sizes and individual customers.

SEATTLE, April 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Datacastle, a market leader in enterprise endpoint backup and data protection, today announced it has signed a multi-year agreement with 21Vianet (Nasdaq: VNET) to allow 21Vianet to resell the Datacastle RED solution for laptop, desktop and tablet data protection. The new 21Vianet offering will be sold under the 21Vianet brand and will be offered as a Microsoft Azure, cloud-based solution in China.

Datacastle protects enterprises from ransomware extortion, data loss and data breach with simplified and scalable endpoint backup and data protection. Datacastle RED's hybrid cloud deployment option with Microsoft Azure enables enterprises to rapidly experience LAN-speed performance with the assurance of offsite, cloud-based recoverability and mobile access.

"21Vianet is committed to bringing the worldwide best-in-class cloud solutions on Microsoft Azure in China," said Wing Ker, president of Microsoft Cloud Operations at 21Vianet. "Enterprises in China will now have endpoint data protection option to protect against ransomware, data loss, and data breach through our partnership with Datacastle."

21Vianet provides the world class reliable and safety cloud services to the business in China. It enables the global solution providers, such as Datacastle, to quickly enter into the China market without the headaches of localization, qualification, local support, etc. It also enables the customers in China to have the access to the solutions through 21Vianet's strong channel networks.

"21Vianet is an outstanding partner for Datacastle in China," said Ron Faith, CEO, Datacastle. "Given 21Vianet's expertise operating Microsoft Azure in China and their trusted status as a data center service provider, customers in China will get the best performance, reliability and security."

SEATTLE, April 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Datacastle, a market leader in enterprise endpoint backup and data protection, today announced it has signed a multi-year agreement with 21Vianet (VNET) to allow 21Vianet to resell the Datacastle RED solution for laptop, desktop and tablet data protection. The new 21Vianet offering will be sold under the 21Vianet brand and will be offered as a Microsoft Azure, cloud-based solution in China.

Datacastle protects enterprises from ransomware extortion, data loss and data breach with simplified and scalable endpoint backup and data protection. Datacastle RED's hybrid cloud deployment option with Microsoft Azure enables enterprises to rapidly experience LAN-speed performance with the assurance of offsite, cloud-based recoverability and mobile access.

"21Vianet is committed to bringing the worldwide best-in-class cloud solutions on Microsoft Azure in China," said Wing Ker, president of Microsoft Cloud Operations at 21Vianet. "Enterprises in China will now have endpoint data protection option to protect against ransomware, data loss, and data breach through our partnership with Datacastle."

21Vianet provides the world class reliable and safety cloud services to the business in China. It enables the global solution providers, such as Datacastle, to quickly enter into the China market without the headaches of localization, qualification, local support, etc. It also enables the customers in China to have the access to the solutions through 21Vianet's strong channel networks.

"21Vianet is an outstanding partner for Datacastle in China," said Ron Faith, CEO, Datacastle. "Given 21Vianet's expertise operating Microsoft Azure in China and their trusted status as a data center service provider, customers in China will get the best performance, reliability and security."

BEIJING, April 1, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that the 21Vianet and Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq:MSFT) ("Microsoft") have extended the commercial operator agreement to provide Microsoft's premier commercial cloud services � Windows Azure and Office 365 in China.

The renewal agreement extends the term of the Microsoft China services commercial operator agreement by four years until December 31, 2018. Pursuant to the renewal agreement, 21Vianet will continue to fully operate and further expand Windows Azure and Office 365 service offerings in China to support the anticipated growth during the effective period of the renewal agreement.

Mr. Josh Chen, Chairman and CEO of 21Vianet, stated, "As China's premier infrastructure provider and cloud enabler, we are extremely excited to extend this important partnership with Microsoft. Since 2012, teams from Microsoft and 21Vianet have worked diligently and seamlessly in the preparation, public preview and commercial launch of both Windows Azure and Office 365 services in China. Today, we are proud to be recognized not only as the first and only international cloud computing platform commercially available in China, but also as the provider that offers security, reliability and value to a wide variety of customers. As the growth momentum for cloud services remains exceptionally strong, we believe this partnership extension marks another significant step in solidifying the cooperation between 21Vianet and Microsoft as well as strengthening our leadership role in China's cloud computing services market."

Ralph Haupter, corporate vice president and CEO for Microsoft Greater China, said: "We are very pleased to have extended a successful relationship with 21Vianet, following more than 2 years of close collaboration in bringing Microsoft public cloud services to the Chinese market. Both Azure and Office 365 have strong momentum in the market with broad adoption by both local Chinese companies and multinational corporations. Customers value Azure and Office 365's enterprise-grade benefits such as security, flexibility, reliability, scalability, openness, cost efficiency and deployment speed. We remain firmly committed to the Chinese cloud market, and we believe this extended partnership with 21Vianet will serve as a strong foundation for both companies to further contribute to the development of the cloud computing ecosystem throughout China."

Fourth Quarter 2014 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 56.4% to RMB853.9 million (US$137.6 million) from RMB545.9 million in the comparative period in 2013.
• EARNING/LOSS PER SHARE: Diluted loss per ordinary share for the fourth quarter of 2014 was RMB0.44, which represents the equivalent of RMB2.64 (US$0.43) per American Depositary Share ("ADS"). Each ADS represents six ordinary shares. Adjusted diluted loss per share for the fourth quarter of 2014 was RMB0.03, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.18 (US$0.03) per ADS. Adjusted loss per share is calculated using adjusted net loss as discussed above divided by the weighted average number of shares.

Mr. Josh Chen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "We ended 2014 on a strong note, as we saw continued strong growth momentum in our internet data center (IDC), content delivery network (CDN), and cloud businesses. We further expanded our IDC portfolio as we added an additional 3,378 cabinets, allowing our total cabinet count to grow to 21,522, a 53% year-over-year increase. Furthermore, we welcomed new strategic investments from Kingsoft and Xiaomi, and additional investments by Temasek. Our cooperation with Kingsoft calls for at least 5,000 new cabinets to be leased over the next three years, which will serve as an incremental source of demand for our IDC business. We are excited to see leading global technology companies inside and outside of China that share our vision and believe that their investments offer significant strategic value to both our core operations and new business opportunities. Looking ahead at 2015, we expect demand drivers for our business to remain robust, supported by increased Internet usage and penetration in China, additional demand for cloud services, the continued growth of mobile Internet traffic, and increased demand from financial institutions. These drivers will fuel our growth and allow us to continue executing on our strategies, strengthening our position as a leading integrated Internet infrastructure services provider."

Mr. Shang-Wen Hsiao, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "We finished 2014 with another quarter marked by consistent and steady growth, with total revenues growing by 56.4% year-over-year and adjusted EBITDA growing by 55.7% year-over-year. In addition, we were able to significantly increase our data center capacity while maintaining our targeted utilization rate. We also saw continued improvement in our accounts receivables metric, as the days-sales-outstanding (DSO) decreased further from 92 days in the third quarter to 78 days in the fourth quarter. As we move forward, we are confident that we will be able to build upon the strong financial and operating performance of 2014 and continue to execute our strategies to capitalize on the trends taking place in China's dynamic and evolving data center and cloud services markets."

Financial Outlook

For the first quarter of 2015, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB883 million to RMB925 million, representing approximately 54% growth year-over-year at the mid point. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB162 million to RMB182 million, representing approximately 52% growth year-over-year at the mid point. For the full year 2015, the Company now expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB3.91 billion to RMB4.11 billion, representing approximately 39% growth over 2014 at the mid point. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2015 is expected to be in the range of RMB760 million to RMB860 million, representing approximately 45% growth over 2014 at the mid point. These forecasts reflect the Company's current and preliminary view, which may be subject to change

BEIJING, Dec. 1, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), a leading carrier-neutral internet data center services provider in China, announced today that affiliates of Kingsoft Corporation Limited (HK:3888) ("Kingsoft"), a leading internet based software developer, distributor and service provider, Xiaomi Corporation ("Xiaomi"), a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of mobile devices and other electronic equipment and a provider of internet services, and Temasek, a Singapore based investment company, have entered into definitive share purchase agreements with 21Vianet. All shares to be issued in these transactions are newly issued shares of 21Vianet.

Pursuant to the agreement with Kingsoft entered into on November 29, 2014, Kingsoft agrees to make a total of US$172 million investment in 21Vianet, with a purchase price of US$3.00 per ordinary share (the equivalent of US$18.00 per ADS). The investment will all be in newly issued 39,087,125 Class A and 18,250,268 Class B ordinary shares. Immediately after the closing of the transactions with Kingsoft, Xiaomi and Temasek, respectively, Kingsoft will hold approximately 11.6% equity ownership in 21Vianet, representing approximately 19.9% of the voting power. Kingsoft will have the right to nominate one director to 21Vianet's board of directors.

Pursuant to the agreement with Xiaomi entered into on November 30, 2014, Xiaomi agrees to make a total of US$50 million investment in 21Vianet, with a purchase price of US$3.00 per ordinary share ( the equivalent of US$18.00 per ADS). The investment will all be in newly issued 6,142,410 Class A and 10,524,257 Class B ordinary shares. Immediately after the closing of the transactions with Kingsoft, Xiaomi and Temasek, respectively, Xiaomi will hold approximately 3.4% equity ownership in 21Vianet, representing approximately 10.0% of the voting power. Xiaomi will have the right to nominate one director to 21Vianet's board of directors.

Pursuant to the agreement with Temasek entered into on December 1, 2014, Temasek agrees to make a total of US$74 million investment in 21Vianet, with a purchase price of US$3.00 per ordinary share (the equivalent of US$18.00 per ADS) . The investment will be in newly issued 24,668,020 Class A ordinary shares, or the equivalent of 4,111,337 ADSs. Immediately after the closing of the transactions with Kingsoft, Xiaomi and Temasek, respectively, together with its existing equity ownership, Temasek will hold approximately 13.1% equity ownership in 21Vianet, representing 5.8% of the voting power.

Upon the consummation of the investment contemplated under the share purchase agreement with Kingsoft, 21Vianet and Kingsoft will sign a business cooperation memorandum. Under the terms of the memorandum, 21Vianet will build, operate, maintain and provide technical support for new, state-of-art data centers in China to meet Kingsoft and its designated third party's next-generation cloud infrastructure requirements. Upon meeting certain conditions, 21Vianet will lease to Kingsoft and its designated third party (agreed to by 21Vianet) a combined minimum of 5,000 cabinets over the next three years.

"We welcome the new strategic investments by Kingsoft and Xiaomi and the additional investment by Temasek," said Mr. Josh Chen, co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of 21Vianet. "We are very excited to see that Kingsoft and Xiaomi, leading global technology companies, share our vision and strategy in developing open-source technologies, cloud ecosystems and the next generation internet infrastructure in China. As we remain fully committed to the carrier-neutral, customer- neutral and cloud-neutral value proposition, we are confident that their investments offer significant strategic value in strengthening our core operations and expanding new business opportunities."

Mr. Shang Hsiao, Chief Financial Officer of 21Vianet stated, "By partnering with Kingsoft and Xiaomi, not only will we be able to expand the scale of our data center footprint, but we will also be able to develop the next-generation infrastructure platform, helping fuel the continued growth of mobile Internet traffic and cloud computing technology in China. Together, Kingsoft, Xiaomi and Temasek will be not only our strategic investors, but also our partners as we execute our business strategies, capture growth in the internet infrastructure market and generate shareholder value over the long term. The transactions are subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, with the closing expected to occur in January of 2015."

• Net revenues increased by 51.5% to RMB778.5 million (US$126.8 million) from RMB514.0 million in the comparative period in 2013.
• Diluted earnings per ordinary share for the third quarter of 2014 was RMB0.09, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.54 or US$0.09 per American Depositary Share ("ADS"). Each ADS represents six ordinary shares. Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the third quarter of 2014 was RMB0.04, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.24 or US$0.04 per ADS. Adjusted earnings per share is calculated using adjusted net profit as discussed above divided by the weighted average number of shares.

Mr. Josh Chen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "We are pleased to have continued our solid growth momentum during the third quarter. This growth was driven by the increasing strength in our cloud and mobile verticals as well as by contributions from recently completed strategic acquisitions. We further expanded our data center portfolio by adding 1,200 cabinets, increasing the total number of cabinets in our data centers to 18,144 or by 36% year-over-year growth. We also made solid progress in our cloud business, as supported by the launch of our IBM private cloud and Microsoft WebDirect payment services. Moreover, we have recently established a joint venture with Foxconn Technology Group (Foxconn) and continued to engage additional strategic partners, including China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), China Academy of Telecom Research (CATR) and one of the largest e-commerce companies in China. All of these partnerships will continue to help fortify our position as a leading integrated Internet infrastructure services provider."

Mr. Shang-Wen Hsiao, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "We experienced another quarter of consistent growth, reflected by the 51.5% year-over-year growth in total revenues and the 120 basis points year-on-year increase in adjusted EBITDA margin to around 20%. The top-line growth demonstrates the strong demand for our core internet data center (IDC) business, contributions from acquisitions, as well as our rapidly growing content delivery network (CDN) and cloud businesses. Furthermore, we are very pleased to have achieved positive free cash flow³ during the third quarter. We saw substantial improvements in our accounts receivables metric, as the days sales outstanding (DSO) decreased from 107 days in the second quarter to 92 days in the third quarter. Looking forward, we remain committed to building upon our robust financial and operating performance and exploring new strategic opportunities that strengthen our foundation in China's data center and cloud services markets."

Financial Outlook

For the fourth quarter of 2014, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB812 million to RMB848 million, representing approximately 52% growth year over year at the mid point. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB152 million to RMB168 million, representing approximately 68% growth year over year at the mid point. For the full year 2014, the Company now expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB2.84 billion to RMB2.87 billion, representing approximately 45% growth over 2013 at the mid point. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2014 is expected to be in the range of RMB551 million to RMB567 million, representing approximately 53% growth over 2013 at the mid point. The change in the full year 2014 outlook from our prior guidance primarily reflects impact from the transition to VAT system and the revised expectation for the MNS and cloud businesses. These forecasts reflect the Company's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.

BEIJING, Nov. 10, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced a strategic partnership with China Academy of Telecommunications Research ("CATR"), a division of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ("MIIT").

Pursuant to the agreement, 21Vianet and CATR will closely collaborate on multi-level, cutting-edge research and development initiatives in connection with the next-generation broadband industry in China. Key areas of research and development initiatives will include broadband network, mobile internet, cloud computing, big data, interconnection of data centers, infrastructure resource management and network security. The research will explore ways to optimize governance in the broadband industry, further stimulate innovations in China's Internet economy, and ultimately promote and incentivize participation and innovation by medium, small and micro enterprises and consumers.

"We are very excited about this strategic partnership with 21Vianet," commented Shumin Cao, president of CATR. "We are looking forward to closely collaborating with 21Vianet in the key areas outlined in the agreement and to contributing towards the national strategic priority of building strong Internet infrastructure throughout China."

Mr. Josh Chen, Chairman and CEO of 21Vianet, added: "We are honored to form this important partnership with CATR, the top government sponsored research institution in China's telecom industry. CATR shares our vision of building an open and mutually beneficial broadband ecosystem for all participants in the Chinese Internet industry. Under the Broadband China framework, we expect to cooperate with CATR on multiple levels and collectively help to strengthen the collaboration and innovation among industry participants, enterprises and consumers alike."

BEIJING, Oct. 10, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that the Company has established Smart Time Technologies Limited ("Smart Time Technologies" or "Joint Venture"), a strategic joint venture, with the leading global electronics manufacturer, Foxconn Technology Group (TWSE:2354) ("Foxconn"). 21Vianet and Foxconn (together the "Companies") will invest a combined total of US$25 million in the initial phase of the cash investment in return for 60% and 40% equity interest in the Joint Venture, respectively. Through this Joint Venture, 21Vianet and Foxconn will jointly build and develop a global supply chain for the internet data center ("IDC") and cloud computing infrastructure markets. In addition, the Companies also announced that they plan to open a 21Vianet-Foxconn Internet Infrastructure and Engineering Technology Research and Development Center. This development is expected to further strengthen the technological collaboration between the two companies.

Building upon the strategic partnership that the Companies announced in April 2014, Smart Time Technologies will serve as the operating entity in both domestic and foreign IDC markets, responsible for data center planning, design, construction, project financing, operations and maintenance (O&M), customization, design-build, technical support and other services. Additionally, the Joint Venture will seek business opportunities in the power and network equipment markets, in an effort to further improve the overall efficiency and reliability of data center operations and strengthen the basic and value-added network service capabilities.

With the rapid development of internet technologies and the emergence of the big data industry, demand for IDC services has experienced robust growth in both domestic and overseas markets. According to third party industry statistics, the Chinese IDC market reached RMB26 billion in revenues (approximately US$4.2 billion) in 2013, achieving a 6-fold increase over the previous 5 years at a CAGR of over 30%. To put this phenomenon in a global perspective, the global IDC market size in 2013 as measured by total revenues reached approximately US$28 billion, having undergone a CAGR of 11.4% during the same five-year period. In order to effectively capitalize on these opportunities in the IDC and cloud computing market in China, 21Vianet and Foxconn have inked a strategic cooperation which will allow them to share resources and capabilities, and cooperate broadly from an operational perspective.

Mr. Frank Meng, president of 21Vianet, stated, "We are very excited to take this significant step in advancing our strategic cooperation with Foxconn, a Fortune 500 company which possesses world-class R&D and engineering technologies in the areas of cloud servers, storage devices, network equipment, and other key products. This critical partnership will allow the Companies to pool resources and technologies and collaborate operationally. We believe that our cooperation will accelerate the development of the IDC market in China and lead it to become increasingly industrialized, modular-oriented and factory-driven. Through the Joint Venture, we will strive to not only provide the Chinese market with superior cloud data centers that feature green, modular and high-efficiency technologies, but also target the international cloud computing market over time."

Mr. Huifeng Wu, Vice President of Foxconn Group, said, "By combining Foxconn's leading cloud computing solutions, cloud servers, storage devices and IDC cabinets and its many global industrial park expertise with 21Vianet's strong experience in IDC operations and rich resources in network infrastructure and customer relationships, we believe the Joint Venture will facilitate the vertical integration of the IDC value chain, helping to build a complete cloud computing eco-system. We are confident that the Joint Venture is not only an important step in the strategic transformation of Foxconn, but also a positive catalyst to improve the scale and pace of 21Vianet's global IDC deployment."

The initial focus for Smart Time Technologies will be in developing and operating IDC and related internet infrastructure services in Tianjin, Shenzhen and Guiyang. This focus will gradually be expanded to include Singapore, Hong Kong and other markets as well. The two large-scale data centers in Tianjin and Shenzhen are scheduled for deployment in 2015. Leveraging Foxconn's energy-saving products and solutions, the Joint Venture will cooperate with the Guiyang municipal government to expand the city's digital infrastructure as well as support data center development and big data initiatives. Additionally, 21Vianet will also collaborate with Foxconn regarding jointly developing the IDC industry in the markets surrounding Foxconn's existing data centers in Guizhou, China and Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

BEIJING, Oct. 2, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced a strategic partnership with China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), the government administrative agency in charge of managing domestic domain name registry and other core Internet infrastructure services in China.

Pursuant to the agreement, 21Vianet and CNNIC will closely cooperate on conducting fundamental research and developing an open Domain Name System (DNS) Internet platform in China. By sharing resources and complementing capabilities, the two parties will explore strategies to further expand and optimize China's internet infrastructure resources, such as Internet Protocol (IP), Autonomous System (AS) and DNS. The two parties will also jointly establish an Internet Collaborative Innovation Alliance to promote a safer, more open and more vibrant Internet infrastructure network throughout China, with the ultimate goal of improving Internet services and better supporting China's Internet economy.

Speaking at the announcement ceremony in Beijing, Professor Lee Xiaodong, deputy head of CNNIC, stated: "We are excited to partner with 21Vianet, which shares our vision and ambition to enhance China's Internet infrastructure. We look forward to leveraging the expertise and technical capabilities of 21Vianet in further expanding our areas of collaboration." Professor Lee also stated that CNNIC and 21Vianet have had a long history of cooperation and CNNIC highly values the contribution that 21Vianet has made to China's Internet infrastructure industry.

Mr. Josh Chen, Chairman and CEO of 21Vianet, added: "We are honored to form this important partnership with CNNIC. As China's internet traffic continues to witness exponential growth, we believe 21Vianet is in a unique position to help facilitate the design, deployment and optimization of the next generation Internet infrastructure in China. Building upon earlier work related to key network issues facing China, today's strategic agreement represents a higher level of partnership between the two organizations going forward."

Mr. Lu Wei, Director of National Internet Information Office, stated in this year's ICANN conference in London that the Chinese government would stand by CNNIC to promote China's first-level domains to support IPv6, DNSSEC, Chinese e-mail, and other related services. He expects that the partnership between 21Vianet and CNNIC will further promote the safety of China's first-level domains and open up a new model for the development of Chinese Internet infrastructures.

BEIJING, Sept. 26, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq:MSFT) ("Microsoft") and 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), announced that Windows Azure services' WebDirect payment services are now available to all customers in China. 

Customers can purchase public cloud services at international standards directly from the 21Vianet official website. In contrast to traditional offline purchase models, the self-serviced WebDirect model will greatly simplify the contract signing, purchasing, and payment processes. Customers can start using the cloud services as soon as payments are accepted. It will be easier and less costly for small & medium enterprises (SMEs), startups, and developers to adopt public cloud services. The "One RMB Trial" promotion (terms and conditions apply) allows new customers to enjoy a comprehensive public cloud Windows Azure services package for one month, typically valued at RMB2,000.

Mr. George Zhiqing Yan, General Manager of Marketing and Operations for Microsoft Greater China, said, "Since Windows Azure's official launch on March 26, 2014, we have made great progress, exceeding our expectations with the speed and magnitude in which our users have grown. We have always been committed to introducing the world's leading technology and services, and now users in China can also experience public cloud services at international standards. Over the past few months, working with 21Vianet, we have been strengthening the speed and frequency of updates for our public cloud functions and services, further improving our users' experience. WebDirect's rollout will substantially simplify the process of implementing public cloud services, allowing SMEs, startups and developers to experience the online payment, instant deployment, pay-as-you-go way of purchase of Windows Azure and helping them face the IT challenges in this age of cloud computing."

Mr. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, Mr. Ralph Haupter, Corporate Vice President and CEO of Microsoft Greater China, and Mr. Josh Chen, Chairman and CEO of 21Vianet all attended the launch event together. Mr. Josh Chen, Chairman and CEO of 21Vianet, stated, "We are extremely excited to achieve another great milestone in the collaboration between 21Vianet and Microsoft. The WebDirect online payment portal will significantly reduce customers' IT costs and enable them to more easily and efficiently deal with any difficult challenges in the cloud era."

WebDirect is a pre-paid model � it enables customers to order Windows Azure products and services and sign contracts online and prepay for these services by using Alipay and UnionPay payment systems. Currently, the typical online contract will be valid for one year and the lowest package available to customers will cost RMB 700. Windows Azure offers standard service level agreements (SLAs) and users can customize their service packages depending on their specific needs. Once customers begin using the services, the WebDirect system will automatically deduct amounts from the account balance based on actual usage. Prepaid accounts do not support any usage exceeding the paid amount.

Globally, Windows Azure has become Microsoft's fastest growing business segment, servicing over 57% of Fortune 500 companies in more than 100 countries. In China, Windows Azure operated by 21Vianet is the first commercially offered public cloud service at international standards. By combining Microsoft's leading global cloud technologies and 21Vianet's reliable local operation, Windows Azure has been able to attract many new customers, many of which are market leaders in their respective fields.

Starting today, 21Vianet offers the "One RMB Trial" promotion (term and conditions apply) for new customers. Paying one RMB via online registration, customers will be able to enjoy a public cloud Windows Azure services package for one month, typically valued at RMB2,000. For more details on the different Windows Azure services and pricing offered by 21Vianet, please visit the "Pricing" page on the website. 

BEIJING, Sept. 18, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today posted its second response to a short seller's allegations on its Investor Relations website, a copy of which is attached.

21Vianet rejects the baseless allegations published by this short seller, who is once again spreading false and malicious statements about the Company. 21Vianet is fully committed to comply with all applicable SEC rules and regulations.

BEIJING, Sept. 10, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, issued the following statement in response to allegations made by a short seller today:

21Vianet believes that the allegations made contain numerous errors, unsupported speculation and malicious interpretations of events. 21Vianet is committed to providing more detailed response to the allegations promptly and to rebutting false claims that attempt to undermine confidence in its business, financial condition and results of operations.

21Vianet remains focused on its business vision and strategy to become a leading Internet infrastructure service provider in China. 21Vianet intends to take all appropriate legal actions to defend itself against these malicious allegations and to protect the interest of its shareholders.

BEIJING, Sept. 4, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that its board of directors has authorized a US$100 million share repurchase program.

21Vianet's board of directors has authorized, but not obligated, the Company to repurchase up to US$100 million of its own outstanding shares within the next 12 months. The share repurchases may be made on the open market at prevailing market prices pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 and/or Rule 10b-18 plans, in privately negotiated transactions, in block trades or legally permissible ways from time to time depending on market conditions and in accordance with applicable rules and regulations.

21Vianet's board of directors will review the share repurchase program periodically, and may authorize adjustments to its terms and size. The Company plans to fund repurchases made under this program from its available cash balance.

BEIJING, Sept. 2, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that its board of directors has authorized a US$5 million share repurchase program.

21Vianet's board of directors has authorized, but not obligated, the Company to repurchase up to US$5 million of its own outstanding shares within the next 12 months. The share repurchases may be made on the open market at prevailing market prices pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 and/or Rule 10b-18 plans, in privately negotiated transactions, in block trades or legally permissible ways from time to time depending on market conditions and in accordance with applicable rules and regulations.

21Vianet's board of directors will review the share repurchase program periodically, and may authorize adjustments to its terms and size. The Company plans to fund repurchases made under this program from its available cash balance.

Second Quarter 2014 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 39.7% to RMB658.0 million (US$106.1 million) from RMB471.1 million in the comparative period in 2013.
• Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the second quarter of 2014 was RMB0.05, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.30 (US$0.05) per ADS. Adjusted earnings per share is calculated using adjusted net profit as discussed above divided by the weighted average number of shares.

Mr. Josh Chen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "We had an exciting second quarter, marked by the continued strong growth of our internet data center operations, the rapidly growing cloud and CDN businesses, as well as the expansion of our product and service offerings through strategic investment and acquisitions. We are marching forward with our shift to more self-built data centers, as we added close to 1,700 self-built cabinets, bringing the total number of cabinets in our self-built data centers to close to 11,500, or approximately 68% of total cabinets under management. In addition, being the first quarter operating on a fully commercial basis, both Windows Azure and Office365 have experienced tremendous growth, in terms of both revenue growth and new customer additions. Moreover, our strategic investment in Aipu will not only provide cost saving opportunities in bandwidth, but it will also allow us to expand our reach into regional last-mile access networks, further strengthening our position as a leading integrated internet infrastructure services provider."

Mr. Shang-Wen Hsiao, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "We are very proud of our operating performance this quarter as demonstrated by a record low hosting churn rate of 0.28% and our improving utilization rate, which reached 73.9% in the second quarter even as we added close to 1,900 cabinets. Equally pleasing was our financial results, which saw revenue increasing by 39.7% year over year, and adjusted EBITDA margin expansion to 20.1% in the second quarter. The continued strong top line growth and further improvement in profitability highlight the strong demand for our IDC, CDN and cloud services, as we continue to execute on our expansion plans. Supported by additional capital at a very attractive rate from our recent bond offering, we believe we are well-positioned to fund our data center build out, expand strategic assets, and capitalize on exciting developments in China's rapidly data center and cloud services markets.

Financial Outlook

For the third quarter of 2014, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB777 million to RMB813 million, representing approximately 55% growth year over year at the mid point. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB153 million to RMB170 million. For the full year 2014, the Company now expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB2.94 billion to RMB3.02 billion, representing approximately 52% growth over 2013 at the mid point. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2014 is expected to be in the range of RMB600 million to RMB630 million, representing approximately 68% growth over 2013 at the mid point. The increase in the full year 2014 outlook from our prior guidance primarily reflects the expected contributions from recently announced transactions. These forecasts reflect the Company's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.

BEIJING, Aug. 11, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that the Company and its affiliate have entered into definitive agreements to acquire from DYXnet Group the entire equity interest in Dermot Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Dermot Entities"), which operate the Virtual Private Networks ("VPN") business unit within DYXnet Group and include without limitation to Diyixian.com Limited and Shenzhen Diyixian Telecom Company Limited.

Founded in 1999, DYXnet Group is now a VPN market leader in the Greater China region. Through the operation of Dermot Entities, DYXnet Group's current total network connectivity reaches over 700 cities in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam and Singapore. Through this acquisition, 21Vianet is expected to expand its data transmission infrastructure across the Greater China region and deliver high-performance VPN connectivity solutions by utilizing Dermot Entities' advanced network and infrastructure, further strengthening its position as a leading integrated internet infrastructure services provider in China.

Mr.Josh Chen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "We are excited to welcome Dermot Entities to join our family. The Dermot Entities' VPN business has a unique network footprint and offers best-in-class, fully-managed network enabling connectivity to major Asian cities. In addition, their tactical expertise in navigating the region has allowed them to establish a dominant market position with an impressive installed base of over 2,000 customers, including some of the world's largest enterprise and carrier customers. We believe this acquisition will also serve as an integral component of our overall cloud market strategy, as businesses increasingly seek reliable, secure, and highly customizable enterprise grade cloud services."

Mr.Shang Hsiao, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, stated, "We are thrilled to acquire the Dermot Entities with their healthy balance sheets and strong financial performance including more than 90% recurring revenues. The Dermot Entities are uniquely positioned to address the market for connectivity within some of the world's largest and fastest growing economies, capitalizing on demand for connectivity to the Greater China Region. According to Cisco Visual Networking index, IP traffic in Asia Pacific will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 35 percent from 2012 to 2017. Furthermore, we believe this acquisition will not only be accretive for both earnings and cash flow, but also generate potential synergies with our public and private cloud businesses.

The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of certain customary closing conditions. The total consideration for the acquisition is not disclosed and shall be paid in a combination of cash and shares subject to adjustment by performance metrics. After the acquisition, the management of Dermot Entities is expected to remain in place and stay actively involved in Dermot Entities' day-to-day management in at least the next two years. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2014.

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral internet infrastructure services provider and the sole operator of Office 365 and Microsoft Azure in the Chinese Mainland market, and GigaTrust, the market leader for Microsoft-based email and document protection software solutions for mobile devices, announced today that they have signed an exclusive partnership agreement for the China market. Pursuant to the agreement, 21Vianet will market and sell the portfolio of GigaTrust security products to enterprises and Office 365 cloud subscribers in China. This partnership will provide Office 365 enterprise customers in China the ability to protect and render secure emails and documents from anywhere using Android and iPhone mobile devices.

21Vianet has more than 15 years' experience in internet infrastructure services, with its core businesses covering data center management, managed network service, content distributed network service and cloud computing. The Company worked with Microsoft to successfully launch Office 365 services this April, delivering for the first time the familiar Office productivity suite, now equipped with more advanced communication and collaboration tools, as a local cloud service to business and government customers throughout China. The Company will leverage its cloud operation and service excellence to provide one-stop public cloud services to customers in China. According to Forrester Research, China is one of the fastest growing markets for public cloud services in the world and forecast to grow from $300M in 2011 to $3.8B by 2020. 

With the availability of GigaTrust's secure mobility products, 21Vianet will provide Office 365 customers with a comprehensive security solution for both Android and iPhone devices, enabling highly adaptable cross-platforms and cross-devices experience.  Subscribers of Office 365 in China will be able to protect and consume protected emails and documents (Office docs and PDF formats) from anywhere securely to or from the mobile device.  In the past two years, smartphone sales in China have quadrupled, making China one of the world's largest Smartphone markets in the world according to research firm IDC. Today, China has nearly 1 billion mobile phone users with roughly 40% or 400 million currently using smartphones, forecasted to reach 800 million by 2020.

Wing-Dar Ker, President of MS Cloud Business Unit at 21Vianet, stated, "Information security on mobile devices is a critical business requirement for Office 365 cloud customers. 21Vianet is pleased to deliver the industry's leading mobility security solution from GigaTrust to Office 365 customers in China."

"BYOD mobile environments are growing across all markets and GigaTrust is dedicated to providing secure email and document access to mobile devices anywhere. We are very excited to work with 21Vianet to provide GigaTrust's mobile security products to Office 365 customers in China and to participate in the exponential growth of the China public cloud services market combined with the largest number of smartphone users worldwide," said Bob Bernardi, Chairman and CEO of GigaTrust.

BEIJING, June 18, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that the Company has priced the offering of RMB2 billion in aggregate principal amount of the RMB denominated bonds due 2017 at an interest rate of 6.875% per annum (the "Bonds"). The Bonds are being offered outside the United States in reliance on Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

Interest on the Bonds is payable semi-annually in arrears on, or nearest to, June 26 and December 26 in each year, commencing on December 26, 2014. The Bonds are not rated.

The Company intends to use the Bonds proceeds to add new data centers, to fund acquisitions, to purchase, pursuant to a tender offer, the RMB denominated bonds due in March 2016 with RMB1 billion in aggregate principal amount and a coupon rate of 7.875% per annum (the "2016 Bonds") issued by the Company in March 2013, to pay the consent fee pursuant to the invitation to all holders of the 2016 Bonds to approve certain modifications to the terms and conditions of the 2016 Bonds and for general corporate purposes.

The Company has received approval in principal for the Bonds to be listed and quoted on the Official List of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (the "SGX-ST"). Admission of the Bonds to the Official List of SGX-ST is not to be taken as an indication of the merits of the Company and its subsidiary or affiliated entities or the Bonds.

BEIJING, June 4, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that the Company and its affiliate have entered into definitive agreements to invest in Sichuan Aipu Network Co., Ltd. and its affiliates (collectively, the "Aipu Group").

Headquartered in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, the Aipu Group is one of the largest regional internet service providers with operations in 11 cities across China and primarily engages in providing last-mile wired broadband access and other value-added services to internet users. Through this investment, 21Vianet is able to significantly expand the reach of its data transmission network into regional last-mile access networks, further strengthening its position as a leading integrated internet infrastructure services provider in China.

Mr. Frank Meng, President of 21Vianet, stated, "We are extremely excited about the investment in the Aipu Group. The extension into selected regional last-mile access networks highlights an important component of our long term vision to create an open and seamless network ecosystem. As China's internet economy becomes increasingly content and cloud centric, we believe the expanded network footprint will not only enable us to better serve our customers, but also allow us to capture additional growth opportunities. Over time, we are confident that a more comprehensive and broadly integrated network will also provide attractive cost saving opportunities in bandwidth and other areas of our cost structure."

Based on the agreement, 21Vianet will own, both directly and indirectly, an approximately 50% ownership interest in the Aipu Group and become its single largest shareholder. The amount of 21Vianet's cash investment is not disclosed. Other shareholders of the Aipu Group will have the option to sell their remaining interests in the Aipu Group to 21Vianet based on certain performance-based metrics over the next three years.

BEIJING, April 24, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral internet data center services provider in China, announced today that it has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the leading global electronics manufacturer, Foxconn Technology Group (TWSE:2354) ("Foxconn"), in Beijing, with the attendance of Terry Guo, the Chairman and CEO of Foxconn, and Josh Chen, Chairman and CEO of 21Vianet. Pursuant to the agreement, Foxconn will utilize its strategic advantages in terms of resources and capabilities to build carrier-neutral internet data centers for 21Vianet. In addition, the companies will jointly cooperate to develop innovative cloud services targeting the Chinese market. This partnership will further enhance the technical capabilities of 21Vianet's self-built data centers in terms of speed and scale, and help the Company remain ahead of the growing demand for data centers and cloud services in China and abroad.

Under the terms of the agreement, the 21Vianet and Foxconn, will be jointly responsible for the supply chain management of 21Vianet's IDC projects, including design, development, manufacturing and construction of Internet data centers. Foxconn will leverage its global plant operation capabilities and supporting services, as well as its powerful advantages in equipment manufacturing to provide a full suite of services and support for 21Vianet's IDC and related projects. 21Vianet will leverage its advantages in data center construction and operations as well as sales and marketing, in order to more effectively expand China's cloud and IDC infrastructure. The companies also intend to cooperate extensively over domestic data center planning, design, construction, project financing and operation and maintenance, as well as on developing overseas data center markets.

Mr. Feng Xiao, president of 21Vianet's Data Center Business Group, stated, "China's IDC industry has entered an era of robust growth, characterized by the rapid development of cloud computing and big data, which increasingly relies on infrastructure projects, meaning cross-industry cooperation will take a front seat in the IDC industry's future development. As leaders of our respective industries, 21Vianet's and Foxconn's cooperation marks a groundbreaking partnership. We are excited to bring our advantages in resources and capabilities to the table, and cooperate with such a strong partner to jointly contribute to the development of the data center and emerging cloud computing industries in China through multi-dimensional 'innovation' and ' integration."

Mr. Fuming Fu, Senior Vice President of Foxconn Group, said, "Foxconn, as the world's largest professional electronics manufacturer, possesses world-class R&D, design, engineering and manufacturing service capabilities for cloud planning, cloud servers, storage devices, network equipment, and other IDC-relevant technology. Our cooperation with 21Vianet is an important step in the strategic transformation of Foxconn; we believe our partnership has a strong foundation and boundless potential, and we look forward to bringing our many years of technology development and manufacturing experience to the Chinese IDC industry to achieve strong synergies and build a long-term win-win cross-strait relationship."

The two companies will select data center projects in Tianjin and Shenzhen as part of their initial cooperation in 2014.

BEIJING, April 15, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral internet data center services provider in China, today announced that Microsoft Corporation's (Nasdaq:MSFT) Office 365 services are now generally available to all paying customers in China, delivering for the first time the familiar Office productivity suite, now equipped with more advanced communication and collaboration tools, as a local cloud service to business and government customers throughout China.

Operated by 21Vianet, Microsoft Office 365 can now provide fully-operational services to all paying customers in China. Combined with the previous general release of Microsoft Azure services in China operated by 21Vianet announced in late March, this new development further solidifies Microsoft as the first international company to offer a comprehensive commercial suite of public cloud services in China. Office 365 is Microsoft's fastest-growing commercial product ever; 20,000 customers have already tried Microsoft Office 365 services in China since its public preview in August 2013 including private enterprises, government organizations, and education institutions. Additionally, many large enterprises and government organizations have signed up for the services as paying customers including Shanghai, Wenzhou and Xi'an city governments.

Office 365 technology leverages more than 20 years of Microsoft's experience providing the familiar Office productivity solutions to enterprises and institutions of all sizes, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote and Outlook, all connected to Microsoft's collaboration services including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Lync Online. The cloud-based Office 365 enables users to store, manage and collaborate on documents across devices, while giving companies a high level of security and control to protect critical corporate data.

The Company, in conjunction with Microsoft, held a ceremony celebrating the official launch today, April 15 at the Shanghai Energy Park. The event was attended by many government officials including Mr. Xiaofan Zhao, the Chairman of the China Software Association, and many corporate executives from enterprise customers including ICBC Leasing, Cigna-Daniel Ma, Dongfeng Renaut, TCL-Ms Ma, and Domino's, which were early adopters of Office 365.

Mr. Josh Chen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "We are proud to work with Microsoft and become the Chinese operator of the Office 365 services. With both Office 365 and Azure services, we have become the one-stop-shop for Microsoft cloud-based services in China. Enterprises across China are increasingly turning toward Office 365 and Azure services because of the many advantages they offer, such as increased mobility thorough comprehensive mobile integration, reduced IT infrastructure spending as the services and data are managed in the cloud and ensured data security as the services are locally-hosted and well-regulated.

"Furthermore, to ensure the stability, reliability and security of this offering, 21Vianet has built out its Microsoft-certified staff, with approximately 300 full-time employees dedicated to providing 24x7x365 support for Office 365 and Azure alone," Mr. Chen added.

"We are in a mobile-first, cloud-first world. More than 1 billion people use Office to get things done, and they want to use it on their PCs, smartphones, tablets, and across the web." said Qi Lu, Executive Vice President, Applications and Services at Microsoft. "Office 365 operated by 21Vianet enables people to use Office on any of their devices. Operated locally in China, Office 365 brings Chinese users a fresh computing experience enabled by the cloud."

"Office 365 is the easiest way for companies to expand their business, both locally and abroad," said Ralph Haupter, Corporate Vice President and CEO, Microsoft Greater China. "The launch of Office 365 operated by 21Vianet gives companies in China trustworthy technology and service to expand their business."

BEIJING, March 26, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral internet data center services provider in China, today announced that Microsoft Corporation's (Nasdaq:MSFT) Azure services are now generally available to all paid customers in China, making it the first global public cloud service available for massive commercial adoption in China.

Operated by 21Vianet, Microsoft Azure can now provide fully-operational service to all paid customers in China. Prior to today's announcement, a total of over 3,000 clients had signed up for the services, including 160+ large enterprises that have migrated to paid contracts. Today, the partnership is releasing another 2000 free trial accounts to provide opportunities for more customers to experience Microsoft Azure operated by 21Vianet.

The Company, in conjunction with Microsoft, held a ceremony celebrating the official launch today at the Shanghai Expo Center. The event was attended by many government officials including the mayor of Shanghai, several Hunan Provincial government leaders, the Shanghai-based Consul General of Spain, Wuhan Economic and Technological Development District officials, and many corporate executives from companies like Coca-Cola China, GMW.com, CNTV and LineKong, which were early adopters of Microsoft Azure.

Mr. Josh Chen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "We are extremely excited to commercially launch Microsoft Azure services in China. As a result of a concerted effort between the 21Vianet and Microsoft development teams, Microsoft Azure, operated by 21Vianet, is now ready for commercial release in China. It is also in full compliance with Chinese national and local regulations, which have stringent standards for data security. Together with Microsoft, we invested heavily in both financial capital and manpower to ensure that our customers in China will receive the same top-notch quality as global Microsoft Azure customers. The platform's openness, flexibility and pay-as-you-go system makes Microsoft Azure an ideal cloud solution for our Chinese customers."

"We are proud to partner with a world technology leader and be the operator for Microsoft Azure services in the China market. By leveraging Microsoft's strong reputation and over 15 years of cloud experience, as well as 21Vianet's data center expertise, we have built one of China's premier cloud computing platforms," Mr. Chen added.

Zhiqin Rong, the general secretary of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, stated, "Cloud computing is a strategic, growing industry in Shanghai that is playing a significant leading role in economic transformation and long-term sustainable development. Shanghai has a long-standing relationship with Microsoft, which has resulted in many contributions to local economic development and innovation. We look forward to continuing to accelerate regional development through the intelligent city planning (CityNext), the 'Ocean of Cloud' Program, and now with local operations of Microsoft Azure."

Ralph Haupter, corporate vice president and CEO for Microsoft Greater China, said, "As a result of the successful relationship with 21Vianet and the positive feedback from customers, it's clear that Microsoft Azure has exceeded earlier expectations. Microsoft Azure's enterprise-grade benefits such as flexibility, reliability, scalability, openness, cost efficiency and fast deployment were well received by Chinese customers. With this launch, Microsoft continues to contribute to the development of the cloud computing market and ecosystem throughout China."

Microsoft Azure has become Microsoft's fastest growing business segment servicing over 55% of Fortune 500 enterprises with an average of 1,000 new customers signing up every day around the world. In June 2013, Microsoft, 21Vianet and the Shanghai Municipal Government, announced the public preview of Microsoft Azure services in China, followed by the public preview of Office 365 in August, 2013. In January 2014, the Company's Microsoft virtual cloud hosting and cloud storage services were granted the Trustworthy Cloud Service certification by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ("MIIT"). 21Vianet was among the first few companies in China which received the Trustworthy Cloud Service certification.  

Fourth quarter 2013 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 30.6% to RMB545.9 million (US$90.2 million) from RMB417.8 million in the comparative period in 2012.
• EARNING/LOSS PER SHARE: Diluted loss per ordinary share for the fourth quarter of 2013 was RMB0.01, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.06 (US$0.01) per American Depositary Share ("ADS"). Each ADS represents six ordinary shares. Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter of 2013 was RMB0.1, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.6 (US$0.1) per ADS

Mr. Josh Chen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "In 2013, we made tremendous strides in expanding our capacity and market footprint, as well as diversifying our services through forging strategic partnerships with world-class global corporations. For 2014, we aim to deploy an additional 10,000 cabinets and achieve approximately 25,000 total cabinets by the end of 2014 for our core IDC business. For our cloud partnerships with Microsoft and IBM, not only will these help expedite our efforts to develop a premium cloud ecosystem comprised of both public and private cloud services, but also will support our customer expansion and diversification. Based on this foundation, we expect our cloud businesses to contribute approximately 10% of our full year 2014 revenue. Building upon the robust foundation we established in 2013, we are well and uniquely-positioned as an integrated internet services provider in China supported by multiple secular business drivers that will help propel our growth going forward."

Mr. Shang-Wen Hsiao, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "We were very pleased that we maintained a stable utilization rate of 71.2% and achieved an EBITDA margin of 18.8% in the fourth quarter, while significantly increasing our capacity in the second half of 2013. This performance was fueled by the ongoing strong customer demand for our IDC business services and improved sales throughout China. Moreover, our cloud business revenues from our on-going commercialization of the Azure and Office 365 outperformed our initial expectations for the fourth quarter of 2013. Not only were we able to secure several thousand clients on our beta platforms as of year end 2013, but we were also successful in migrating a number of large customers into longer-term annual contracts. In addition, we expect to fully commercialize Microsoft's Windows Azure by March 2014 followed by Office 365 in April with the addition of IBM's private cloud by mid-year 2014. With China's expanding communications apparatus characterized by the ubiquity of mobile Internet and cloud computing, we believe we are well-positioned to capitalize on the trends associated with China's dynamic and evolving data and cloud services market."

Financial Outlook

For the first quarter of 2014, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB575 million (US$95 million) to RMB590 million (US$98 million), representing approximately 33% growth year over year. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB111 million (US$18 million) to RMB115 million (US$19 million). Beginning this quarter, the Company will provide full year 2014 guidance. Net revenues for the full year 2014 are expected to be in the range of RMB2.71 billion (US$448 million) to RMB2.85 billion (US$471 million), representing approximately 40% growth over 2013. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2014 is expected to be in the range of RMB566 million (US$93 million) to RMB595 million (US$98 million), representing more than 55% growth over 2013. These forecasts reflect the Company's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.

BEIJING and ARMONK, N.Y., Dec. 18, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IBM and 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet") announced today that they have entered a definitive agreement to introduce IBM's premier private cloud infrastructure service and accelerate high value managed private cloud services to China.

This partnership brings IBM SmartCloud Enterprise+, a powerful, secure and scalable private cloud built on open standards, to China to keep up with the rising demand for managing more complex, mission-critical workloads and applications in the cloud for large enterprises throughout China. Pursuant to the agreement, IBM will provide the physical point of distribution (POD) and service while 21Vianet will host the POD facility at its data centers in Beijing.

Mr. Josh Chen, Chairman and CEO of 21Vianet, said, "IBM is a global leading enterprise-level cloud computing provider. What's more, IBM is a sincere partner, not only sharing its own technologies and services, but also growing together with us in business insights, management experience, operation and marketing etc. Through this cooperation, 21Vianet Group, Inc has not only strengthened its ability to accelerate business growth, but also comprehensively enhanced the service capability of its cloud computing."

Laurie Tropiano, General Manager of GTS, IBM GCG said: "Today, IBM and 21Vianet create the new era of enterprise cloud computing in China.  Our clients, the pillars of China's economy, will see IBM further accelerating its efforts around driving innovation in China with enhanced IBM cloud offerings as a platform. We are setting a new benchmark for cloud computing performance in China."

Cloud computing has become a mainstream delivery mechanism for information technology (IT) globally but is still in a nascent stage of adoption at the enterprise level. IBM's premier private cloud infrastructure and managed services can adapt to accommodate any workload with real-time performance and integrity that is trusted by enterprises around the world to enable business innovation and transformation.

Third quarter 2013 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 29.8% to RMB514.0 million (US$84.0 million) from RMB396.1 million in the comparative period in 2012.
• Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the third quarter of 2013 was RMB0.08, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.48 (US$0.08) per ADS

Mr. Josh Chen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "During this quarter, we continued to focus on growing our core internet data center business as well as expanding our diversified client offerings, further strengthening our position as China's leading internet infrastructure provider. We are pleased to add 1,172 cabinets to our self-built data centers this quarter, bringing the total number of cabinets in our self-built data center to 8,576, or 64% of the total 13,307 cabinets under our management. In addition, new initiatives, such as our strategic joint venture with the Dongguan Municipal People's Government in Guangdong province to build a new internet data center in southern China, will further help us to develop our cloud computing services as well as China's own interconnection market. These initiatives are expected to further strengthen our position as a leading internet infrastructure and carrier-neutral data center services provider in China. As China's internet traffic and cloud services continue to grow, we are confident that our business model and on-going initiatives position us well to capitalize on future growth opportunities."

Mr. Shang-Wen Hsiao, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "We are pleased with the continued growth in our internet data center related business throughout China. As a result of solid data center demand in China, we increased our total self-built cabinet count by 16% from the second quarter of 2013 while improving our utilization rate to 73.7% from 70.2%. In addition, we are excited about the strong initial interest from potential customers in Microsoft's Windows Azure and Office 365, which are expected to gradually become a major growth driver alongside our hosting business. Our on-going structural shift to more self-built data centers, as well as our upcoming full commercial launch of our cloud business, will further help improve overall margins over the coming year. With the additional funding from our recent bond offering and the investment from Temasek, we believe we are well-positioned to continue executing our build-out plan for data centers, rollout of our cloud platform with Microsoft, as well as other initiatives that will strengthen our foundation as a leading internet infrastructure company over the long-term."

Financial Outlook

For the fourth quarter of 2013, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB540 million (US$88 million) to RMB550 million (US$90 million), this represents a 30.4% growth in the comparative period in 2012. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB100 million (US$16 million) to RMB105 million (US$17 million). These forecasts reflect the Company's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.

BEIJING, Sept. 30, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet"), the largest carrier-neutral internet data center services provider in China, announced today that Singapore investment company, Temasek, has through its investment vehicle, entered into a definitive share purchase agreement with 21Vianet and certain shareholders of the Company.

Pursuant to this agreement, Temasek will make a US$100 million investment in 21Vianet. Approximately 87% of the investment will be newly issued Class A ordinary shares and the remainder will be Class A ordinary shares to be sold by existing shareholders. The purchase price is US$15.00 per ADS, or US$2.50 per ordinary share. Immediately after the closing of the transaction, Temasek will hold approximately 10% equity ownership in 21Vianet. Temasek will have the right to nominate one director to 21Vianet's board of directors after the closing. The transaction is expected to close in October 2013, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

"We welcome Temasek's investment in our Company and believe that its deep expertise in Asia's telecom industry will significantly benefit 21Vianet going forward," said Mr. Josh Chen, co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of 21Vianet. "With this investment from one of the most reputable investment companies in Asia, 21Vianet can better leverage Temasek's extensive telecom industry connections, know-how and investments, allowing us to connect with their existing portfolio of companies and further expand our business opportunities going forward. We are confident that by securing a large institutional shareholder, we further strengthen our growth trajectory and ability to generate shareholder value over the long term."

Temasek is a Singapore based investment company established in 1974. Supported by 10 affiliates and offices in Asia and Latin America, Temasek owns a S$215 billion portfolio as of March 31, 2013, mainly in Singapore and Asia. Temasek's investment themes focus on transforming economies; growing middle income populations; deepening comparative advantages; and emerging champions. Its portfolio covers a broad spectrum of industries that include financial services; telecommunications, media and technology; transportation and industrials; life sciences, consumer and real estate; and energy and resources.

BEIJING, Sept. 5, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), today announced that its board of directors has authorized a US$10 million share repurchase program.

21Vianet's board of directors has authorized, but not obligated, the Company to repurchase up to US$10 million of its own outstanding shares within the next 12 months. The share repurchases may be made on the open market at prevailing market prices pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 and/or Rule 10b-18 plans, in privately negotiated transactions, in block trades or legally permissible ways from time to time depending on market conditions and in accordance with applicable rules and regulations.

21Vianet's board of directors will review the share repurchase program periodically, and may authorize adjustment of its terms and size. The Company plans to fund repurchases made under this program from its available cash balance

BEIJING, Sept. 4, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral internet data center services provider in China, today announced that it has entered into a strategic joint venture with the Dongguan Municipal People's Government in Guangdong province ("Dongguan Government") to jointly build a new Internet data center, provide cloud computing related services in Dongguan as well as create a joint-R&D team that will focus on developing and implementing next generation networking technologies. These advanced technologies include Content-Centric Open Networking ("CCON"), also known as information-centric networking, Software-Defined Networking ("SDN") technologies as well as the development of a China-wide ecosystem that leverages cross connection capabilities.

Through a series of agreements, 21Vianet's subsidiary and consolidated affiliated entities have entered into a joint venture with the Dongguan Government and Dongguan Government's investment arm, Dongguan Dongcai Investment Holdings Limited ("Dongguan Dongcai"). Through these agreements, 21Vianet and Dongguan Dongcai will invest RMB900 million and RMB100 million in return for a 90% and 10% equity interest in the joint venture company, respectively. In addition, Dongguan Government will provide 21Vianet an initial RMB900 million loan at 4% interest for a term of two years. The money will be held in escrow for registered deposit purposes for applying for any necessary licenses. The Company believes that the interest expense will be offset by the interest income received from the deposit in the custodian account and from local government subsidies. 

Mr. Frank Meng, President of 21Vianet, stated, "In an effort to expand and diversify our client offerings in China we are very excited to partner with the Dongguan Government for the development of a new IDC in southern China as well as co-develop and implement next generation networking technologies in our data centers nationwide. Most importantly, customers will be connected through an advanced open network that is more reliable, faster, flexible and economical than China's traditional network architecture, further strengthening our position as a leading internet infrastructure and data center services provider in China."

Second Quarter 2013 Financial Results

• REVENUES: Net revenues for the second quarter of 2013 increased by 29.3% to RMB471.1 million (US$76.8 million) from RMB364.5 million in the comparative period in 2012.
• EARNING/LOSS PER SHARE: Diluted loss per ordinary share for the second quarter of 2013 was RMB0.12, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.72 (US$0.12) per American Depositary Share ("ADS"). Each ADS represents six ordinary shares. Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the second quarter of 2013 was RMB0.05, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.30 (US$0.05) per ADS.

Mr. Josh Chen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "During this quarter we continued to focus on the growth and expansion of our Company as a leading internet infrastructure provider in China, strengthening our foundation for the next stages of growth. In particular, we successfully launched the public preview for Microsoft's Windows Azure in June and for Office 365 earlier this month, broadening our growth opportunities going forward. In addition, our core IDC business continues to grow with utilization throughout China improving as a result of continued strong demand from our internet and enterprise customers alike. Heading into the second half of 2013, we are confident about our strong growth as we benefit from our expanded network capacity, growing utilization as well as increased breadth of our product and service offerings."

Mr. Shang-Wen Hsiao, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "We are pleased to have maintained a high Monthly Recurring Revenues per cabinet and improved our utilization during the quarter through constant focus on addressing the increasing demand from a growing customer base. After establishing a team to build and support our infrastructure needs associated with our Microsoft partnership, we remain comfortable that these investments will provide meaningful revenue growth and margin expansion later this year and in following years. We believe we are well positioned to grow our overall internet infrastructure footprint as the adoption and consumption of cloud computing and data-intense online media, ecommerce and other services continue to proliferate in China."

Financial Outlook

For the third quarter of 2013, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB508 million (US$83 million) to RMB520 million (US$85 million). Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB92 million (US$15 million) to RMB102 million (US$17 million). These forecasts reflect the Company's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.

BEIJING, Aug. 8, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet"), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, announced today the Company and Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq:MSFT) ("Microsoft") will begin the public preview for Microsoft Office 365 in China. The public preview will be available over 21Vianet's online cloud platform to customers throughout China beginning today.

Globally, Office 365, one of the fastest-growing businesses in Microsoft history, is now made available for consumers, businesses and educational institutions via the cloud in 40 counties and regions. Office 365 brings together Microsoft Office Professional Plus, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online in an always-up-to-date cloud service. Office 365 makes it easier for millions of organizations to get and use Microsoft's award-winning business productivity solutions via the cloud. With Office 365, people can work together more easily from anywhere on virtually any device, while collaborating with others inside and outside their organization in a simple and highly secure way.

Mr. Josh Chen, Chairman and CEO of 21Vianet stated: "Today's public preview of Office 365 marks a great stride forward for 21Vianet in building one of China's premier cloud computing platforms. We believe our Office 365 package will bring individual and enterprise users in China all the traditional features of Microsoft Office but with tremendous advantages in collaborative functionality, security and reliability, accessibility and upgradability, which will made possible only through our cloud platform in China. Through Office 365, and our recently launched public preview of Windows Azure, we together with Microsoft aim to provide Chinese customers with the best cloud services to support customers' evolving and growing IT infrastructure growth needs."

Mr. Shang-Wen Hsiao, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "We are very excited that the rollout of our cloud platform with Microsoft will add another important pillar of our overall growth going forward. With the ramp-up in cloud services with Microsoft, as well as our increasing business scale and diversified service offerings, we are very confident in our ability to harness the significant opportunity for revenue growth and margin expansion in coming quarters."

In November 2012, Microsoft, 21Vianet and the Shanghai Municipal Government announced a strategic partnership agreement in which Microsoft will provide Windows Azure and Office 365 technology to 21Vianet to fully operate throughout China. In June, 2013, 21Vianet released the Public Preview of Microsoft Windows Azure Services in China.

SHANGHAI, China, May 22, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet"), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, announced today the official public preview of Microsoft Corporation's (Nasdaq:MSFT) ("Microsoft"), Windows Azure, in China.

At a ceremony held today at the China Pavilion located at the World Expo site in Shanghai, 21Vianet, in partnership with Microsoft, announced the public preview of Windows Azure service in China, will be available on June 6, 2013. The event was attended by many respected technology executives and government officials including: US Ambassador to China, Gary Locke; Shanghai Pudong New Area District Mayor, Jiang Liang; Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer; 21Vianet CEO, Josh Chen. In addition, early adopters, who are working closely with 21Vianet and Microsoft to develop applications on the platform, such as Kingdee, Qoros, RenRen, and PPTV, are already preparing to take advantage of the benefits of reliability, flexibility and value available through Windows Azure.

Mr. Josh Chen, Chairman and CEO of 21Vianet stated: "We are extremely excited to officially launch Microsoft Windows Azure services in China and believe 21Vianet will provide great contributions to the growth of cloud infrastructure and services throughout China. Our cooperation further enhances 21Vianet's capabilities in helping to develop China's cloud infrastructure services and strengthening our core competency for customers, ensuring seamless integration of public cloud software development, datacenter and network operation, maintenance, customer support and service delivery quality. As a cloud enabler, 21Vianet is pleased to offer Microsoft's world-class cloud services for the first time to businesses in China. By providing carrier-level services for better public cloud operations, including security and compliance, datacenter and network operations, maintenance and customer services related to cloud operations, 21Vianet and Microsoft are committed to offering the best cloud services available throughout China."

Ralph Haupter, corporate vice president and CEO for Microsoft Greater China, said: "In China, we are committed as a company to partnering to drive innovation, competitiveness and opportunity, and I believe this collaborative approach is why we are the first multinational in the world to bring public cloud services to China. With Microsoft's experience running more than 200 cloud services for more than a billion customers worldwide, we expect it to be the best in China as well, and we are really excited to unleash the power of Windows Azure in this market."

In November 2012, Microsoft, 21Vianet and the Shanghai Municipal Government, announced a strategic partnership agreement in which Microsoft will provide Windows Azure and Office 365 technology to 21Vianet to fully operate throughout China.

First quarter 2013 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 26.0% to RMB435.7 million (US$70.2 million) from RMB345.8 million in the comparative period in 2012.
• Adjusted net profit for the first quarter of 2013 was RMB31.1 million (US$5.0 million),compared with RMB37.9 million in the comparative period in 2012. Adjusted net profit in the first quarter of 2013 excludes share-based compensation expenses of RMB13.0 million (US$2.1 million), amortization of intangible assets derived from acquisitions of RMB8.2 million (US$1.3 million), and changes in the fair value of contingent purchase consideration payable and related deferred tax impact of RMB2.1 million (US$0.3 million) in the aggregate. Adjusted net margin was 7.1%, compared to 11.0% in the comparative period in 2012 and 9.5% in the fourth quarter of 2012.The decrease in adjusted net profit was primarily due to an increase in operating and interest expenses and an increase in operating expenses associated with the Microsoft cloud partnership.
• EARNING/LOSS PER SHARE: Diluted earnings per ordinary share for the first quarter of 2013 was RMB0.03, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.18 (US$0.03) per American Depositary Share ("ADS"). Each ADS represents six ordinary shares. Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the first quarter of 2013 was RMB0.08, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.48 (US$0.08) per ADS. Adjusted earnings per share is calculated using adjusted net profit as discussed above to divide the weighted average shares number.

Mr. Josh Chen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "Following a year that focused on expanding our capacity to meet customer demand, we have become focused on improving utilization as well as further building out our infrastructure to support strong customer demand as well as our upcoming launch of cloud services with Microsoft. With our growing business scale, the increasing mix of higher margin self-built facilities, as well as the ramp-up in cloud services later this year with Microsoft, we continue to see significant opportunities for revenue acceleration and continued growth in the coming quarters."

Mr. Shang-Wen Hsiao, President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "We are pleased to come in-line with our prior guidance despite an increase in bandwidth costs associated with the upgrade to our network capacity during the past quarter. In addition, we are very pleased with the successful completion of our bond offering of RMB1 billion in aggregate principal in March, which demonstrated the investors' confidence in the growth momentum and potentials of our business in the coming years. With the additional funding from this offering, we are well positioned to continue executing our strategic build-out plan for data centers and fiber network as well as the rollout of our cloud platform with Microsoft

Financial Outlook

For the second quarter of 2013, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB465 million to RMB472 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB85 million to RMB91 million. These forecasts reflect the Company's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.

First Quarter 2012 Financial Results

• Net revenues for the first quarter of 2013 increased by 26.0% to RMB435.7 million (US$70.2 million) from RMB345.8 million in the comparative period in 2012.
• Gross profit increased by 18.2% to RMB116.1 million (US$18.7 million) from RMB98.2 million in the comparative period in 2012.
  
• Diluted earnings per ordinary share for the first quarter of 2013 was RMB0.03, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.18(US$0.03) per American Depositary Share ("ADS").
  

Mr. Josh Chen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "Following a year that focused on expanding our capacity to meet customer demand, we have become focused on improving utilization as well as further building out our infrastructure to support strong customer demand as well as our upcoming launch of cloud services with Microsoft. With our growing business scale, the increasing mix of higher margin self-built facilities, as well as the ramp-up in cloud services later this year with Microsoft, we continue to see significant opportunities for revenue acceleration and continued growth in the coming quarters."

Mr. Shang-Wen Hsiao, President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "We are pleased to come in-line with our prior guidance despite an increase in bandwidth costs associated with the upgrade to our network capacity during the past quarter. In addition, we are very pleased with the successful completion of our bond offering of RMB1 billion in aggregate principal in March, which demonstrated the investors' confidence in the growth momentum and potentials of our business in the coming years. With the additional funding from this offering, we are well positioned to continue executing our strategic build-out plan for data centers and fiber network as well as the rollout of our cloud platform with Microsoft."

Financial Outlook

For the second quarter of 2013, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB465 million to RMB472 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB85 million to RMB91 million. These forecasts reflect the Company's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.

Fourth Quarter 2012 Results

• Net revenues for the fourth quarter of 2012 increased by 31.3% to RMB417.8 million (US$67.1 million) from RMB318.3 million in the comparative period in 2011.
• Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter of 2012 was RMB0.11, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.66 (US$0.11) per ADS vs US$0.11 in prior year.

BEIJING, Sept. 20, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that the Company has acquired Fastweb International Holdings ("Fastweb"), a leading Internet content delivery network ("CDN") services provider in China.

In connection with the acquisition, Edward Liu, the Chief Executive Officer of Fastweb, will join 21Vianet as the Chief Software Officer. Mr. Liu will leverage his 25 years of software, Internet and CDN experience in both the U.S. and China, to oversee 21Vianet's cloud computing initiatives as well as business partnership strategies. Prior to Fastweb, Mr. Liu was the director of business development at Akamai Technologies, Inc. ("Akamai"), one of the world's leading CDN service providers.  Earlier in his career, Mr. Liu served as vice president of research and strategy at Speedera Networks, a CDN company that was acquired by Akamai in 2005. Prior to Speedera, he was the technical co-founder of Resonate, a NASDAQ listed Internet load-balancing company in Silicon Valley.

"As China's largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider, the addition of Fastweb's expansive CDN footprint and cloud technology offerings presents a significant opportunity to further diversify and improve the quality and reliability of our services. By leveraging Fastweb's established expertise and capabilities, we will enhance our service offerings as well as cross-selling opportunities," commented Mr. Josh Chen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of 21Vianet. "In addition, we are very excited to have Edward join our team. His wealth of experience in working with global CDNs over the past 25 years is a welcome addition and will further help the development of our CDN and cloud computing capabilities."

With the acquisition of Fastweb, 21Vianet gains a large content delivery network with more than 150 points-of-presence, or POPs, located across China, Fastweb's proprietary CloudCDN platform software, as well as a portfolio of cloud enabling technology solutions. This product portfolio provides clients with a cost-effective solution to their data connection needs in China, improving the reliability, scalability, security and speed of their Internet services. Fastweb's strength is backed by its strong technical innovation in its self-developed CDN caching engine, back-end administrative BOSS system and customer service portal.

The total consideration for the acquisition was based upon 5 to 7.35 times the average of Fastweb's 2012 and 2013 EBITDA to be paid in a combination of equity and cash, in the aggregate amount not to exceed US$20 million.

Second Quarter 2012 Financial Highlights

• Net revenues increased by 58.2% to RMB364.5 million (US$57.4 million) from RMB230.4 million in the comparative period in 2011.
• Adjusted EBITDA^[1] increased by 49.3% to RMB70.4 million (US$11.1 million) from RMB47.2 million in the comparative period in 2011.
• Adjusted EBITDA margin^[2] was 19.3%, compared to 20.5% in the comparative period in 2011.
• Adjusted net profit^[3] increased by 10.7% to RMB37.6 million (US$5.9 million) from RMB34.0 million in the comparative period in 2011.

Mr. Josh Chen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "We are very pleased to have achieved a new milestone at 21Vianet with the opening of our new self-built data centers. This expansion dramatically increased our overall self-built cabinet count by 2,280 new cabinets to over 6,400 cabinets, accounting for 62.1% of the 10,394 total cabinets under our management, as of June 30, 2012. More importantly, our increased self-built capacity provides us with additional operational control over our hosting facilities, resulting in improved quality and effectiveness for servicing our clients' data transmission needs.  Looking ahead, we remain committed to reaching 13,000 cabinets by the end of 2012 while enhancing our network and service offerings to further accommodate the strong demand from our diversified customer base." 

Mr. Shang Hsiao, President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "We are very excited to begin this new phase of expansion of our self-built data centers. Even though the rollout of our new self-built cabinets did not come online until the end of June, we still met our revenue guidance and were pleased to realize an increase in monthly recurring revenue per cabinet and maintain high utilization rates.  These results highlight the resilient demand for reliable, secure and fast network capacity in China, and also the capacity constraints we still experience. As we continue to ramp up our overall capacity and explore new initiatives for the second half of 2012, we remain confident in the sustainability of our sector dynamics, revenue growth and margin expansion capabilities going forward."

Financial Outlook

For the third quarter of 2012, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB388 million to RMB400 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB74 million to RMB83 million. These forecasts reflect the Company's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.

Fourth Quarter 2011 Results (Released on 2/27/2012)

• Net revenues increased by 61.3% to RMB318.3 million (US$50.6 million) from RMB197.3 million in the comparative period in 2010.
• Adjusted EBITDA¹ increased by 73.0% to RMB65.1 million (US$10.3 million) from RMB37.6 million in the comparative period in 2010.
• Adjusted EBITDA margin² increased to 20.5% from 19.1% in the comparative period in 2010.
• Adjusted net profit³ increased by 52.5% to RMB46.3 million (US$7.4 million) from RMB30.4 million in the comparative period in 2010.
• Diluted earnings per ordinary share for the fourth quarter of 2011 were RMB0.01, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.06 (US$0.01) per American Depositary Share ("ADS"). Each ADS represents six ordinary shares. Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter of 2011 were RMB0.12, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.72 (US$0.12) per ADS⁴. Adjusted earnings per share are calculated using adjusted net profit as discussed above to divide the weighted average shares number.

Mr. Josh Chen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "We are excited to announce that for the full year 2011, and for the first time in our company's history, our annual net revenues exceeded the RMB1 billion milestone. Our success in the fourth quarter and full year of 2011 was led by solid financial and operational results across the board. This growth was driven by surging demand for both hosting and managed network services. With our diverse base of over 1,500 customers, demand for our services continued to grow, which was characterized by an increase in demand from customers conducting online video, online gaming and e-Commerce businesses.

"We remain committed to further expanding our services and capacity as well as streamlining our business operations. During the quarter, we enhanced our revenue growth capabilities by further increasing our hosting capacity as well as network service capacity with the acquisition of Guangzhou Gehua Network Technology and Development Co., Ltd. ("Gehua"). Going forward, through leveraging our core Internet infrastructure platform, we are confident to remain a leading Internet infrastructure services provider throughout China."

Mr. Shang Hsiao, President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "Not only did our revenue growth exceed our expectations, but we were also able to expand our adjusted EBITDA margins by 4.6% year over year. Going into 2012, we are well-positioned to benefit from the significant growth in Internet usage on multiple devices in China as well as from increasing demand for reliable interconnectivity services from our core content customers."

Financial Outlook

For the first quarter of 2012, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB340 million to RMB345 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of RMB68.5 million to RMB70.5 million. These forecasts reflect the Company's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.

Third Quarter 2011 Results

• Net revenues for the third quarter of 2011 increased by 114.8% to RMB261.6 million (US$41.0 million) from RMB121.8 million in the prior year comparative period. Net revenue increased by 13.6% sequentially from the second quarter of 2011.
• Diluted earnings per ordinary share for the third quarter of 2011 were RMB0.23, which represents the equivalent of RMB1.38 (US$ 0.22) per American Depositary Share ("ADS"). Each ADS represents six ordinary shares. Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the third quarter of 2011 were RMB0.16, which represents the equivalent of RMB0.96 (US$ 0.15) per ADS⁴. Adjusted earnings per share is calculated using adjusted net profit as discussed above to divide the weighted average shares number.

Mr. Josh Chen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "We are pleased to announce exceptionally strong financial and operational results for the third quarter of 2011. The growth for the quarter was driven by a surge in enterprise demand for data center services, bandwidth and reliable connectivity from all industry verticals.

We continued to accelerate our expansion plans to accommodate customers' growth needs by executing on the build-out of additional data centers as well as broadband network expansion. The rollout of our self-build data centers remains on track with 653 new cabinets added in the third quarter bringing the total of self-built datacenter cabinets to 3,831, or 52.5% of our 7,335 cabinets in total. Not only have we expanded our overall capacity, but we have also been shifting our cabinet mix towards a higher percentage of self-built data centers which have relatively higher-margins than in partnered data centers."

Mr. Shang Hsiao, President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "Due to robust customer demand for new cabinets and additional bandwidth capacity, we continue to experience strong revenue growth year-over-year. Through growing leverage in our business model and diligent expense control, we have also been able to grow EBITDA, outpacing revenue growth. As China's internet continues to expand at a rapid pace, we are well positioned to capture this demand while driving financial value for shareholders."

BEIJING, Dec. 15, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21Vianet Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNET) ("21Vianet" or the "Company"), the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that it has exercised its option to acquire the remaining 49% equity interest in two companies that provide managed network services, Zhiboxintong (Beijing) Network Technology Co., Ltd. and Beijing Chengyishidai Network Technology Co., Ltd. (together, the "Managed Network Entities"). In September 2010, the Company acquired 51% equity interest in the Management Network Entities with an option to acquire the remaining 49% equity interest before December 31, 2011.

Mr. Josh Chen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "We remain committed to further expanding our managed network services to meet our growing customer demand. We are confident that the completion of this acquisition will enable us to further integrate the Managed Network Entities' extensive network and business operations, streamlining expenses and solidifying our industry leadership."

Mr. Shang Hsiao, President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented, "Going forward, we continue to believe that the full acquisition of the Managed Network Entities will further enhance the revenue growth and profitability of our business in the coming years due to increasing demand for managed network services. This acquisition is not expected to have any material impact on our announced guidance for the fourth quarter of 2011."

We believe that our current cash and cash equivalents and the anticipated cash flow from our operations and additional bank loans we have already obtained, will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs, including our cash needs for working capital and capital expenditures for at least the next 12 months.

We will require significant capital expenditures to fund our future growth. We may need to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings in the future in order to meet our operating and capital needs

First Quarter Results:

• Net revenues increased by 125.2% to RMB210.6 million (US$32.2 million) from RMB93.5 million in the prior year comparative period.
• Adjusted EBITDA increased by 246.8% to RMB43.0 million (US$6.6 million) from RMB12.4 million in the prior year comparative period. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA excluding share-based compensation expenses and changes in the fair value of contingent purchase consideration payable.
• Adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 20.4% compared to 13.3% in the prior year comparative period. Adjusted EBITDA margin is defined as adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of total net revenues.
• Adjusted net profit increased by 283.6% to RMB28.0 million (US$4.3 million) from RMB7.3 million in the prior year comparative period. Adjusted net profit is defined as net loss from continuing operations excluding share-based compensation expenses, amortization expenses of intangible assets derived from acquisitions, changes in the fair value of contingent purchase consideration payable and related deferred tax assets, and unrecognized tax benefits, tax incentive receipt and outside tax basis difference.

Mr. Josh Chen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "We are pleased to announce exceptionally strong financial results for the first quarter of 2011. The growth in this quarter was driven by continued strong demand from our diverse customer base. We are pleased to note that among this customer base are some of China's blue chip companies as well as many of China's IT sector leaders. This demonstrates our customers' continued recognition of our high-quality and reliable service offerings."

Basic and diluted losses per ordinary share for the first quarter of 2011 were both RMB0.38 (US$0.06), equivalent to US$0.36 per American Depositary Share ("ADS"), compared to a loss of RMB0.24 in the prior year comparative period. Pro forma adjusted basic earnings per share for the first quarter of 2011 was RMB0.10 (US$0.02), equivalent to US$0.12 per ADS, compared to RMB0.04 in the prior year comparative period.

• For the second quarter of 2011, the Company expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB216 million to RMB220 million and adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of RMB43 million to RMB45 million. These forecasts reflect the Company's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.