Sina has begun selling packages that bundle Weibo with its main portal business, but the company is waiting before it tries to monetize Weibo more directly.

Chao smartly wants to expand his user base, much as social networking behemoth Tencent did for years with its instant messaging service before earning a dime of profit.

In short, it is difficult to know what the immediate future holds for Sina, in both its core online business or its foray into offline advertising.