Table of Contents UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 Form 20-F o REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR (g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 OR þ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010 OR o TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the transition period from to OR o SHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 Date of event requiring this shell company report Commission file number 000-30698 SINA CORPORATION (Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter) Cayman Islands (Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) 37F, Jin Mao Tower 88 Century Boulevard, Pudong Shanghai 200121, China (Address of principal executive offices) Contact Person: Chief Financial Officer Phone: +8610 8262 8888 Facsimile: +8610 8260 7166 Address: 20/F Beijing Ideal International Plaza No. 58 Northwest 4th Ring Road Haidian District, Beijing, 100080, People's Republic of China (name, telephone, e-mail and/or facsimile number and address of company contact person) Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act. Title of Each Class Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered Ordinary Shares, $0.133 par value The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC Ordinary Shares Purchase Rights (NASDAQ Global Select Market) Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act. Not Applicable (Title of Class) Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act. Not Applicable (Title of Class) As of December 31, 2010, there were 61,774,706 shares of the registrant's ordinary shares outstanding, $0.133 par value. Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. þ Yes o No If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Yes o No þ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes þ No o Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate website, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 229.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes o No o Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer" and "smaller reporting company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one): Large accelerated filer þ Accelerated filer o Non-accelerated filer o Smaller reporting company o (Do not check if a smaller reporting company) Indicate by check mark which basis for accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financing statements included in this filing: U.S. GAAP þ International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board o Other o Indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow. o Item 17 þ Item 18 If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes o No þ TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 3 INFORMATION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS 3 PART I 3 Item 1. Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers 3 Item 2. Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable 3 Item 3. Key Information 3 Item 4. Information on the Company 28 Item 4A. Unresolved Staff Comments 49 Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects 49 Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees 65 Item 7. Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions 74 Item 8. Financial Information 78 Item 9. The Offer and Listing 79 Item 10. Additional Information 80 Item 11. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk 84 Item 12. Description of Securities Other than Equity Securities 85 PART II 85 Item 13. Defaults, Dividend Arrearages and Delinquencies 85 Item 14. Material Modifications to the Rights of Security Holders and Use of Proceeds 85 Item 15. Controls and Procedures 85 Item 16A. Audit Committee Financial Expert 86 Item 16B. Code of Ethics 86 Item 16C. Principal Accountant Fees and Services 86 Item 16D. Exemptions from the Listing Standards for Audit Committees 86 Item 16E. Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers 86 Item 16F. Change in Registrant's Certifying Accountant 87 Item 16G. Corporate Governance 87 PART III 87 Item 17. Financial Statements 87 Item 18. Financial Statements 87 Item 19. Exhibits 87 SIGNATURES 93 EX-8.1 EX-12.1 EX-12.2 EX-13.1 EX-13.2 EX-15.1 EX-15.2 EX-15.3 EX-15.4 EX-101 INSTANCE DOCUMENT EX-101 SCHEMA DOCUMENT EX-101 CALCULATION LINKBASE DOCUMENT EX-101 LABELS LINKBASE DOCUMENT EX-101 PRESENTATION LINKBASE DOCUMENT EX-101 DEFINITION LINKBASE DOCUMENT 2 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION In this annual report, except where the context otherwise requires and for purposes of this annual report only: • "we," "us," "our company," "the Company," "our" and "SINA" refer to SINA Corporation, its subsidiaries, and, in the context of describing our operations and consolidated financial information, include our consolidated variable interest entities ("VIEs") in China; • "China" or "PRC" refers to the People's Republic of China solely for the purpose of this annual report, and do not include the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macau Special Administrative Region or Taiwan; • "GAAP" refers to generally accepted accounting principles in the United States; "PRC GAAP" refers to generally accepted accounting principles in the PRC; • "shares" or "common shares" refer to our ordinary shares; • all references to "RMB" or "renminbi" are to the legal currency of China, and all references to "$," "dollars," "US$" and "U.S. dollars" are to the legal currency of the United States; and • all discrepancies in any table between the amounts identified as total amounts and the sum of the amounts listed therein are due to rounding. INFORMATION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This Annual Report on Form 20-F contains forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or our future financial performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential" or "continue," the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions. Actual events or results may differ materially. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Moreover, neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements. We undertake no duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this report to conform such statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations. Readers are also urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by us which attempt to advise interested parties of the factors which affect our business, including without limitation the disclosures made under the caption "Risk Factors" included herein. PART I Item 1. Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers Not applicable. Item 2. Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable Not applicable. Item 3. Key Information A. Selected Financial Data The selected consolidated statements of operation data presents the results for the five years ended December 31, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006. The Company's historical results do not necessarily indicate results expected for any future periods. The selected consolidated financial data below should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, "Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects" below, and the other information contained in this Form 20-F. 3 Table of Contents Years Ended December 31, 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 (In thousands, except per share data) Operations: Net revenues $ 402,617 $ 358,567 $ 369,587 $ 246,127 $ 212,854 Gross profit 234,207 200,275 219,252 151,425 133,444 Income from operations 96,243 37,202 74,581 51,014 34,907 Income (loss) before income tax expense (10,903) 420,628 95,209 60,619 37,016 Net income (loss) (19,339) 412,305 81,167 54,115 32,965 Net income (loss) attributable to SINA (19,094) 411,895 80,638 54,115 32,965 Net income (loss) per share attributable to SINA Basic $ (0.31) $ 7.53 $ 1.44 $ 0.98 $ 0.61 Diluted $ (0.31) $ 6.95 $ 1.33 $ 0.97 $ 0.60 December 31, 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 (In thousands) Financial position: Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments $ 882,835 $ 821,518 $ 603,824 $ 477,999 $ 362,751 Working capital 760,635 694,484 498,524 377,608 270,820 Total assets 1,636,090 1,613,842 822,494 662,263 538,719 Long-term liabilities 147,540 166,729 4,039 1,337 — Total liabilities 395,564 391,143 197,946 167,287 147,292 SINA shareholders' equity 1,239,308 1,221,727 620,505 494,976 391,427 Total shareholders' equity 1,240,526 1,222,699 624,548 494,976 391,427 B.