Chinese Internet Company Jumps 89% After Mentioning Alibaba In Press Release

Chinanet Holdings were halted for trade early Friday after spiking as much as 89% after the company said it is in talks with Alibaba's Taobao unit.

After re-opening the stock was up about 65%.

In a press release, Chinanet said, "We are very excited about our new focus on digital advertising and our cooperation with Baidu. We are also in discussions with Taobao of Alibaba to provide "Micro-Sell 360", which is one of our new product solutions geared towards precision marketing for clients," said George Chu, ChinaNet Online's Chief Operating Officer.

The release from Chinanet, which has a market cap of just $43 million, was a pretty bland announcement about the company's new strategy.

And so while the spike in Chinanet shares is likely due, at least in part, to the company being such a small company that doesn't have too many shares available for trade, it also shows that as we wait for Alibaba's debut on Friday, just the mere mention of the name is making traders go crazy.

Here's the crazy action in shares of Chinanet.