"June Storms" Sweep Chinese PortalsThe Chinese NetEase.com Inc says its chief executive officer and chief operating officer had resigned and Chairman and founder William Ding would replace CEO King Lai and COO Susan Chen, who had left to pursue other opportunities.This is the latest one among a series of news from Chinese portal websites in 200 hours. Domestic portals, having long been left out in the cold for poor performance, were brought to limelight again by a string of June events. Sina CEO Wang Zhidong quitted his job suddenly; Hong Kong-based i-CABLE Communications Ltd. would purchase Netease at a cost of US$85m; Legend and AOL will form a joint venture by US$200m. A shadow of "capital" is emerging behind all these personnel changes and company actions as Internet "heroes" step down from the stage. An era will come in which real benefits are held higher than ideals, and capital is reshuffled via quitting, joint venture and purchase in fiercer competition. This is also an era in which people's patience was put to trial, for there is still a long way to go for Chinese portals to net profits. Sina has set to achieve its gain and lose balance by 2004, while Netease seems to have lost patience. Although William Ding has denied for more than one time to sell his company as a whole, rumors are still hot fueled by the resignation of its CEO and COO. These great changes would practically benefit China's Internet industry, expert says, for quit of shortsighted venture capital and entry of more steady industrial capital will make more room for Chinese websites to explore practical modes of profit gaining. Both venture and industrial capital require websites to change their vulnerable dependency on online ads, and shift to other means as shown in AOL's charged member system and interests in wide-band services by Sina and Netease. However, due to the time gap between Chinese and American markets the severest time for Chinese websites have not come yet, and perhaps some 80 percent domestic sites would face the live-or-die choice within year. By PD Online staff member Li Heng |
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