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Troubled Dotcom Brings in Professional Manager as CEO
One of the country's biggest Internet portals, netease.com, yesterday named professional manager and former board member Ted Sun as chief executive officer.
Sun replaces William Ding, who founded the NASDAQ-listed firm in Guangzhou several years ago and will now become its development strategy designer.
"The new CEO will have better communications with the capital market," said netease spokesman Zhou Ping.
Lu Benfu, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said£º "This would be a better solution for Ding as he is a technician and doesn't play well with the capital market."
Trading in netease was suspended on the NASDAQ from September 4 because of the company's failure to provide investors with proper information.
Netease said it is preparing a response to the market's request for additional information. It plans to submit the information to NASDAQ as early as possible, according to a spokeswoman.
"Netease is facing challenges from both inside and outside," said Ding.
"At this critical time, the proper thing for me to do is to decide the direction of the company, give it a new position in the market and ensure its long-term development."
The rich market experience of Sun would help the company "walk out" of the difficulties, he said.
Netease shares were suspended when it failed to turn in its revised annual report for 2000 on time. In its revised report filed at the end of August, the company revealed that its net loss for 2000 was 18 per cent wide of what was previously reported.
The stock last closed at US$0.6492 on August 31.
The results were restated after an auditor determined that the firm had improperly recorded US$4.3 million in revenue.
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