Fate after Burst of Dotcom BubbleTop Internet tycoons discussed the fate of the industry at an annual summit meeting held in Hangzhou, the capital city of East China's Zhejiang Province, on Sunday.Internet elites from China's six biggest dotcom companies attended the meeting and discussed ways to maintain the momentum of the industry now that the Internet bubble has burst. Practical topics such as how to incorporate the Internet into traditional industries, how to balance capital and know-how and how to further develop the new economy were raised. "In a way, technology does not represent everything in this fast growing economic world today. It should be melded with culture and humanity, so that it can be brought closer to people's daily life," said Mao Daolin, the new CEO of Sina.com. He said his decision to merge with Sun TV was definitely part of his long-term plan to co-operate with the media, whose audience exactly fits his needs. The dotcom companies also brainstormed ways to survive in a period of changing tastes and global economic downturn. Although Sohu.com was not satisfied with its performance on NASDAQ, statistics reveal that advertisements still generated one-fourth of Sohu's total income in the last fiscal season. "We are right now not yet in the position for a merger or something. Our stock value in NASDAQ is far less than its real value," said Zhang Chaoyang, CEO of Sohu.com. Alibaba.com is one of the few Internet runners in the country not suffering setbacks, thanks to the commission and membership fees it collects for its business-to-business service (B2B). "I believe in change," said Ma Yun, CEO of the portal. "We have already passed the time of individual heroes. For the Internet, what we need now is collective efforts." |
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