(这条文章已经被阅读了 534 次) 时间：2001-06-07 07:57:59 来源：黄果 (黄果) 转载
Founder and CEO of Sina.com
Resigns for Personal Reasons
By Leslie Chang
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
BEIJING — The ouster of the founder and chief executive of Sina.com , one of China’s best-known Internet portals, revives an issue at the heart of the country’s Internet sector: Because of government regulations, many Internet companies have unclear ownership of key assets that could complicate any management changes.
Sina, a leading portal and the first online brand to penetrate the public consciousness, announced late Sunday from its Sunnyvale, California, headquarters that Wang Zhidong, its CEO and president, is leaving the company “to pursue other interests,” although he would continue to hold the nonemployee post of chief adviser. Taking Mr. Wang’s CEO spot and his seat on the company’s board will be Daniel Mao, currently Sina’s chief operating officer. The company’s new president will be Wang Yan, general manager of China operations. Mr. Wang, who is unrelated to the founder, was one of his first hires in 1996, when China’s Internet population numbered in the thousands and the company operated out of a warehouse next to an elementary school.
The unceremonious removal of Mr. Wang — engineered in a weekend board meeting that surprised analysts and some company executives — casts a spotlight on a time bomb within the industry. Bizarre structures that were initially designed to accommodate regulations banning foreign investments in the Internet may now complicate any efforts to replace top executives as a round of industry consolidation gets under way.
In order to appease regulators wary of foreign ownership of Internet companies, Sina hived off its China portal, widely regarded as its most valuable asset, prior to listing the other parts of the company on the Nasdaq Stock Market in April 2000. The Chinese site was put into a domestic company owned by two trusted people — founder Wang Zhidong, who owns a 70% stake in the company, and Wang Yan, who holds the remaining 30% — and has revenue-sharing and other business agreements with the listed vehicle. The restructuring was copied by Sina’s two rivals and has since become standard for China Internet companies seeking an overseas listing.
But with the ouster of Mr. Wang, the issue is suddenly front and center again. “This is the worst-case scenario,” said Kevin Wong, managing partner in Shanghai of international law firm Linklaters & Alliance. “Ideally, there would be arrangements in place beforehand that would automatically transfer the shares, but with a lot of these agreements it was more done on a handshake.”
Sina’s listing prospectus doesn’t raise the prospect of any transfer of shares upon Mr. Wang’s departure; it only notes that the company’s structure “would be viewed as entrenching his management position or transferring certain value to him, especially if any conflict arose with him.” “It’s a valid concern. It could potentially be a concern for investors,” said David Cui, a vice president and analyst at Merrill Lynch & Co. in Hong Kong.
Sina’s new CEO, Mr. Mao, said in a telephone interview from the company’s U.S. headquarters, “We are definitely doing the transferring at the moment and we don’t foresee any legal problems.”
The departure of Mr. Wang also is expected to hasten a long-awaited consolidation in China’s fast-growing and fragmented Internet industry. According to a top executive at Sina and a former employee with the company, the removal of Mr. Wang was engendered by his longtime opposition to a merger or acquisition that other executives saw as inevitable. That go-it-alone mindset is typical among many company founders and perhaps especially prevalent in China, which lacks an entrepreneurial tradition that might make stepping aside, or selling out, appear more acceptable.
“My sense was, he didn’t want to hold out a ‘for sale’ sign. He believed if he held out, Sina would prevail,” said a former Sina employee. A top executive who likewise spoke on condition of anonymity, said the impetus for the management change was “different views on the company’s direction of development, including whether to continue independently or to merge with another company, and with whom to merge.” Mr. Wang didn’t answer a message left at his office requesting comment.
Mr. Mao, the company’s new CEO, denied there was a split within the company. “He and I believe the same strategy, that you have to be strong before you consider a merger with another company,” he said of the man he is replacing. He added, “Of course he’s not an employee of the company anymore, but I personally will seek his advice vigorously.”
For Sina, the departure of its high-profile founder may mark the transition to a more professional stage of development. Founder Mr. Wang favored rumpled casual clothes and spoke little English; successor Mr. Mao likes sharp blazers, speaks fluent English and has years of experience working in the venture-capital field before he joined Sina two years ago. The company first became a household name in 1998 with its up-to-the-minute online coverage of the World Cup soccer championships in France. It became known as an indispensable source of news two years ago with its lively and comprehensive coverage of the NATO bombing of China’s Yugoslav Embassy.
While Sina has since toned down the provocative nature of its news reports, it is still regularly cited by Chinese Internet users, including government officials, as a must-read news source. The company has branched into other areas, ranging from providing services to mobile-phone users to plotting alliances with traditional media groups, in an effort to boost revenue.
— Matt Pottinger in Hong Kong contributed to this article.