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Wang quits as CEO
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ONE of China's largest Internet portals sina.com announced on Monday the resignation of its chief executive Wang Zhidong and a 15 per cent cut in employees.
Wang resigned for “personal reasons” and would be replaced by chief operating officer Mao Daolin, said an announcement posted on the China-based site, one the most popular in the country.
The site's worldwide staff of 600 people, of whom 400 are in China alone, would be reduced by 15 per cent by the end of June, the announcement added.
The layoffs would help to maintain the organisational and financial flexibility of the company, it said.
The trimming of sina.com, one of the few Chinese companies listed on the Nasdaq, comes less than six months after one of its main competitors, sohu.com, announced a 20 per cent reduction in staff.
Internet companies, which blossomed in China between 1999 and 2000, have been hit hard by the world Internet crisis and the fall in value of technology companies on the Nasdaq.
Wang Jie, sina.com's assistant chief operating officer, confirmed the restructuring and said the aim was to prepare for the future development of the portal.
Former general manager in charge of China operations Wang Yan becomes president of sina.com, which also has Chinese-language sites in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the United States.
Despite the difficulties facing Internet companies, the number of Internet users has soared in China in the past year, reaching 22.5 million last December compared to 8.9 million a year earlier.(SD-Agencies)
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