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Ma’s masterclass in manager retention

November 28th, 2006 9:03pm
by Mure Dickie

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Beijing: In a video interview on FT.com’s  CEIBS: Business in China series, star entrepreneur Jack Ma (profile: China’s accidental internet champion behind the FT paywall) expounds enthusiastically on how his e-commerce and online auction company Alibaba manages to hire and retain good staff.

"We have very few people who say ‘Jack, I want to leave’," says Ma.

But personnel retention can clearly be a challenge even for the charismatic Ma, who last year famously managed to persuade Yahoo to give him control of its Chinese operations as part of a $1bn deal that made the US portal Alibaba’s biggest shareholder.

Chinese internet circles are buzzing with the news that Yahoo’s new China CEO Xie Wen has quit just a month after his appointment. And while Alibaba says Xie resigned for "personal reasons", the rumour-mongers are possible splits with Ma over strategy or disputes with Yahoo China staff, some of whom reportedly clapped on news of their new CEO’s departure.

Zeng Ming, Yahoo China’s head of strategy development, is to take over as acting president. Zeng joined Alibaba in August. Let’s see how long he lasts.

November 28th, 2006 9:03pm in Internet | Permalink | Comment

Anyone for guilt-free free films?

November 22nd, 2006 11:25am
by Mure Dickie

Beijing: Who says you can’t beat the pirates and file-sharers on price? Not Quacor.com, a new Chinese website whose English tag-line says it all: "The world 1st website for copyright movie absolutely free!".

Quacor, which opened shop last weekend, is offering a roster of Chinese and foreign films ranging from chop-socky comedy Shaolin Soccer to hacker fantasy Matrix Reloaded for download or streamed viewing without charge.

If it sounds a bit too good to be true, it may well be: we cash-strapped comrades at the FT Beijing bureau have yet to manage to actually watch any of the films despite repeated efforts, and the site’s discussion board is full of complaints that it is not working.

Quacor staffers say their servers have simply been swamped by demand, though, and the site may still be, er, one to watch.

Continue reading "Anyone for guilt-free free films?"

November 22nd, 2006 11:25am in Asia | Permalink | Comment

China on Wikipedia: stop-go-stop

November 20th, 2006 11:24am
by Mure Dickie

Beijing: Traffic lights here are notoriously unpredictable, in part because police try to ensure government leaders and visiting VIPs enjoy unimpeded transit around the city.

The result is that ordinary motorists at major junctions often find themselves sitting in front of a red light with no idea when it might change to green - and if it does, whether it will stay that way long enough to cross.

No doubt that’s how Wikipedia is feeling. After being blocked by the Great Firewall for a year, the cooperative encyclopedia’s non-Chinese versions became available to web-surfers in China last month, followed last week by the local-language edition.

The apparent change of heart by Beijing’s secretive censors prompted speculation they now plan more tightly targeted blocking of specific Wikipedia entries, such as the one that discusses the government’s bloody suppression of popular protests in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

(See informed discussion of Wikipedia’s unblocking here).

Mere partial blocking would be good news for China’s budding army of Wikipedians, but no sooner had thousands of would-be contributors signed on than the traffic light suddenly changed back to red; on Friday all editions of Wikipedia were unavailable from China.

Continue reading "China on Wikipedia: stop-go-stop"

November 20th, 2006 11:24am in Asia | Permalink | Comment

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