China.com CFO resigns, says going to Softbank
HONG KONG, Nov 19 (Reuters) - China.com Corp (NasdaqNM:CHINA - news) CFO David
Kim said on Friday he had resigned to join Japan's Softbank Corp , an Internet investment
company.
Kim, who helped oversee China.com's hugely successful public listing in July, said in an
interview with CNBC television: ``I felt the time was right for my next challenge.'
Kim, who had been with China.com for a year, said he had ``done my share of adding the value for shareholders that I promised
coming aboard.'
China.com, which listed in July on the U.S. Nasdaq, closed at US$93.375 on Thursday. Its initial public offering price was US$20.
Kim said China.com's potential was tremendous, given the expansion of the Internet market in the region.
``Softbank gave me a once in a lifetime opportunity to roll out some of these (Internet) properties to Asia ex-Japan,' he said. He
would be involved in fund raising for these companies and take them out to market as he did China.com.
In a statement, Softbank said Kim was appointed its Executive in Residence for Asia operations.
China.com made a net loss of US$4.4 million in the three months ending September 30, compared to a US$1.7 million loss in the
same quarter of 1998.
The company said at the time it was ``extremely pleased' with its performance, adding it made total revenues of US$5.2 million in
the third quarter, up 455 percent over the same quarter in 1998.
``China.com will be a beneficiary of the tremendous boom that we'll see in the Asian Internet market,' Kim said, although he was
vague when asked if his move could herald any sort of cooperation between China.com and Softbank.
``The Internet space in Asia is a very, very small market and anything...is possible. There's no definitive (plan),' he said.
Asked about possible plans for China.com to spin off its Hongkong.com unit, he said: ``That is still in the process. It has not been
finalised and no matter which direction that unit actually goes, I certainly wish the company the best.'
(Note: this article is ``in progress'; there will likely be an update soon.) |
