Li's no-show after 'Stanford grad' fiasco
By Audrey Tan in Hongkong
THE usually media-friendly Richard Li, executive chairman of Pacific Century CyberWorks, gave his company's press briefing a miss yesterday -- widely seen as an attempt to dodge more awkward questions on his "Stanford degree" fiasco.
The company gave no reason why Mr Li was not present, when he had just attended the analysts' briefing that immediately preceded the press conference.
The analysts' briefing was shown "live" in the press room, where a crowd of over 100 local and international reporters had gathered. But unlike previous years, Mr Li did not proceed to the press briefing together with the other top CyberWorks officials.
When asked for a reason, CyberWorks deputy chairman Francis Yuen said: "The purpose of this meeting is to address the financials and we have a full team of financial people here to answer your questions."
Mr Yuen then found himself having to field questions on the "Stanford degree" issue. One reporter asked what CyberWorks will do to restore confidence in the company, after news broke last week that Mr Li never graduated from Stanford University, contrary to what was stated in company publicity materials.
Mr Yuen repeated: "We have issued two press statements on this issue last week and we have nothing to add."
When pressed further, he added: "Look at the way the management behaves. Our partners (Australia's Telstra) have made public that they look (more) at the professionalism we display in dealing with them. People dealing with us will judge us by our behaviour," he said.
CyberWorks said last week that the claim that Mr Li had a computer engineering degree from Stanford was a mistake made "in some isolated instances" in its publicity material. This claim was never repeated in any public disclosures filed under legal requirements, the company said.
However, the prospectus for Singapore-listed MediaRing, where Mr Li is a director, contained the claim that he graduated from Stanford.
Copyright © 2000 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/4/print/nfrnt08_prn.html |
