HK PRESS: PCCW's Richard Li Defends Internet Cutbacks
Dow Jones Newswires
August 16, 2001
Dow Jones Newswires
HONG KONG -- Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd. (PCW) Chairman Richard Li defended his recent decision to scale back his ambitious Internet plans in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
PCCW has radically scaled back its plan to make PCCW an Asian multimedia giant, based around the company's Network of World (NOW) channel. Instead, it will concentrate on the Hong Kong market through NOW.com.hk, the Post said on the anniversary of PCCW's takeover of former Hong Kong telecom monopoly Cable & Wireless HKT.
"Yes we did drastically cut down our investment in Internet services. I think it was the right move, since online advertising dropped over 80%," Li said, according to the Post. "It was a prudent move to slash investment in Internet businesses," he said. "The share price of every Internet and telecoms company has collapsed in the past year."
PCCW's shares have tumbled 87% to Thursday's HK$1.99 close since the takeover of Cable & Wireless HKT a year ago.
"If we hadn't acquired HKT and remained as a pure Internet company, our share price would have fallen even further," Li said.
-By Kirsti Hastings; Dow Jones Newswires; (852) 2832 2337; kirsti.hastings@dowjones.com
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