Some Insight Into Asian Tech And Economy.
ARTICLE:
Not many people would throw away a television job that made them a household name in urban China for an unpaid post in a company entering a risky new field. But that is what Yang Lan, 32, host of an interview programme on Phoenix satellite television, did a few months ago when she quit the network to head an Internet start-up venture.
Then there is Dylan Tinker, 31, a "young gun" securities analyst who left his fast-track career in a conservative industry for the challenge of helping build a dotcom.
Welcome to the new economy, where young professionals are walking away from well-paid, respected and secure posts for excitement in potentially lucrative but high-risk jobs.
The growth of e-commerce is changing the landscape of Hong Kong's employment market as professionals, technicians and entrepreneurs scramble to ensure they do not miss the ride of their careers in this spectacularly soaring sector.
The suits are shedding their ties and scarves, leaving the high rises of Central and the old economy, putting on jeans and heading for the cheap office space of Kowloon and Wan Chai.
A merchant banker complains that last week he approached two law firms for assistance in listing a company on the stock market but was rebuffed because they were short of staff - they had not yet been able to replace lawyers who were leaving to join Internet start-ups.
Ms Yang not only walked away from a good job, she is putting a great deal of money into her new venture.
She and her husband, Bruno Wu Zheng, a former executive at television broadcaster ATV, are investing more than $40 million of their own money in turning a listed construction company into an Internet broadcasting portal, she says.
She is now chairperson of Sun Television Cybernetworks Holdings, which the couple and two investment partners have built out of the shell of Leung Kee Holdings, an old economy company which had been languishing in the stock market.
The presenter and reporter who was earning up to $100,000 a month at Phoenix is now head of a company with a market capitalisation last week of $3 billion.
They are now assembling a team of up to 40 producers, reporters and writers to produce documentaries in association with the respected United States A&E Networks and create a business-to-business portal and broadband network selling the programmes to broadcasters as well as allowing Asian viewers to watch them over the Internet.
When Ms Yang left Phoenix last year, she told the media that she wanted to spend more time with her family in Shanghai where she has a son, Kevin, aged three.
She was flying frequently between Shanghai, Beijing and the Phoenix headquarters in Hong Kong for interviews with big names such as media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, Intel's Andy Grove, mainland ministers, intellectuals and artists.
"Another reason I left Phoenix which I didn't emphasise at the time I left was that I was not very satisfied with the production resources I was given for the show," says Ms Yang.
Editing time was very limited, a frustration for Ms Yang, who describes herself as a perfectionist."I was doing three persons' jobs: executive producer, paper editing and writing questions."
Now, Ms Yang relishes the opportunity of being in charge of her company's documentaries which she wants to be high quality programmes shot on digital video.She hopes the company will benefit from the demand for material to fill Web sites.
"Everyone is talking about these highways and super portals but I don't see much content or traffic for it."
The alliance with A&E's history channel will allow Sun Television Cybernetworks to broadcast its American partner's historical and biographical programmes over the new technology while providing a US outlet for its Chinese and Asian documentaries.
The move has given her more freedom with her work, says Ms Yang."I had a very hard time last year figuring out what to do next. Basically, I have the enthusiasm about being a reporter doing interviews and production. I want to figure out why I felt constrained by working for an institution. Right now, I don't feel like I can fit into another institution."
At the moment she is not receiving any pay from the company as they prepare to launch in the summer, says Ms Yang.
Of her and husband Bruno's $40 million investment, she says: "It's a big commitment. It is risky too. Some of our friends tried to persuade us not to put so much money in."
But Ms Yang also hopes there is a lot of money to be made - and she says she wants to share it with her staff by giving them options.
She says media workers are not traditionally very well-paid but, perhaps, the new economy will bring them better rewards for their talents.
For Dylan Tinker, a director at Deutsche Bank in charge of telecoms and Internet research who recently joined financial service provider Quamnet.com as chief operating officer, a big attraction of the new technology is its power.
As a sharemarket analyst, he wrote reports for big financial institutions to help guide their investment decisions and financed corporate deals, but felt his opportunity to have an impact in the market was limited.
"The one problem with financial analysis is that you could influence the public market and in Hong Kong the public market controls stocks.
"You make recommendations for today that are forgotten in a month," he says of the analyst's role.Mr Tinker cites the new sector as an exciting hotbed of ideas as a factor in his career change.
"The most progressive thought in finance previously was coming from people particularly in banking and broking. They were at the leading edge of finance. Now some of these new companies are so cutting edge that the people who were the leaders in finance are now in the Internet sector.
"I have more to learn and it is more challenging than my old job [as an analyst] which I was at for seven years," he says.
The Boston-born executive views electronic commerce and information as akin to a revolution in business and society.
"The Internet is creating a platform where there are no or very few inherent advantages for old players. So it really is an open field. I could not have started a press company [previously] but I could now start an Internet press company."
Quam is currently offering live stock prices, chat rooms for investors, tipsters' advice and analysis from respected industry insiders like Mr Tinker - it is recruiting others - and plans to let viewers buy shares, mortgages and other financial products on-line.
It is putting financial information at the fingertips of small investors which previously was hard to access.
"The attraction for me is to help create a Bloomberg on-line that's available for everybody," he says, adding as an afterthought, "my parents are socialists".
Asked about the potential windfalls from the Internet boom for executives like himself, Mr Tinker says his base salary has been cut by 70 per cent but he will make money "only after time". He is apparently referring to share options which are a common form of payment for start-up employees.
According to industry sources, recruits from financial fields are giving up salaries of between $100,000 and $200,000 a month to work at start-ups for about one-third of that.
But their payoff comes from share options which can be worth between one and five per cent of the company. Based on this estimate, an executive at Tom.com may be worth between about $300 million and $1.5 billion.
Mr Tinker believes the risk for him and his colleagues who are making the transition is reduced because of the demand in Hong Kong for finance sector professionals.
"Yes, it's a big risk but for a lot of people in the industry, Hong Kong is so talent starved that joining an Internet start-up is not as big a risk as people think."
He adds he is committed for the long-term to his new career as he wants to see the impact of the decisions he makes.
Recruitment consultant Nick Henderson says that investment bankers, accountants from the "Big Five" firms and equities analysts are all seeking to join the industry.
"They don't want to miss the boat, they've seen what has transpired in Silicon Valley and there is a possibility that something similar could happen here," says Mr Henderson, chief executive of Internet-based recruitment specialists Techpursuit.com.
Apart from the prospect of making big money, Mr Henderson says people making the career change are eager to feel they have more control over the businesses and their own future.
"There's a big element of freedom that they would not normally see in the conservative world of finance and banking."
The information technology sector is showing "huge demand" for qualified executives."One of the biggest challenges facing the industry is the dearth of IT talent in Asia," says Mr Henderson.
Meet another newcomer. Patrick Chow, 30, started working a few weeks ago as he seeks to position his marketing career for the new wave of technology he believes will replace television as it is today.
The regional marketing manager for Careernext.com came from a similar job at Time Warner's TNT Cartoon Network.
The way he sees it, the Internet and television will "converge" so that the two or three television and computer screens at home will be integrated and viewers will be able to surf the World-Wide Web, chat with friends by e-mail and watch television at the same time.
Mr Chow says his move is designed to "adapt my skill sets for a new industry".
After just a few weeks in the job, he is on a steep learning curve. "Already it feels like I've been here a long time because the Internet moves so quickly."
Even if the sector's share bubble bursts on the stock markets, Mr Chow says the technological changes are already on the way.
"With the Internet you have to realise you are here for the long term. This is here to stay."
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