Big American Names Join Chinese Company
NEW YORK (AP) — The Chinese news and broadcast company Xinhua Finance Media Ltd. added two big names in American media to its board, appointed two other new directors and named a new internal auditor Thursday.
Larry Kramer, founder and former CEO of MarketWatch, a financial news Web site now owned by Dow Jones & Co., and Steve Richards, chief operating officer of Silver Pictures, which has produced such movies as “V for Vendetta” and the “Matrix” series, are the two newest Americans on the publicly held company’s board.
The announcement came a day after Beijing-based Xinhua said The Yucaipa Cos., the southern California investment firm controlled by billionaire Ron Burkle, had taken a stake of undisclosed size in Xinhua. David Olson, a partner in Yucaipa, which counts former President Bill Clinton among its advisers, also will join Xinhua’s board, the company said Wednesday.
The two other directors appointed Thursday are Li Shantong, former director general of the Department of Development Strategy and Regional Economy at the Development Research Center of China’s State Council, and Teddy Liu Weidong, head of Xinhua Finance Media’s advertising group.
Xinhua Finance Media said the changes were intended to “enhance … corporate governance.”
Its chief finance officer resigned in May at the same time Barron’s reported that it had failed to disclose information in its initial public offering documents about disciplinary action taken against a brokerage firm that the former CFO ran.
Independent directors now hold a 7 to 5 majority on Xinhua Finance Media’s 12-person board. The company’s new internal auditor is Henry Heung-Ming Wong.
Xinhua Finance Media, a business publisher and broadcaster, is a subsidiary of Xinhua Finance Ltd., a Chinese financial information and media company led by American-born Fredy Bush.
Xinhua Finance Media’s shares soared Wednesday following news of the Yucaipa investment but slipped back 23 cents, or 2.6 percent to close at $8.55 on Thursday. They are still well below their $13 price at their initial public offering in March.