CHINA'S COAL BOSSES TURNING TO INTERNET MARKET

AsiaInfo Services
05-16-2011
China's Coal Bosses Turning to Internet Market

BEIJING, May 16, 2011 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) -- A group of coal bosses, widely known as the new rich in China, are looking to turn to the fast-growing online service business to capitalize on the Internet boom.

A recent market investigation shows that the affluent coal bosses are casting their sight on Internet for investment in what is called a tentative business model reform.

"We will prefer e-commerce for an access to the online service market, now that most of the businessmen from Shanxi start their business from trading," said an ex-coal boss from Linfen, a city in the coal-rich Shanxi province, expecting to change his role into a new businessman after withdrawing from coal mining.

Nearly 30% of the coal bosses have dipped toe in the Internet market by far, making the new industry more favored than tourism, education, automobile, agriculture, and consumer products, according to the market investigation.

The Internet market stepped into a new blooming era last year, drawing a great deal of capital and precluding an initial public offering (IPO) spree abroad, pointed out Liu Xingliang, an expert in the Internet market, noting that it is reasonable for the new rich to rush into the high-tech businesses such as Internet at a time when they are kept out of the traditional industries like real estate development.

Such a frenzy comes after Huang Zhihua, a coal boss from Shanxi, made a winning start from investment in online service market. Mr. Huang, together with some of his counterparts, invested to set up Ayatuan.com, an online group purchase discount platform, for a debut in the online service market.

Ayatuan.com, based in Beijing, provides online group purchase discount services in a series of sectors such as catering & entertainment, leisure & bodybuilding, personal healthcare, ticket booking, education & training, and life services.

Nevertheless, the coal bosses will need to enrich their experience and enlarge talent reserve to get a foothold in the Internet market, a segment that changes swiftly, said Mr. Liu. Sensing uncertainties from the new arena, more than 60% of the coal boss investors are intended to make capital injection in groups.

"I'd suggest the coal bosses play no more than an investor, that is to say, they are not supposed to get too deep in business management," pointed out Mr. Liu, "business operation and management are expected to be left for the professional managers and executive team."

Source: www.eeo.com.cn (May 16, 2011)

KEYWORD: BEIJING INDUSTRY KEYWORD: Internet & Online Services & Media SUBJECT CODE: General Industry Information
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IPO
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coal boss
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