Caixin reports on the state-controlled, but market-oriented People’s Daily Online:
Waxing resolve for an A-share listing within the year, People’s Daily Online Co. opened on June 20, as a major step for the news portal, built by People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, moving forward a market-oriented reform.
However, in the eyes of many industry insiders, People’s Daily Online Co. is still far from being a traditional Internet company due to a lack of corporate governance, closed management structure and obscure profit model.
The next step for People’s Daily Online will be a public listing. However, a steep climb lies ahead for the government-controlled news portal which enjoys monopolized access to news resources but lacks market-oriented operation and innovations.
A senior official from China’s Ministry of Publicity in charge of reforms in the media and culture industry told Caixin that People’s Daily Online has long had a dual identity as both a government-backed institution and a profit-seeking enterprise. The People’s Daily Online Co. was established with the goal to become a corporate entity, but fulfilling the requirements for a market listing and the invitation of strategic investors could be difficult, said the official.
