The former chief of China Mobile's music download service, one of the most lucrative and fastest-growing businesses on the mainland, tried to flee overseas with up to 600 million yuan (HK$682.26 million) but failed, according to mainland media.
Li Xiangdong is in police custody, according to a report on the website of Caijing Magazine.
The report, quoting an unidentified senior employee of China Mobile's Sichuan centre, where Li was based, said Li was officially removed from his post as general manager of the firm's Wireless Music Operation Centre on March 29 and an internal meeting had been called to brief senior staff.
Li, 45, who holds a master's degree in executive business administration from the University at Buffalo in New York, took charge of the mobile-phone ringtone and music download service of China Mobile, the world's largest mobile service provider, in 2005.
The revenue that the service generated grew explosively. By 2007, the annual sales from more than a half-billion customers on the mainland exceeded 14 billion yuan.
A strategic-planning team member at China Mobile's headquarters in Beijing said Li's case was an isolated incident and would not have much effect on senior staff at the headquarters.
