Media heavyweights to launch new financial news outlet
Two leading figures in China’s media industry have joined forces to start one of the country’s largest financial news portals, injecting life back into an industry that has seen profits plunge due to a cooling economy this year.
He Li, former chief editor of several major financial news organisations including the and , and Hua Wei, a co-founder of popular business magazine plan to jointly launch the new financial news site by the end of the year, He said.
The news website will focus on news relating to Chinese enterprises playing leading roles in each industry sector, rather than taking a broader view like many of its competitors. And it will aim to produce a considerable portion of original content to gain an edge against large news portals, while also integrating online information, according to He.
The news came to light when a recruitment advertisement was placed on a social networking website for as many as 50 financial reporters, described by He as “one of the largest recruitment drives targeting financial journalists in history”. He added that the news gathering team might be expanded to as many as 100 or more next year, depending on the website’s success.
Despite the fact that the amount of capital to be injected into the company has not yet been determined, the sheer size of the preliminary recruitment drive suggests that it could become one of the biggest financial news outlets in China and possibly one of the best.
The website will also allow investors to share and communicate the latest industry information in online communities. He added “it will be developed into a trading platform in the future for profit.”
As many financial news print media reported losses in the early part of the year, several prominent editors-in-chief have gone to test the waters online.
He was co-founder of the , and , and was also editor-in-chief of magazine.
