eBay China: Idiot who coined the term "Free is not a business model" RESIGNS!!!

[mandy]

eBay China CEO Martin Wu, who last October said "free is not a business model" and 2 months later made FREE his business model, has resigned.  He will be replaced by Liao Guangyu who is currently the GM of PayPal China.

article: http://www.chinatechnews.com/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=4458

"Free" is not a business model. It speaks volumes about the strength of eBay's business in China that Taobao today announced that it is unable to charge for its products for the next three years.

eBay China/Taobao thread from October 2005: http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...802.0.html

[sneakymagenta]

He sucked eggs as a leader.

[Anita]

I thought it was Meg that said "Free is not a business model."  No? 

[maryrussel]

Maybe she stole it from him. We all know how good ebay is at stealing and copying.

[Anita]

[quote author=maryrussel link=topic=5250.msg24678#msg24678 date=1159219085]
Maybe she stole it from him. We all know how good ebay is at stealing and copying.
[/quote]

;D

I have more faith in Mandy's memory then my own.

[mandy]

Blogging Stocks has a short article on Wu's departure:

So once again a numbers guy, Liao, is about to head an important strategic part of eBay. Not that I'm saying financial professionals, as Liao is hailed, cannot be strategic, but losing a former Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) chief marketing officer whose been in his job but a year, especially now when eBay China is in delicate condition with mounting competitive pressures, does not spell good news.

An AuctionBytes entry that makes reference to the same article above, also mentions the concerns of Mark Mahaney, a Citygroup analyst has. He claims China would hold significant challenges to eBay and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), while Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) is best positioned in that market. To make it in the Chinese market, he adds, eBay needs a partnership along the same lines of the Yahoo!-Alibaba one. Lest we forget other Asian markets such as Korea where eBay also has a remarkable competitor, GMarket...

full article: http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2006/09/25...-in-china/

[regic]

related topic:

Rumour in Chinese Media: Tom Online in talks to acquire struggling Ebay Eachnet
http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...089.0.html

Report: Tom.com to buyout eBay China, PayPal [China]

The well-informed source also said eBay China appointed Liao Guangyu as its new CEO only to carry out the takeover...