A Small Shareholder Protest Against Winfoong (榮豐)
According to Wikipedia,
A Google bomb (also referred to as a 'link bomb') is Internet slang for a certain kind of attempt to influence the ranking of a given page in results returned by the Google search engine, often with humorous or political intentions.
I don't like getting involved with Google bombs, because the projects are silly most of the time (e.g. associating Microsoft with the term "more evil than Satan himself" or linking the text "dumb motherfucker" to a site selling George W. Bush-related merchandise.
The following story is a different kind of effort. This is about a protest against the machinations of the management at a company listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The purpose of the blog post was to defend the interests of the small shareholders with respect to a transparently bad proposal from the management. The blogger (at Incoherent Thoughts) is Andrew Pak-man Shuen, who writes for the financial pages of Apple Daily. His goal here is to see if his blog post will bring infamy to those managers and directors who came up with this scheme. His blog post is translated into English here and we will see if this helps to boost up the Google rank.
So Google + (small shareholders & netizens) = Corporate Governance?
(Incoherent Thoughts) 姓鍾榮豐大股東 禍及下代小股民 July 16, 2007.
Please link to this blog entry. It is time for the small shareholders of Hong Kong to demonstrate what can be done to punish those who treats us poorly.
Google's search result ranking works by seeing how many ppl link to that website, more links to my entry, the higher the rank.
So that when ppl search the name of the company's directors (which i included all of them) on google, hopefully the first result will be this piece.
And it is all about how they treat small shareholders poorly.
Next weds is the Special General Meeting for the shareholders to vote on the deal. Hopefully by then, the ranking will be high. Teach them a lesson to piss off HK shareholders.
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[in translation]
If Pak-man were to tell you today not to do something that will have an impact on your children, would you listen?
In these times, a person under 30 years of age wants to research something and the first thing must be to get on the Internet. Actually, they would likely go straight to Google.
A while ago, an Internet recruitment company CEO named Jason Goldberg denied the street rumors about employee layoffs. He even publicly criticized the "information leakers." Several days after criticizing those "information leakers," the company went ahead with massive employee layoffs. Suddenly, Internet posts condemning this "useless" CEO was all over the place. The CEO realized that he had made a mistake and did everything that he could to tide over the storm. But even today, if you were to Google the name "Jason Goldberg", the top results will contains stories about how he lied once upon a time.
"2007: I've checked Google. One had better be careful about
doing business with people whose last name is Cheong."There is a company named 榮豐 Winfoong (063) listed on the Hong Kong stock market. Recently, they issued a notice that they intend to implement "wealth transfer." I am by no means the first person to discuss this case. Basically, the big shareholders will bring in some "worthless" Singapore real estate properties into Winfoong 榮豐 while transferring the expensive Winfoong 榮豐 land properties in Hong Kong to an unlisted company. Then they will split everything among the shareholders on a one-for-one basis. On July 25, they will have a vote among the "independent" small shareholders.
I have no energy to denounce what is being infused into Winfoong 榮豐 or how the small shareholders will be diluted. But transferring expensive land properties into an unlisted company? And then splitting it among the shareholders on a one-for-one basis? If the shareholder rights are not materially altered, why would they bother to go through with all this? To be a small shareholder in an unlisted company is like being raped by Arthur Li.
The esteemed Mister 何車 (Hong Kong Economic Times) wrote: "Winfoong 榮豐 ... is being reorganized by giving out unlisted bonds. One never wants anything that is unlisted. Investors will win or lose, but here I recommend that you stop your losses and walk away. I advice all those in charge of listed companies that you can offer any kind of gift (including a plate of roast pork on rice), but please do not give away anything with no listed value." Meanwhile my other esteemed stock 'doctor' "Doctor Cha 查博士" continued: "The Winfoong 榮豐 ... reorganization requires attention. The small shareholders are either opposing the move or selling the stock."
These kinds of methods bring shame to the Hong Kong SAR and damage its competitiveness. It is one thing for a Hong Kong person to con other Hong Kong people, but what do we think about Singapore people doing this kind of thing in the Hong Kong SAR?
You can read the annual reports from Winfoong 榮豐 and its parent company, and you can tell that this is a family business. The directors are the four brothers named Cheong. That is to say, you can tell from their business methods what they are like and what their attitudes are.
"2037: I've checked Google. One had better be careful about
doing business with people whose last name is Cheong."I am not mad today because the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange are useless to the point where they approved such chicaneries.
I am not mad today because Singapore guys are messing Hong Kong up.
I am mad because 鍾斌銓 Cheong Pin Chuan, Patrick，鍾金榜 Cheong Kim Pong，鍾燊榮 Cheong Sim Eng and 鍾斌盛 Cheong Pin Seng can completely ignore the fact their business activities will led to consequences for all of their descendants.
I want to list all their full English and Chinese names, becase I believe that many small shareholders who had been "treated" in the same way by the big shareholders at listed companies will re-publish and/or link to this article. When that time comes, if the descendants of the Cheong ever want to do business or find partners, their prospective partners will Google the family and know how this family conducts business.
Repent and be saved!
"2067: I've checked Google. One had better be careful about
doing business with people whose last name is Cheong."
