Netease (NASDAQ:NTES) is a full-fledged tech business these days, but at its core is its portal site that posts everything from useful links to the latest news. But all is not well in the heart of Netease, apparently, with insiders saying that deputy chief editor Chen Mengcang, video administrator Ceng Li, and news channel editor-in-chief Chen Ziyu have all left their posts at Netease recently. As of now, Chen Mengcang is the only one who has officially confirmed his resignation.
This is what part of Netease's portal looks like; hope you enjoy links...
This apparent exodus echoes an incident from less than two years ago when seven high-level editors from Netease’s portal left the company en masse to found a startup. This rate of management-level employees departing is not normal. So what’s going on at Netease?
Employees say that the problem has to do with Netease’s incentive program, or rather, its lack of one. While employees outside the portal section of the company seem to get a better deal, portal management has apparently gotten nothing in the way of options or bonuses since 2004. The apparent compensation for this is that they are given greater autonomy, but unsurprisingly, that hasn’t proved to be a strong motivator. There are plenty of other portal sites out there, after all, and I bet some of them offer management some stock options.
Netease’s rumored plan to spin-off its portal business with a separate listing still hasn’t come to fruition. An insider told the First Finance Daily that it was still in progress, but its unclear whether or not it will placate portal employees, especially those at the management level.
[First Finance Daily via Sina Tech]
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