Winter is coming?

When everyone outside China is enthusiastic on the opportunities in China, some candid Chinese enterpreneurs said they are preparing for the winter's coming. Here are some quotes from the 6th China Enterpreneur Summit held in Beijing on December 8(in Chinese).

Ma Yun, the president of online B2B portal Alibaba.com, who just raised $1.5 billion from its IPO, said:

"The reason why Alibaba is preparing for a listing is to prepare for the winter. In 1999 and 2000, the Internet suddenly turned into winter when everyone was still talking on its exciting future; the same is happening now while something is going wrong with so many concept of web 2.0 or 3.0. So I want an IPO now to be ready for the winter".

Liu Chuanzhi, the president of Lenovo Group, whose private equity fund got over 8 times return in the past three years, said:

"We are doing a quick research on our industry investment now. We are not afraid of the coming winter, and we will do what we should do in the winter. The most important thing is what will happenin the winter and what we could improve to adjust the winter."


I don't really care when Wall Street Journal and Financial Times say winter, because it is always the media's job to give critical view. But if the "winter" comment is from two of the most respective and successful enterprenuers in China, I give a lot of credit on this. It is a good thing that they are still rational, and working on what they are due to do, instead of what they are imagined to do.