One week after the death of the 47-year-old CEO of Beijing Galloping Horse Media Co, it is still not clear who will take the helm of the fast-growing media company.
News of Li Ming's death started to circulate on Sina Weibo late on January 2, saying that Li had died of a heart attack. The next day, Galloping Horse confirmed Li's death on its official Sina Weibo account.
Li's death came as a shock for many people in China's film industry. Popular TV stars Tong Dawei and Sun Li, and film directors Ning Hao and Gao Qunshu were among the celebrities who expressed condolences on their Weibo accounts.
Media reports said that Zhong Lifang, vice president of Galloping Horse and a key figure in the company, immediately came back to Beijing from a business trip in Hong Kong after getting the news.
A report on Web portal qq.com said Monday that Zhong held an emergency meeting after her arrival in Beijing. No one outside the company knows what the meeting was about, but there are several pressing issues: Who will be named the next CEO? Will the ongoing movie projects be affected? And will the company still seek an IPO?
Rapid rise
Born into a family with a military background, Li was known in the entertainment industry for his passionate and tough character.
Li made his fortune by founding an advertising company in 1994, which worked closely with China Central Television (CCTV), the State broadcaster.
In 1998, Li founded Beijing Galloping Horse Media Co, which produces and invests in TV series and films.
The company has produced several well-received TV series in China, including romantic series Tian Mi Mi in 2006 and historical drama Three Kingdoms in 2010.
In 2008, when China's film industry started to boom, Li's company started to get involved in the sector.
The company has so far invested in 11 movies, including several high-profile projects, such as director John Woo's new movie The Crossing, The Karate Kid, starring Jackie Chan, and director Ning Hao's recent box-office smash, No Man's Land.
Though the company is still relatively new in the movie industry, it is seen as a rising star in the sector. In 2011, Li founded Beijing Galloping Horse Cinema Investment Co, aiming to venture into cinema construction. So far, the company has built four cinemas in China.
The company has also employed some renowned movie directors and scriptwriters - including directors John Woo and Ning Hao, as well as scriptwriter Ning Caishen - which has been key to the success of its films and TV series.
Loss of vision?
Li graduated from the photography department of Beijing Broadcasting Institute (now known as the Communication University of China) in 1989. Perhaps due to his artistic background, Li was more interested in choosing scripts and finding original ideas than in corporate operations.
A China Business News report on Monday cited an industry insider as saying that Li was the chief creative thinker at the company.
Compared with Li, vice president Zhong has been viewed as more interested in the business side of things, industry insiders said.
In 2009, Galloping Horse invested in the film Kungfu Cyborg: Metallic Attraction. Though the movie itself did not make a profit, Galloping Horse was the only investor in it that managed to make a profit, partly due to the strict investment clauses set down by Zhong.
Media reports have said that Li's charismatic personality was a major factor in attracting renowned figures in the industry to cooperate with Galloping Horse, and whether these people will remain at the company after his death is uncertain.
Zhong may not be the perfect person to guide Galloping Horse's artistic decisions, but she was described as having a particularly good understanding of finance in the entertainment industry by a Chinese Venture magazine report on January 3.
Unresolved issues
Galloping Horse is a family business. Li's older sister Li Li is a vice president in charge of financial and personnel affairs. Li's younger sister Li Ping runs an advertising subsidiary of the company, and one of Li's brothers-in-law works as a deputy manager in the company's TV series business.
If Zhong is named the successor, there is some uncertainty as to whether she will be able to gain the trust of the Li family members, according to the report by qq.com.
Another crucial issue for the company is whether the death of Li Ming will affect its potential IPO.
Recent media reports said that Li once considered floating on NASDAQ. But after another major film studio - Huayi Brothers Media Corp - successfully landed on the Growth Enterprise Market of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2009, Galloping Horse started to consider the mainland capital market.
In December 2011, Galloping Horse filed an IPO application with China's securities authority, but the application was not approved, for unknown reasons.
However, the company has still been working on an IPO during the past year. Zhong told the media in November that the company would enter a "quiet period" very soon because of a potential IPO.
"Galloping Horse has been left behind by its competitors like Huayi Brothers and Enlight Media as it is not listed on the capital market. Future development of the company needs the support of capital market [funding]," Zheng Pingyi, an analyst at Minsheng Securities, was quoted as saying by the Chinese Venture report.