Li Ruigang

Li Ruigang
▪ 2007

      Sitting at the helm of one of China's largest media companies in 2006 was Li Ruigang, president of Shanghai Media Group (SMG), a state-owned conglomerate that had dramatically raised its international profile in recent years by striking partnerships with large and well-known corporations that included Viacom, Sony, and Intel. Under Li's guidance, SMG had doubled its size since 2002 and branched out from local television and radio broadcasting into an array of other ventures, including newspapers and magazines, music production, news Web sites, and digital cable and Internet-based television services. The Chinese government's willingness to open the door to foreign investment allowed Li to negotiate with overseas businesses that had long been eager to gain access to China's huge market. With Viacom, for instance, SMG agreed to syndicate MTV and Nickelodeon programming on SMG channels as well as to co-produce the highly popular MTV Asia Style Awards shows. Viacom chairman Sumner M. Redstone was unabashed in his praise of Li, calling the SMG president a “visionary” and “clearly a pioneer in bringing innovative partnerships to the Chinese people.”

      Li was born in June 1969 in Shanghai. He studied journalism at Shanghai's Fudan University, where he earned both bachelor's and master's degrees. After completing his master's degree in 1994, he worked as a reporter and later as a news producer for a local television station. He then spent several years working as an adviser to the deputy mayor of Shanghai. In 2001–02 Li was a visiting scholar studying international media administration at Columbia University, New York City. Upon his return to China in April 2002, he became the assistant president of Shanghai Media and Entertainment Group, SMG's parent company. The following October, Li was named president of SMG.

      Li faced a variety of obstacles upon assuming leadership of the company. Many observers felt that he was too young and inexperienced to manage the organization effectively. He also had to deal with the ongoing challenge of reconciling his plans for the company with the demands and restrictions imposed on him by Beijing. Nevertheless, Li built a solid record of achievement, which included securing a license to operate an IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) service, the first such license granted by China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television. He also put on the air several reality-TV shows modeled after The Apprentice and American Idol that became runaway hits in China.

      In January 2006 Li announced a deal under which SMG would develop content for Intel's newly launched Viiv technology platform for personal computers. The move was expected to make SMG programming available to some 30 million Chinese-speaking subscribers worldwide. In another high-profile deal, SMG obtained an exclusive license from the Fédération Internationale de Football Association to broadcast the 2006 World Cup on digital platforms in China. As for his future plans for SMG, Li was on record as saying that he would eventually like to take the company public, but it remained to be seen whether such a move would ever be feasible—and whether a stock issue for SMG could gain Beijing's approval.

Sherman Hollar

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▪ Chinese businessman
born June 1969, Shanghai, China

      Chinese businessman who rose to prominence as president of the state-owned conglomerate Shanghai Media Group (SMG).

      Li studied journalism at Shanghai's Fudan University, where he earned both bachelor's and master's degrees. After completing his master's degree in 1994, he worked as a reporter and later as a news producer for a local television station. He then spent several years working as an adviser to the deputy mayor of Shanghai. In 2001–02 Li was a visiting scholar studying international media administration at Columbia University in New York City. Upon his return to China in April 2002, he became the assistant president of Shanghai Media and Entertainment Group, SMG's parent company. The following October, Li was named president of SMG.

      The Chinese government's willingness to open the door to foreign investment allowed Li to negotiate with overseas businesses that had long been eager to gain access to China's huge market. Under Li's guidance, SMG doubled its size within a few years, branching out from local television and radio broadcasting into an array of other ventures, including newspapers and magazines, music production, news Web sites, and digital cable and Internet-based television services. He also secured a license to operate an IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) service, the first such license granted by China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television. With Viacom (Viacom Inc.), SMG agreed to syndicate MTV and Nickelodeon programming on SMG channels.

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Universalium. 2010.

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