BEIJING, March 9 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- eLong, Inc. (Nasdaq: LONG), a
leading online travel service provider in China, today announced that its
board of directors had elected Henrik Kjellberg to replace Barney Harford as
Chairman, effective March 10, 2007. Mr. Kjellberg is one of Expedia, Inc.'s
representatives on eLong's board. Expedia, the leading online travel company
in the world, is eLong's controlling shareholder, with approximately 52% of
the company's equity. Mr. Kjellberg is President of Expedia Asia Pacific and
has been a board member of eLong since October, 2005. Barney Harford will
remain a member of the eLong board of directors.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20041118/ELONGLOGO )
"I am delighted with Expedia's recent establishment of a new Asia Pacific
regional headquarter in Hong Kong and Mr. Kjellberg's relocation to Hong Kong,
which corresponds with Expedia's increasing effort in the region," commented
Tom SooHoo, Chief Executive Officer of eLong. "Over the past five years, Mr.
Kjellberg established a track record of tremendous results for Expedia in
Europe and is already very familiar with our company's operations and
management. We welcome his increased role on our board and look forward to
continue benefiting from his valuable insight and extensive knowledge of
online travel."
eLong today also announced the appointment of Chris Chan as CFO, effective
March 10, 2007. Mr. Chan will replace Tony Shen, who has acted as interim CFO
since July 27, 2006 and will continue in his current consulting capacity to
the company during the transition period. "We thank Tony for his leadership of
eLong's finance team during our search for a permanent CFO and wish him well
in his future endeavors," remarked Tom SooHoo, Chief Executive Officer of
eLong. "We're pleased to have Chris on board and look forward to benefiting
from the valuable financial and operational experience he brings to eLong."
Separately, eLong today also announced results for the fourth quarter of
2006.
About Henrik Kjellberg
Mr. Kjellberg is President of Expedia Asia Pacific, a division of Expedia,
Inc. Before that, Mr. Kjellberg was Senior Vice President of international
lodging & destination services. Previously he held the position of Vice
President and Managing Director, Supply Europe for Expedia, in which role he
oversaw all hotel, car and destination services for the region. Since joining
Expedia in 2001, Mr. Kjellberg has overseen the launches of Expedia
Netherlands and Expedia Italy. Additionally, he managed Expedia.com's WWTE(TM)
private-label service in Europe. Prior to joining Expedia, Mr. Kjellberg
worked for Procter & Gamble and Scandinavian Internet portal Spray. Mr.
Kjellberg holds a Master of Science in economics from the Stockholm School of
Economics.
About Chris Chan
Prior to joining eLong, Mr. Chan was Finance Director of Pepsico China
Beverages, responsible for financial reporting in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Prior to Pepsico, Mr. Chan served as Financial Services Manager of Sun
Microsystems, Greater China. Prior to Sun, Mr. Chan served as CFO of Netstar
Hong Kong Limited, Greater China and as Financial Controller of GE Plastics
China. Mr. Chan received his MBA from Purdue University and his Bachelor of
Science from Cornell University. Mr. Chan is a Certified Public Accountant in
the U.S. and in Hong Kong.
About eLong, Inc.
eLong, Inc. (Nasdaq: LONG) is a leading online travel company in China.
Headquartered in Beijing, eLong has a national presence across China. eLong
uses web-based distribution technologies and a 24-hour call center to provide
consumers with access to travel reservation services. Aiming to enrich
people's lives through the freedom of independent travel, eLong empowers
consumers to make informed choices by providing a one-stop travel solution and
consolidated travel tools and information such as maps, virtual tours and user
ratings. eLong has the capacity to fulfill air ticket reservations in over 57
major cities across China. In addition to choice of a wide hotel selection in
the Greater China region, eLong offers Chinese consumers the ability to make
bookings at international hotels in over 140 destinations worldwide. eLong
operates the websites http://www.elong.com and http://www.elong.net.
About Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc. is the world's leading online travel company, empowering
business and leisure travelers with the tools and information they need to
easily research, plan, book, and experience travel. Expedia, Inc. also
provides wholesale travel to offline retail travel agents. Expedia, Inc.'s
portfolio of brands includes: Expedia.com(R), hotels.com(R), Hotwire(R),
Expedia(R) Corporate Travel, TripAdvisor(R) and Classic Vacations(R). Expedia,
Inc.'s companies also operate internationally with sites in Canada, the United
Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark,
Australia, Japan and China, through its investment in eLong(TM). For more
information, visit http://www.expediainc.com/ (Nasdaq: EXPE).
Expedia, Expedia.com are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Classic Vacations is either
a trademark or registered trademark of Classic Vacations, LLC in the U.S.
and/or other countries. hotels.com is either a trademark or registered
trademark of hotels.com, L.P., a subsidiary of hotels.com in the U.S. and/or
other countries. Hotwire is either a trademark or registered trademark of
Hotwire, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. TripAdvisor is either a
trademark or registered trademark of TripAdvisor, LLC in the U.S. and/or other
countries. Other logos or product and company names mentioned herein may be
the property of their respective owners.
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this press release concerning eLong's future business,
operating results and financial condition are "forward-looking" statements
within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as
defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as
"anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may,"
"plan," "project," "predict," "should" and "will" and similar expressions as
they related to the Company are intended to identify such forward-looking
statements. These forward looking statements are based upon management's
current views and expectations with respect to future events and are not a
guarantee of future performance. Furthermore, these statements are, by their
nature, subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
performance and results to differ materially from those discussed in the
forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors. Factors that
could affect the Company's actual results and cause actual results to differ
materially from those included in any forward-looking statement include, but
are not limited to, eLong's historical operating losses, its limited operating
history, declines or disruptions in the travel industry, the recurrence of
SARS, an outbreak of bird flu, eLong's reliance on having good relationships
with hotel suppliers and airline ticket suppliers, collection risk with
respect to eLong's corporate travel accounts receivable, the possibility that
eLong will be unable to timely comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley
Act of 2002, the risk that eLong will not be successful in competing against
new and existing competitors, risks associated with Expedia, Inc.'s
(Nasdaq: EXPE) majority ownership interest in eLong and the integration of
eLong's business with that of Expedia's, subsequent revaluations of the
Chinese currency, changes in eLong's management team and other key personnel
and other risks outlined in eLong's filings with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (or SEC), including eLong's Form 20-F filed with the SEC
in connection with the Company's fiscal year 2004 results. Readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which
speak only as of their dates.
Investor Contact:
Raymond Huang
eLong, Inc.
Investor Relations Manager
ir@corp.elong.com
+86 10 5860 2288 ext. 6633