BEIJING, April 1 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- eLong, Inc. (Nasdaq: LONG), a leading online travel company in China, today announced the appointment of Mike Doyle as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, effective April 1, 2009. Mr. Doyle is currently Chief Financial Officer of Expedia Asia Pacific, a division of Expedia, Inc., and has served on the Board of Directors of eLong since December 2004.
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“Mike has strong finance and travel industry experience, and has been a trusted advisor to eLong as a member of our Board of Directors,” said Guangfu Cui, Chief Executive Officer of eLong. “We are delighted to have him join us in this new capacity as Chief Financial Officer and believe he will make significant contributions to eLong’s future growth and development.”
Mr. Doyle holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from Southern Methodist University. Concurrent with his appointment as Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Doyle tendered his resignation from eLong’s Board of Directors (as well as the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors) with the resignation to take effect upon the appointment or election of his successor.
Chris Chan will remain with the Company for an interim period in order to assist with the transition. Guangfu Cui stated, “I would like to express our appreciation to Chris for his dedication, professionalism and leadership as our CFO for the past two years during which he has made outstanding contributions to the Company’s turnaround, including implementation of our ERP system and enhancements to our finance and accounting operations. We look forward to working closely with Chris during this transition, and wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
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, but are not the exclusive means of doing so. 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 operating losses, declines or disruptions in the travel industry, the international financial crisis, slowdown in the PRC economy, the recurrence of SARS, an outbreak of bird flu or other disease, eLong’s reliance on having good relationships with hotel suppliers and airline ticket suppliers, our reliance on the Travelsky GDS system for our air business, the possibility that eLong will be unable to continue timely compliance 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, fluctuations in the value of the Chinese currency, changes in eLong’s management team and other key personnel, changes in fourth-party distribution partner relationships and other risks outlined in eLong’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (or SEC), including eLong’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
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 and uses web-based distribution technologies and a 24-hour call center to provide consumers with access to hotel and air travel reservation services. Aiming to enrich people’s lives through the freedom of independent travel, eLong empowers consumers to make informed decisions with tools such as maps, virtual tours and user ratings. eLong has a selection of more than 7,000 hotels in China, and offers consumers the ability to make bookings at international hotels in more than 100 countries worldwide. eLong also has the capacity to fulfill air ticket reservations in over 80 major cities across China.
eLong operates websites including http://www.elong.com and http://www.elong.net .
