Political Tones to Problems of TV Maker in China

[Rose Siding]

BEIJING, Dec. 31 - The tale of China's biggest exporter of televisions to the United States - a company that disclosed huge losses earlier this week - seemed to take a new turn on Friday with the abrupt dismissal of the Communist Party boss of the company's hometown.

The official, Huang Zuejui, a former executive at the company, was party secretary of Mianyang, a city in the Sichuan province of western China that is home to the company, Sichuan Changhong Electric Appliance. He was removed because of "work needs," according to a brief announcement posted Friday on the city's official Web site. City and provincial officials declined to comment further.

The removal of Mr. Huang follows news this week that the company would probably report huge losses for the year, mostly from nearly a half-billion dollars in unpaid debts it had racked up with an American distribution company, Apex Digital. Apex had made Changhong a leading provider of Chinese television sets sold under various labels in the United States by retailers like Wal-Mart, Kmart and Circuit City.

Word also emerged earlier this week that the president of Apex, which is based in Ontario, Calif., had been arrested by the Mianyang police and charged with financial fraud.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/01/business/worldbusiness/01tele.html

[Old and In the Way]

1. Nice line of credit...........

How does any business get themselves strung out to the tune of $500MM? Apex must have one hell of a purchasing department.