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From WSJ: Short Seller Draws Criticism in China Over Research

By LORETTA CHAO

BEIJING—A number of prominent technology leaders in China, including current and former executives from Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp., are mounting an offensive against short seller Citron Research as they protest a spate of what they call unfair and inaccurate attacks on U.S.-listed Chinese companies.

Led by Kai-Fu Lee, former head of Google's operations in the country, a group of more than 60 executives, investors and entrepreneurs signed a letter accusing China-focused short sellers—particularly Citron—of "targeting legitimate companies with either no problems or minimal problems," manipulating information to write reports that "boldly tell lies, knowing that their American readers have no way of verifying them." Mr. Lee is one of the most prominent technology executives in China, and currently runs an incubator for technology start-ups called Innovation Works.

In an interview, Mr. Lee said he fears that what he considers baseless allegations by Citron and others will make it "harder and harder for Chinese companies to go public in the U.S., which is neither good for China nor the U.S."

The group has created a new website, http://Citronfraud.com. The focus is in part on Citron's criticism of antivirus software and Internet-services provider Qihoo 360 Technology Co., listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Qihoo 360 Chief Executive Zhou Hongyi is one of the letter's signees.

"Movements only evolve around real threats," said Andrew Left, founder of Citron, who said Mr. Lee has distorted his reports. "If what I wrote was false, then you wouldn't need a movement around it ... I am more than happy to defend [my statements] in a court of law." Mr. Left said he has shorted Qihoo, but didn't disclose the size of his position.

Mr. Left also pointed out that an investor in Mr. Lee's incubator, Sequoia Capital, is also a Qihoo backer.

Mr. Lee, who said he doesn't own Qihoo shares, confirmed that Sequoia is his investor, and added that Qihoo and Qihoo competitors are also investors, but said that didn't have bearing on his decision to take action. "What Citron and other companies like it are doing is creating a prejudice that makes it difficult for companies we invest in to go public ... that's the agenda."

The group of signees includes a number of prominent venture-capital and angel investors in China. Such investors provide funding for start-ups and stand to profit heavily if the companies sell shares to the public. Among the notable members is Zhang Ya-Qin, chairman of Asia-Pacific research and development for Microsoft.

Short sellers borrow shares to sell them with the hope of buying them back at a lower price and pocketing the difference, so they stand to benefit from causing share prices to drop. Investigations by short sellers have triggered a wave of delistings of Chinese companies by U.S. stock exchanges and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

This has cast a cloud over Chinese companies listed in the U.S., and analysts say it is in part the reason why share prices of larger companies have come down as well, including prominent U.S.-listed Chinese Internet firms like online video company Youku Tudou Inc. and Sina Corp, owner of the Weibo microblogging service.

"Obviously, short selling is good" and these sellers have been "exposing problems and companies with issues," said Fan Bao, chief executive of investment bank China Renaissance Partners, who signed the letter. "But it got to a point where they are very indiscriminating, and are, in our opinion, going after some good companies."

The group's assertions will likely renew focus on the state of corporate research in China. In recent months, the Chinese government has made it more difficult to access financial information, including audited reports, for private companies as part of a broad information crackdown. Some investors say that has added to the already difficult task of ascertaining the state of company finances and operations.

"It's very difficult to get the truth" about Chinese companies, said Mr. Left, whose research group has written about several firms that have been delisted and investigated. "Many times it's not as transparent as it should be."

Among other things, Citron alleges that Qihoo 360 overrepresented average gaming revenue per user and other financial data, and that it lacks the infrastructure and experience to run a successful search business. Mr. Zhou, Qihoo's CEO, denies misrepresenting any numbers, saying that if he did so it would be apparent to Qihoo's dozens of partners who share revenue with the company.

As for Citron's assertions about Qihoo's potential in the search business relative to competitors, Mr. Lee says Citron makes erroneous comparisons and lacks a "basic understanding" of the Chinese Internet market.

Mr. Left said he stands by his track record, and added that he has been looking at the Chinese market for years and uses respected third-party research in his reports. Citron says on its website that it has researched and published information on 20 Chinese companies. It says the majority have suffered significant losses in share price and seven have been delisted.

"In the beginning, short sellers were serving a very good purpose for the environment because of a lot of fraud that they exposed," said Mr. Lee. But "a lot of companies are legitimate, and people are feeling that this speculation has been hurting otherwise innocent companies...as well as the general trust in any Chinese company."

Mr. Bao of China Renaissance Partners said some of his clients are already asking about alternative listing options. "Whereas the U.S. was the default" place to go public for Chinese start-ups, the coming year will "be the real test" to see where "some of the [initial public offering] candidates in the pipeline decide to IPO. You'll see a lot more variety of choice."

The signees also include Wang Xiaochuan, chief executive of Sogou, the search unit of Nasdaq-listed Sohu.com Inc.

Sohu.com isn't among the companies criticized by Citron—the short seller actually praised the firm, calling it "the most compelling investment of any China technology company trading in the U.S."