TVB expresses concerns over reform plans proposed by minority shareholders

Local media broadcaster TVB has reiterated its intolerance towards the dissemination of misleading information about the company, after a group of shareholders revealed their reform plans to “revolutionise” TVB, including recalling the majority members of the company’s board.

This comes as TVB Shareholders Alliance, a group of minority shareholders of TVB expressed their disappointment towards the company's profit warning announcement and made a proposal to “revolutionise” the company on Facebook. Among the reform plans, they suggested removing six out of eight members of the board, including Lan Kwai Fong Group’s chairman Allan Zeman, CMC Capital Partners’ founding chairman Li Ruigang and chairman of Captcha Media William Lo. The shareholders also said that they have looked for six individuals across various industries to replace the mentioned Board members.

The second reform plan from the shareholders is to adjust the business development of TVB’s eCommerce platform Ztore by splitting the company’s eCommerce businesses. Apart from live commerce shows on Douyin and Taobao, they suggested Ztore to set up websites in the United States and Canada to provide cross-border online shopping services for overseas Chinese, while local advertising companies can be contacted for ad placements.

In response to the proposed plans, TVB said it has great respect for the opinions and support of shareholders. However, it does not tolerate or condone the dissemination of misleading information about the company, attempts to tarnish the company's reputation without contacting any members of the management team, or making personal attacks towards its management. “We reserve the right to pursue legal action against any unlawful acts or false accusations,” the statement read.

Given that the local media market has been hit hard by the pandemic in the past few years, all industries have suffered unprecedented economic losses, and TVB is no exception, said the statement.

“Since the beginning of 2021, the group has carried out extensive reforms in order to actively embark on a path towards new media for the television industry. In the past two years, the new management team has reshaped and strengthened TVB brand's solid foundations, allowing TVB to successfully embark on the road of new media development. This ultimately leads to the creation of a brand-new, cohesive and energetic TVB in terms of business development and management,” the company said.

Don't miss: TVB expects up to HK$830m loss in 2022 due to weak advertising revenue

Most recently, TVB said it is expecting a loss attributable to equity holders of the company of up to approximately HK$830m in the last financial year, as well as an EBITDA loss of approximately HK$338m compared to the financial year of 2021. This is due to the weak local television advertising market for much of the financial year of 2022, dampening growth in the company’s advertising income. Meanwhile, widespread pandemic restrictions in mainland China in the later part of the Year also resulted in a slowdown of the company’s China co-production business.

Don't miss: TVB defends itself against accusations of mismanagement and indebtedness

Back in January, TVB has already defended itself against seven accusations of mismanagement and high indebtedness by a group of shareholders, who accused TVB of misleading its shareholders on the official name of the company that holds executive power and investment failure in SMI and State Reserve Energy Bonds.

TVB said that the allegations therein are groundless and lack clarity, “In the past few years, Hong Kong has been hard hit by social unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid these immense challenges, TVB has maintained good performance." It also said TVB’s flagship TV channels remain Hong Kong’s most-watched by a large margin with prime-time rating of over 25 TVRs, corresponding to a 77% share of viewership. In the first half of 2022, revenue from operations in Mainland China jumped 42%.

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