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【Second Opinion】Did Salesforce.com Decide Time's Person of the Year? (Mark Simon)

蘋果日報 2019/12/12 17:31


Three days ago when Hong Kong protesters were nominated for the Time Person of the Year, I was reasonably certain that the Hong Kong Protesters and their struggle would win. After all, while the eventual winner, 16 years old Greta Thunberg is quite something, is there any measure by which her actions equate with over 2 million people taking on the largest repressive regime in history?
The blowback we are seeing in the press now over the Hong Kong protesters being set aside is not normal. Yes, there are always grumblings about who wins and who loses, but this year, with Time not picking the Hong Kong protesters, many are asking what's the back story.
It's now an open question for me, backed by a conversation with a source who knows of the deliberations at Time, that it's possible the probable driving rational for not picking the Hong Kong Protesters were the business interests of Time's owner Marc Benioff.
Benioff, worth nearly USD $8 billion is the founder and controlling shareholder of Salesforce.com.(Full disclosure, I own shares.) This past July, Benioff announced major expansion plans for China in partnering with Alibaba.com as well as continuing organic growth efforts. China is a massive market and it is rational for any company to want to remain in good standing of the Chinese Communist Party.
Look at Mr.Benioff in the pictures. Does anyone think that him hugging Hong Kong protesters at a massive media show would go over well in Beijing? Do we think Beijing would do nothing in response?
Even without the person I spoke with, it is reasonable to ask such a question of conflict of interest. I think the Disney owned US news network ABC pulls punches on China. CNBC has a bag full of ethical issues in how they conduct themselves in regards to China. And then of course there is Bloomberg, with an owner who praises Chairman Xi.
It's not too much for us to know how a 16 years old created media sensation beat out a city taking on a repressive regime for an award from Time that is supposedly unencumbered by outside commercial considerations.
I have a message into Time's Chief Editor, Edward Felsenthal. We'll see if I get an answer. Did Marc Benioff have input into who was awarded Time's Person of the Year? Was he notified before it was announced? Can you do business in China and cover the Chinese Communist Party?