More and more work to do at eLong

If you take the PR release at its word there was an amicable parting of the ways between struggling Chinese online travel player eLong and CEO Tom SooHoo. With the result that Expedia's Asian head Henrik Kjellberg adds the title of "Interim Chief Executive Officer, eLong" to his very long business card. Here are some extracted words from the release

"eLong, Inc...today announced Tom SooHoo has resigned as CEO of the Company, effective April 16, 2007...Mr. Kjellberg commented, ''We would like to thank Tom for his contributions to eLong and wish him all the success in the future."

My prediction is that eLong will look to fill this role quickly to both calm any market jitters from this announcement and also to let Henrik get back to work running the rest of Expedia in Asia.