The CEO behind Xinhua Finance Media, which has issues

James Areddy and David Reilly of The Wall Street Journal profiled Fredy Bush on Saturday. Bush is the CEO of Xinhua Finance Media, the China-based company that went public earlier this year and is the parent of U.S. news service Market News International.

Areddy and Reilly wrote, “Still, in early March, prospects seemed bright for the company and for Ms. Bush. On March 9, Xinhua Finance Media went public, raising $300 million, and Ms. Bush was in Times Square to ring the closing bell on the Nasdaq.

“Several weeks later, however, Xinhua Finance said that China’s Xinhua News Agency — whose association with the company had played a key role in its early success — had sold its remaining shares to ‘counter the incorrect perception’ it controlled the company. The Chinese news agency had been trimming its ownership in Xinhua Finance for years.

“Xinhua News Agency offered no explanation until April 28, when it published a notice saying it had ‘terminated’ the relationship as part of a campaign to distance Xinhua News Agency from many users of the Xinhua name that have ‘no link to news production, have a chaotic management system or even have destroyed the brand.’ Xinhua Finance has said that it has operated independently from Xinhua News Agency for some time.

“Several weeks later, Xinhua Finance was hit with another crisis. On May 17, Lynn Turner, the former chief accountant of the SEC, resigned from Glass, Lewis & Co., a U.S.-based proxy investment advisory firm that Xinhua Finance had purchased earlier in the year for $45 million. In his resignation letter, he cited the Xinhua Finance purchase as a reason for leaving.”

Read more here. Xinhua purchased New York-based Market News, which focuses on covering the world’s major economies, for $16.2 million in 2004.