According to reports in a number of media, Shanghai-listed Clever Net, an educational software provider, is facing a financial crisis.

Most of Clever Net's business activities halted since the SARS earlier this year, and according to local press the company delayed salary payments to its staff for 9 months, despite their continuing to come to work.

Song Zhaodi, president of the company, hosted a company meeting on October 31, encouraging employees to go on with sales and marketing campaigns. However, the roughly 300 employees that attended this meeting believed these business activities would be difficult to resume because many top executives had already left the company, in addition to a lack of funds for kicking off new promotional activities. The employees gathered outside Song's office for an entire night, demanding an explanation from the company. However, the two parties failed to reach an agreement and local labor authorities have subsequently begun an investigation into the outstanding salaries.