This ten-minute session decided the future of GOME, the largest home appliance retailer in China. Shareholders of GOME attended the Special General Meeting in Hong Kong to decide who will steer the company. It was between Huang Guangyu, the jailed founder of GOME and Chen Xiao, the current chairman of the Board of Directors. And Chen Xiao stepped up as the winner.

Chen Xiao came out the winner as the two sides faced off in Hong Kong at a Special General Meeting.

About 52 percent of shareholders voted against Huang's proposal to replace Chen and another top executive with his sister and one of his lawyers.

Chen said, We just negotiated with Huang a few days ago, hoping that we could settle the issue by mutual compromise. But it didn't work out. Voting by shareholders is the last resort.

The meeting also passed a resolution proposed by Huang to revoke a "general mandate" that permits the company's director to issue GOME shares and appoint two other new executive directors, a practice that can dilute the value of Huang's holding. Huang's spokesman says they are happy with this result.

Before the voting, Huang and his family held 36 percent of holdings while Chen had secured only 16 percent of share holdings from his supporters, mainly from Bain Investment, a US private equity firm. The voting result caught many people by surprise.

An individual shareholder said, I assumed Huang would win. After all, he's the founder of this company. And I agree with his idea of developing the firm by enlarging its scale.

Many analysts say there are no absolute winners or losers in this episode of the battle. Although Chen has resumed his service, the power of the board has been greatly constrained with the revoking of the "general mandate".

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