She plans to lead the group in more personally interesting directions. I'll discuss fashion, among other things. The portal plans online auctions of celebrity memorabilia and an electronic shopping mall. Investors seem mildly intrigued by the synergy between stars and shopping. Whether fansites can turn profits remains to be seen.
Overhead can be high.
Some 70 people are employed to maintain graphics and games on Leon Lai's site, for example. They are looking for corporate sponsorships, advertising and paid memberships. And costs go beyond the monetary. The eternal celebrity balancing act between publicity and privacy extends to the Web as well. Sharon Cuneta, a Philippine TV, movie and singing star, was overwhelmed by the demands of responding to fan e-mail, letters which some days numbered more than 1,000 and which were sometimes intrusive.