On April 4, China Unicom (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH) announced on its official Sina Weibo microblog that it would combine its marketing and sales departments as part of an overall reorganization of major departments and management, including the marketing, network construction, and product development departments.

Zhou Youmeng will be responsible for planning for the newly merged marketing and sales department. Zhang Zhijiang, former general manager of Unicom's technology department, will be transferred to serve as GM of the network construction department, trading positions with former technology GM Zhang Zhongping. Liu Chengming will be appointed director of the China Unicom Research Institute; Fan Junpu, as GM of the planning and management department; Fu Xiaomin, as GM of operations and maintenance. Fan will fill Liu's old position as GM of planning; Gu, Fan's old position as GM of operations and maintenance. Guo Xiaolin will be appointed GM of Unicom's internal audition department. Zuo Feng will be president of Unicom's Hong Kong subsidiary.

When the original China Unicom and China Netcom merged in 2008, the number of departments between the two operators led to many positions being duplicated between two divisions. The latest round of HR adjustments at China Unicom also reflects the growing number of mid- and high-level managers in the company reaching mandatory retirement age, as well as a desire on the part of Unicom to move towards a marketized structure with more young managers.