SHANGHAI - China's leading Internet portal Sina announced Friday that the company's chairman of board Wang Yan has been replaced by Charles Chao, who is also the company's president and chief executive officer.

Chao's appointment took effect Friday, said Sina, a NASDAQ-listed company.

Wang will maintain his post as a member of the board, and Sina will set up a charity foundation that will be headed and operated by Wang, according to the company.

"We are grateful that Wang will lead Sina's charity efforts and help the company contribute to a better society," Chao said.

Sina said that under the leadership of Chao, the company successfully transformed from a leading portal to a leading digital media network that also owns social media platform of Weibo.com, China's most popular microblogging service.

"I am confident that his strong and visionary leadership will take Sina's Internet platform to the next level," Wang said.

Chao joined Sina as vice president of finance in September 1999, and has served as its president since September 2005 and CEO since May 2006.

Sina Weibo had 368 million registered microblog users as of the end of June, according the company.