For the latest news on U.S.- and Hong Kong-traded Chinese stocks, visit our new Bamboo Works site.
Media/Entertainment
youngchinabiz.com : latest Business news about Media – Entertainment in China by expert / journalist Doug Young : more than two decades of experience in writting about Chinese Companies
Bottom line: Sina’s latest financials show it could be benefiting from recent woes at Baidu, while JD.com’s results show its growth is slowing as it moves towards its important goal of becoming profitable.
Sina jumps on strong profit growth
Two of China’s top Internet companies have just reported their latest quarterly earnings, with web stalwart Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) wowing Wall Street with new numbers that show its Twitter-like Weibo (Nasdaq: WB) service may finally be gaining some traction. Meantime, investors were less impressed by e-commerce giant JD.com (Nasdsaq: JD), which continued to post strong revenue growth but remained squarely in the loss column. JD tried to comfort investors by saying its operations are now quite profitable on a non-GAAP basis, but that didn’t seem to change sentiment too much. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: LeEco’s rescue plan for Coolpad will fail due to stiff competition in China’s smartphone markets and overly ambitious targets for its own new line of smartphones.
LeEco ousts Coolpad CEO
Less than 2 months after becoming the largest stakeholder of Coolpad (HKEx: 2369), online video sensation LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) is wasting no time in making major changes at the struggling smartphone maker. The most symbolic of those has LeEco’s dynamic founder Jia Yueting ousting Coolpad’s chairman and CEO and taking over the chairman’s position for himself. More substantially, LeEco is indicating it will become Coolpad’s largest customer going forward as part of its own plans to build an entertainment ecosystem around devices like Internet-connected smartphones, TVs and cars. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Apple’s cleanup of its China app store reflects the deceptive marketing that often occurs on the Chinese Internet, and also Apple’s more transparent approach towards its actions in China.
Apple cleans up China app store
iPhone users in China are discovering a new look at Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) local app store, following the removal of more than 10,000 apps over a one-day period late last week. App store users first noticed something unusual when it appeared that the popular news app called Jinri Toutiao, or Today’s Headlines, suddenly seemed to disappear from Apple’s China store. But further examination showed that Apple was simply removing redundant versions of the app, many of which had very similar names and identical appearances. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: LeEco’s latest mega purchase will throw a lifeline to the struggling Vizio TV brand, as its latest issue of new shares at a big discount reflects growing investor fatigue and skepticism with the company.
LeEco throws lifeline to Vizio
Acquisitive online video superstar LeEco(Shenzhen: 300104) is back in the headlines for its latest mega-purchase, signing a deal to buy Vizio, a US-based TV brand that is at once one of the nation’s largest and also most obscure. At the same time, LeEco, formerly known as LeTV, is in separate but somewhat related headlines in a big cash-raising exercise through a new share issue. The company has become quite adept at such cash raising these days, often using its overvalued stock to bring in new money. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Wanda may need to raise its offer price again to buy Carmike, while a plan to privatize its property unit stands a good chance of winning shareholder approval.
Wanda ups Carmike bid
Conglomerate Wanda Group is in a couple of a major headlines, one involving its traditional real estate business and the other for the newer entertainment unit it’s building up as part of a diversification drive. The real estate headline centers on Hong Kong-listed property developer Dalian Wanda (HKEx: 3699), which has just received an endorsement from a major shareholder in its bid to go private. The second item centers on Wanda’s fast-growing cinema business, and has the company boosting its offer for US theater operator Carmike (Nasdaq: CKEC) after minority stakeholders complained a previous bid was too low. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Baidu could get a new higher offer for iQiyi later this year after a former deal collapsed due to undervaluation, while a new Chinese group led by deal maker Sonny Wu is likely to buy a majority stake of AC Milan later this year.
Baidu’s iQiyi sale collapses
Online search leader Baidu(Nasdaq: BIDU) is in a couple of major headlines, each marking a setback in the company’s aspirations to diversify into entertainment. In the larger item, Baidu’s previously announced sale of its iQiyi online video unit has collapsed, after a minority investor complained the sale price was too low. The second headline has Baidu chief Robin Li’s name suddenly disappearing as leader of a group trying to buy European soccer club AC Milan, with reports that another major Chinese deal maker has emerged as head of the group. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Giant Interactive’s new bids for Caesars Entertainment online game unit and Supercell show it has lots of cash for global acquisitions, which it hopes to use to vault it into the big leagues of Chinese online game companies.
Giant chases global acquisitions
Online gaming company Giant Interactive may be mostly a memory for US investors, following its de-listing from New York in 2014. But the company wants the world to know it still has global aspirations. That’s my interpretation of the latest series of reports, which have Giant pursuing several major global acquisitions in Finland, Israel and the US.
Two of the reports appear to be related, and say Giant is in talks to buy the online game unit of US gambling giant Caesars Entertainment (Nasdaq: CZR), which includes Israeli game developer Playtika. One of the reports adds that Giant is also in talks to potentially join a group led by Chinese Internet giant Tencent (HKEx: 700), which has agreed to buy a controlling stake of Finnish game giant Supercell. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: IPOs by China Lending, China Film and Babytree should all do relatively well, and their diverse listing destinations reflect the growing choices available to Chinese companies for public offerings.
Babytree raises 3 bln yuan
A trio of mid-sized entrepreneurial companies are in the IPO headlines, including one headed for New York, another opting for Shanghai and a third eyeing a possible listing on Hong Kong’s underutilized board for high-growth companies. The first of the trio, which will make its trading debut this week in New York, comes from micro lender China Lending Corp (Nasdaq: CLDC). The second comes from China Film Co, the nation’s largest movie distributor; and the third comes from baby products seller and online community operator Babytree, which has just raised a nifty 3 billion yuan in pre-IPO funding. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: LeEco is likely to buy a controlling 30-40 percent of struggling low-cost Taiwanese TV maker AmTRAN in a deal to be announced next week, as part of its bigger plan to build an ecosystem of entertainment products and services.
LeEco to invest in Vizio?
Media have been buzzing these last few days about rumors of a potential acquisition by online video superstar LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) of the struggling low-cost TV brand Vizio, owned by Taiwan’s AmTRANTechnology (Taipei: 2489). In usual fashion, LeEco has denied such a takeover, and even took the unusual step of issuing a formal statement saying it has no such plans. But that wouldn’t rule out a major strategic investment in money-losing AmTRAN, or an acquisition of the company by a non-listed unit of LeEco, formerly known as LeTV. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: A Chinese group’s decision to downsize an earlier deal to buy Norway’s Opera was likely due to insufficient funds to complete the deal, but will still give Qihoo an important new browser asset in its drive to go global.
China group downsizes deal for Norway’s Opera
Just a day after trumpeting its successful privatization from New York, software security specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) is being more low-key in announcing the new failure of its bid for Norwegian browser maker Opera (Oslo: OPERA). In fact, Qihoo was really just one member of a group that bid $1.2 billion earlier this year to buy Opera, owner of the world’s fourth most popular web browser. (previous post) Following the decision to scrap the sale, the 2 sides have simultaneously announced a smaller deal that would see the Chinese group buy about half of Opera’s assets for about $600 million. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Baidu’s Robin Li could announce a deal later this week to buy 40 percent of soccer club AC Milan, while his company’s pursuit of Paramount was likely killed by internal fighting at the Hollywood studio.
Paramount spurns Baidu, Wanda
Internet search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) is in a couple of major entertainment headlines as the new week begins, led by word that it could finally announce a highly anticipated deal that would see it buy a major stake of European football club AC Milan. At the same time, separate new reports are saying that the company was rejected in a recent bid for a strategic stake in Hollywood giant Paramount, the studio arm of Viacom (NYSE: VIAb). Those same reports are saying Wanda Group, another Chinese entertainment aspirant, was also rejected in pursuit of a similar deal. Read Full Post…
