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Journalist China
Business news from China By Doug Young.
Doug Young, journalist, has lived and worked in China for 20 years, much of that as a journalist, writing about publicly listed Chinese companies.
He is based in Shanghai where, in addition to his role as editor of Young’s China Business Blog, he teaches financial journalism at Fudan University, one of China’s top journalism programs.
He contributes regularly to a wide range of publications in both China and the west, including Forbes, CNN, Seeking Alpha and Reuters, as well as Asia-based publications including the South China Morning Post, Global Times, Shanghai Daily and Shanghai Observer
An unprecedented veto by China’s anti monopoly regulator is shining a spotlight on the nation’s growing clout in global corporate deals, and is also providing clues about how Beijing could use regulatory powers to protect major state-owned firms. This particular deal has implications for both the trade and corporate sectors, as Beijing has formally blocked a deal that would have seen 3 of Europe’s top shipping companies form a global alliance. That alliance might have benefited the entire industry with lower prices and reduced costs, but it almost certainly would have posed a challenge to China’s major state-owned shippers. Read Full Post…
Legend Holdings is trying to show it’s more than just a technology company in the run-up to an IPO as early as this year, with word that it’s investing in one of China’s largest dental clinic operators. The move looks like a smart one for several reasons, and should certainly help convince investors that Legend is different from its biggest individual holding, PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992). That kind of differentiation will be critical to the success of an IPO, which could offer a chance for investors to buy into one of China’s oldest entrepreneurial firms. Read Full Post…
Shares of US-listed Chinese real estate websites have been on a roller coaster ride these last few days, raising the question of what the next few years may hold for industry stalwarts SouFun (NYSE: SFUN) and E-House (NYSE: EJ), and newly listed Leju (Nasdaq: LEJU). For anyone who doesn’t live in China and is reading this, the issue that’s weighing on investors’ minds is the fate of a Chinese real estate market that’s showing early signs of a needed correction after years of hyper growth. Such a correction would undoubtedly put a chill on transaction volumes and other service-related activities, which form the mainstay of these New York-listed firms. Read Full Post…
Semiconductor chipmaker Montage Technology (Nasdaq: MONT) could soon become the latest Chinese firm to de-list from New York, after it accepted a buyout offer last week not long after its shares were hammered by a short seller attack. Like many of its US-listed Chinese peers that have also recently privatized, Montage learned the hard way that publicly traded firms are often helpless in the face of short sellers that prey on weak and poorly governed listed companies. Read Full Post…
Just a month after word emerged that Japanese mobile messaging giant Line had found a China partner, new reports are saying the company is preparing to formally enter the market in the next few months. The company will certainly have a steep hill to climb in China, where it will have to challenge industry juggernaut WeChat, owned by Tencent (HKEx: 700). But that said, I do think that Line could quickly gain a major audience in China if it positions itself as an alternative for globally-minded business professionals. It should move as quickly as possible, as I fully expect global leader WhatsApp to make a similar major push into China within the next year. Read Full Post…
Last month’s launch of China’s first new mobile services in a decade is showing early signs of shaking up the market, with competition likely to intensify as more licenses are awarded to a new generation of privately owned virtual network operators (VNOs). According to the latest headlines, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is getting ready to issue its third round of VNO licenses, which allow private companies to sell telecoms services under their own brands by leasing network capacity from the nation’s 3 existing state-run telcos. Read Full Post…
Just days after Beijing reportedly issued an unusual order for China’s 3 telcos to rein in their promotional spending, leading carrier China Mobile (HKEx: 941: NYSE: CHL) is detailing plans that look like it is preparing to do just the opposite. The company’s top executives were being quite talkative at a major telecoms show happening this week in Shanghai, and their aggressive push into 4G services was clearly at the top of their list of talking points.
The new message sends a signal that China Mobile will aggressively promote 4G for the remainder of the year, meaning we’re unlikely to see any cut in its promotional spending. To the contrary, the spending binge is likely to put further pressure on China Mobile’s fading profits, which have declined in each of the last 3 quarters.
Let’s end the week with a couple of new energy developments, led by word that China and the European Union could be heading for a new showdown after the pair narrowly avoided a trade war last year over dumping accusations towards Chinese solar panels. The news looks quite disappointing and bodes poorly for the broader solar sector, where protectionist forces have been rapidly building in the last few months. On a more positive note, Chinese auto parts maker Wanxiang has just announced a new battery joint venture with Japan’s NEC (Tokyo: 6701), which looks full of potential to help solve one of the biggest problems for clean energy producers. Read Full Post…
I’ll be a bit whimsical on this final day of the week with a prediction that a sale could be looming for social networking (SNS) site Kaixin, following reports of strong growth for the company’s online gaming business. Anyone reading this is probably puzzled, unsure about the relationship between a growing gaming business and a company getting acquired. I’ll explain all that shortly, but will end the suspense now by saying the potential buyer would be Internet titan Tencent (HKEx: 700), which shares a number of links and other key qualities with the much smaller Kaixin. Read Full Post…
After going the entire week without a major IPO story, 3 major developments are showing there’s still some life in the market despite earlier signs of stumbling. At the top of the news is online recruiting site Zhaopin (NYSE: ZPIN), which has just posted a nice trading debut after a solid pricing for its new American Depositary Shares (ADSs). Meantime, video sharing site Xunlei is steaming ahead with its own listing by formally setting a price range for its shares, which means a final pricing and trading debut are likely next week. Last but not least there’s restaurant ratings site Dianping, which has formally hired investment banks for a new mega offering to raise up to $1 billion. Read Full Post…
E-commerce leader Alibaba has always been a very active headline grabber, but these days its penchant for making news is getting a bit out of control, reflecting an M&A strategy that also looks increasingly overcharged and lacking focus. One might compare Alibaba these days to a creature that has suddenly developed a huge appetite and is devouring everything in sight. That’s my assessment today based on the company’s involvement in 3 major headlines, one involving web browsers, another electric cars, and a third that’s actually related to its core e-commerce services.
