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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
Government clamps down on Sina’s literature, photo sites
It’s been a roller coaster ride this past week for leading web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA), which has just fallen victim to a government clampdown targeting illicit content like pornography on the Internet. The clampdown sparked a sell-off in Sina’s shares, reversing gains from an earlier rally fueled by strong performance of its newly listed Weibo (Nasdaq: WB) microblogging unit, often called the Twitter of China. But Sina should be accustomed to this kind of roller coaster ride, and its shares could easily bounce back in the next week or two as investors realize this latest crackdown is largely meaningless and won’t have any impact on the company’s business.
I gave quite a bit of attention a few days ago to US electric vehicle (EV) sensation Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA), so it’s only fair that I close out this week by writing about China’s homegrown EV superstar BYD (HKEx: 1211; Shenzhen: 002594), which has just released quarterly results that look quite disappointing. The only things that look slightly encouraging in this latest report are the fact that billionaire investor Warren Buffett continues to hold onto his 10 percent stake in the company, which he bought in 2008, and that BYD remains profitable. But even the profits are due to strong support from Beijing, under its program to encourage clean-energy vehicle development. Read Full Post…
Quite a lot has happened in the last 2 decades for AOL (NYSE: AOL), which went from online start-up, to Internet superstar, to global media giant and back to its current form of humble Internet player during that time. At the pinnacle of its success following its merger with Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), the company made a splash into China more than a decade ago through a highly-hyped Internet joint venture with PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992). That venture ultimately failed miserably, but now AOL is finally making a second move into the market through a new partnership with a local media player. Read Full Post…
Two of China’s fastest-growing tech firms are stepping up their overseas expansion, with word that smartphone sensation Xiaomi is planning a major acceleration of its drive into emerging markets, as security software maker Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) eyes the US. The Xiaomi move looks like a smart one by avoiding developed markets for now, though the rapid speed of the expansion could strain the company’s resources. Meantime, the Qihoo move looks mostly like hype, in a bid to prop up its rapidly deflating share price. I also seriously question Qihoo’s decision to target such a competitive market like the US for its first move outside China. Read Full Post…
Many smaller Chinese companies may be getting little or no respect from Wall Street these days, but private equity seems a bit more interested in these undervalued firms. That’s my latest assessment following word that a bidding war has broken out for Chindex (Nasdaq: CNDX), an operator of clinics in China. Chindex said it received a sweetened buyout offer from a managed-led group that first bid for the company in February, after a rival bidder stepped in. This kind of bidding war has been relatively rare in the recent flurry of privatizations by Chinese firms, though this particular case hints that we could see 1 or 2 more similar wars occur as the trend plays out. Read Full Post…
Two of China’s top tech executives were on the road last week, with ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) and TCL (Shenzhen: 000100) officials making overseas visits that could hint at their future directions. Meantime, congratulations were pouring in from around the tech world for Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) on its IPO for (Nasdaq: WB), which struggled to find an audience among big investors but then managed to make a respectable trading debut. Such kudos aren’t unexpected for the popular microblogging platform, often called the Twitter of China. But one particular message from controversial tech titan and Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) CEO Zhou Hongyi looked just slightly ominous to me, even though the message itself was purely congratulatory. Read Full Post…
Leading wireless telco China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) has kicked off the first-quarter earnings season with some numbers that look quite scary, reflecting a sharp slowdown as its home market shows growing signs of saturation. Adding to the problem is the rapid growth of “over the top” (OTT) apps like Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) popular WeChat, which are stealing business from China Mobile’s traditional text messaging service. I commented last month that a recent sell-off in China Mobile shares could represent a good buying opportunity, but clearly these latest results show the company is going through a period of painful readjustment that is likely to last for the rest of this year. Read Full Post…
I have to give my congratulations to new energy car maker Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) for creating the kind of buzz and excitement this week that only names like Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and smartphone sensation Xiaomi have typically been able to muster. In the last 2 days, the company and its charismatic founder Elon Musk were all over the Chinese headlines as Tesla delivered its first electric vehicles (EVs) in China on the sidelines of the nation’s biggest annual auto show happening this week in Beijing. Musk seems to have done interviews with nearly all of the major publications I regularly read, leading me to wonder if the man ever sleeps. Read Full Post…
Fast food leaders McDonalds (NYSE: MCD) and KFC (NYSE: YUM) have unveiled major China overhauls in the last few weeks, as each tries to reignite stalling growth in one of their biggest and most profitable markets. Such retrenchments are long overdue, more than 2 decades after each company first came to China and achieved huge success by opening stores that offered not only good food at affordable prices but also friendly service and a comfortable eating environment. Read Full Post…
The online game industry has just gotten a small hint of potential consolidation, with word that mid-sized player Perfect World (Nasdaq: PWRD) is buying a stake of rival Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME), which is in the process of privatizing. The tie-up that will see Perfect World buy about 6 percent of Shanda Games’ shares comes as both companies confront sagging profits, and could kick off a period of consolidation for the highly fragmented industry. I’ve incorrectly predicted such consolidation before, but a recent wave of M&A in China’s Internet and other recent trends could mean that such an overhaul could finally be coming to online games. Read Full Post…
Two weeks after this year’s first Chinese IPO in New York, there’s still a bit of life left in the market despite recent signs of slowing momentum. That’s my quick assessment after looking at the performance of the 4 companies to list so far this year, starting with education services firm Tarena (Nasdaq: TEDU), followed by clinic operator iKang (Nasdaq: KANG) and finally online real estate services firm Leju (NYSE: LEJU) and microblogging giant Weibo (Nasdaq: WB). Meantime, media are reporting that this year’s most highly anticipated IPO from Alibaba is getting delayed, after reports emerged last week that the e-commerce giant could make its first regulatory filing for a New York offering this week. Read Full Post…
