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Fast rising search operators Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) and Sogou may be challenging sector heavyweight Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) in terms of market share, but they’re having far more difficulty finding an audience among advertisers that are the sector’s main revenue source. That’s my main conclusion after seeing the latest data for all 3 companies, which show Qihoo and Sogou making steady gains in terms of search traffic but failing to translate those gains into meaningful revenue. Read Full Post…
Big-screen theater technology company Imax (NYSE: IMAX) is in the headlines today for a savvy move that will make it look more Chinese as it attempts to grab a major slice of the nation’s booming film market. The newly announced deal has Canada-based Imax selling 20 percent of its China unit to 2 local partners, including one with strong ties in China’s commercial capital of Shanghai. Equally interesting, Imax is saying it aims to list its China unit on one of China’s stock exchanges in the next 5 years, in what would become a rare instance of a domestic IPO by a majority foreign-owned company. Read Full Post…
China’s is steadily improving its review process for major M&A, with the country’s anti-monopoly regulator giving the nod to major acquisitions by software leader Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) on the same day this week. The bigger of the 2 deals saw the Commerce Ministry approve Microsoft’s purchase of Nokia’s (Helsinki: NOK1V) cellphone assets; while the latter saw InBev get approval for its purchase of Siping Ginsber, a mid-sized Chinese brewer. Read Full Post…
The booming market for Chinese IPOs in New York got some worrisome signals last week after investors shunned 2 new listing candidates, raising the very real possibility that the current wave of enthusiasm is quickly ebbing. That could mean a new period of stagnation or even a downturn is looming for the sector, which suffered for 2 years before rebounding sharply in the second half of 2013. Read Full Post…
The news has been flying thick and fast these past 2 few for Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP), including the latest word that China’s oldest and largest online travel agent could be headed for a merger with fast-rising rival Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR). I actually predicted this potential merger last fall in the run-up to Qunar’s IPO, even though nothing happened at that time. Now the latest reports are saying such a deal is in late-stage talks as Ctrip prepares to sell a controlling stake of itself to leading search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), which also happens to be Qunar’s controlling stakeholder. Read Full Post…
It’s probably too early to declare the death of an ambitious plan to liven up China’s stodgy telecoms services sector through the injection of new private sector competition. But the latest reports that these new competitors, called virtual network operators (VNOs), are facing difficulties due to high prices being charged by their suppliers is just the latest sign that the plan from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is running into trouble. I’ve been predicting such trouble all along, and these latest reports are raising serious concerns that the new VNOs will never get a serious chance to succeed. Read Full Post…
Xunlei and 55tuan have emerged as 2 of the biggest orphans in the rapidly consolidating online video and group buying spaces, respectively, putting pressure on both to find partners to boost their chances for long-term survival. The pair were in separate headlines this week in their search for new tie-ups, with Xunlei selling a major stake of itself to software maker Kingsoft (HKEx: 3888) and 55tuan reportedly in talks to sell some or all of itself to security software maker Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU). Read Full Post…
When does having nearly $2 billion in cash start to become a burden? If you’re China’s leading online travel agent Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP), the answer is “in the current climate”, where the company has just announced a plan to repurchase up to $600 million in its American Depositary Shares (ADSs). (company announcement) As a longtime company watcher, I can say with confidence that Ctrip shares are currently quite strong and have no need for this kind of repurchase program, which normally comes from companies whose stock is struggling. That leads to my conclusion that Ctrip simply has too much cash and doesn’t know what to do with it, prompting this buyback program. Read Full Post…
Educational services provider Tarena (Nasdaq: TEDU) has become the first Chinese company to list in New York this year, posting a disappointing debut hinting that US investor enthusiasm towards China stocks may be starting to cool. But truth be told, Tarena hardly looks like the vast majority of Chinese companies rushing to list in New York, most of which are in the Internet space. By comparison, Tarena is a relatively niche provider of education services for software engineers that is growing quickly enough but is still quite small. Read Full Post…
The tide of Chinese firms rushing to list in the US continues, with big new moves coming from security software specialist Cheetah Mobile and Leju, a unit of online real estate agent E-House (NYSE: EJ). Cheetah has filed for a New York listing to raise a hefty $300 million, in what would have been considered a major deal just a half year ago but now looks rather routine in the current wave of new offers by Chinese tech firms. Meantime, E-House is continuing its own IPO drive for Leju, which has just announced a new tie-up that will allow its users to invest in US real estate. Read Full Post…
It should come as no surprise to anyone that top officials at smartphone sensation Xiaomi are once again busy buzzing on their microblogs, since online hype has become a staple of this fast-growing company. But I was somewhat surprised that co-founder Lei Jun took time out from his usual hype to shoot down rumors of tie-ups with 2 of China’s leading Internet companies, hinting at his own big ambitions to soon take a spot alongside the “Big 3” of Alibaba, Tencent (HKEx: 700) and Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). Meantime, ZTE’s (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) plans to position its nubia brand of smartphones as a higher end product got a nice boost from China’s first lady Peng Liyuan, who made a point of being seen using one of the models during her husband’s trip to Europe.
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