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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
I don’t usually offer direct investment advice in this space, but today I can’t resist opining that perhaps investors are being a bit hasty in dumping shares of China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) after the nation’s dominant wireless carrier reported its first annual profit decline in more than a decade. The decline shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, since China Mobile reported an 8.8 percent profit decline in the third quarter. Obviously falling profits are never something investors want to see. But in this case it’s also worth noting that China Mobile has responded to the challenge with a number of new initiatives that show it is finally waking up to a new reality where it faces growing competition from the private sector. Read Full Post…
China and the European Union have reached a new settlement that should formally end their ongoing dispute over solar panels, contrasting sharply from a more confrontational tack taken by the US in a similar spat. Meantime in other solar news, a looming new bond default by a mid-sized panel maker has become the latest sign that Beijing is prepared to let more of these smaller companies miss their debt payments. That approach will force these smaller firms to either leave the industry or sell their money-losing operations to larger peers, in a much-needed industry consolidation. Read Full Post…
Two of China’s leading Internet companies are taking their first baby steps outside their home market, with word that online game maker NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES) is moving into the US and fast-rising discount e-commerce firm Vipshop (NYSE: VIPS) is tying up with a Russian partner. The pair are joining China’s “big 3” Internet firms, Alibaba, Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and Tencent (HKEx: 700), in making recent moves outside their home market, as each looks for new growth opportunities. All of these companies also want to convince the world that they can compete in the real world outside their own highly protected and heavily restricted home market. Read Full Post…
I don’t follow China’s domestic banks too closely, largely because all are controlled by the government and their actions are more often directed by policy initiatives than real commercial factors. But the latest moves surrounding SPD Bank (Shanghai: 60000), also known as Pudong Development Bank, indicate that this relatively young financial firm could be a player to watch as China moves ahead with a major overhaul of its stodgy financial sector. Just last week SPD made minor headlines with its purchase of a small asset manager, and now it’s back in the headlines with word that it will merge with Shanghai Trust, one of the city’s largest trust companies. Read Full Post…
Where were you this past Saturday night? Most of us probably spent the evening having dinner out, or perhaps visiting friends. But for many of China’s tech executives, the date of March 15 has become for nervousness due to CCTV’s annual investigative reports broadcast that evening for Consumer Rights Day. The program often targets high-profile brands in its effort to uncover abusive business practices, and many of those names come from the tech sector. But this year’s program was a relative disappointment, with some observers cynically noting on their microblogs that CCTV seemed more interested in generating advertising revenue than protecting consumers. Read Full Post…
Solar panel maker Yingli (NYSE: YGE) and social networking site Renren (NYSE: RENN) don’t normally have too much in common, other than the fact that both are based in China and come from the tech sector. But on this particular day, both are joined by the unflattering fact that their latest earnings reveal companies deeply mired in the red, sparking sharp drops in their share prices. Yingli’s situation certainly isn’t encouraging, though its issues look more temporary. Renren is a different story, and its latest numbers show the company won’t be able to survive on its own over the longer term and it would be well advised to start looking for a strategic partner. Read Full Post…
I’m quickly getting tired of writing so much about the flood of new initiatives coming from Internet leaders Alibaba and Tencent (HKEx: 700), which is why I’m combining the latest word of new tie-ups for both into a single posting today. Frankly speaking, both of these initiatives look quite interesting and a year ago I would have done a separate posting and analysis for each. But these latest alliances look less interesting in the current frenzy of similar new announcements. One will see Alibaba partner with appliance maker Midea (Shenzhen: 000333), and the other Tencent and educational services provider New Oriental (NYSE: EDU). Read Full Post…
A yearlong explosion in new financial services from non-financial companies took a pause last week, when the central bank put the brakes on a plan by Internet giants Alibaba and Tencent (HKEx: 700) to offer virtual credit cards in partnership with Citic Bank (HKEx: 998). The sudden rush into financial services by private firms has provided some much-needed competition for China’s stodgy traditional lenders, most of which are state-run banks noteworthy for their lack of innovation. Read Full Post…
I wasn’t historically a big fan of JD.com, China’s second largest e-commerce firm, largely because it often seemed more interested in hype than actually doing good business. But the company’s recent tie-up with Internet giant Tencent (HKEx: 700), and now the latest word of a new partnership with more than 10,000 convenience stores, have me thinking that perhaps JD has finally matured a bit in the run-up to a planned New York IPO to raise up to $1.5 billion. This latest convenience store tie-up looks quite shrewd for a number of reasons, most notably because it takes aim at one of the biggest weaknesses of its chief rival, leading e-commerce firm Alibaba. Read Full Post…
The ongoing cleanup of neglected Chinese firms from US stock exchanges continues, with word that online game developer Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA) has finalized its plan to go private. A report on the bid says that several other Chinese online game firms are also planning privatizations, as former industry leader Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) is also in the midst of its own such bid. It’s not hard to see why these companies are going private, as their shares have gone nowhere for years due to anemic growth. But what’s interesting here is the prospect that some of the private equity firms funding this wave of buy-outs could finally force a few of these companies to merge and create a more vibrant major new player with real growth potential. Read Full Post…
All my previous predictions that e-commerce leader Alibaba would ultimately make its mega IPO in Hong Kong were wrong, with word that the company is now firmly fixed on New York for its highly anticipated share sale. In my defense, I should say that a huge surge in positive sentiment over the last 5 months towards China Internet stocks on Wall Street undoubtedly helped to change Alibaba’s mind. The company had previously stated on numerous occasions that Hong Kong was the preferred venue for its blockbuster IPO, which reports are now saying could raise up to $15 billion, making it the world’s biggest Internet offering since Facebook (Nasdaq; FB) raised $16 billion in 2012. Read Full Post…
