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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
Autohome founder Li Xiang remembers childhood accident
In this final edition of my weekly microblog column from the Year of the Snake, I thought I’d step back from all the promotional hype I usually write about and look at the more ordinary and often revealing moments from some of China’s top tech executives. This week we look at some of the quieter and more everyday thoughts from top officials at newly listed Autohome (NYSE: ATHM), educational services firm New Oriental (NYSE: EDU) and professional networking site LinkedIn (Nasdaq: LNKD). Such personal moments not only offer insight to some of these top executives and how they think, but also seem like an appropriate way to end the lunar year as everyone heads home for family reunions. Read Full Post…
A flurry of news is coming out of New York as we approach the Lunar New Year, bringing some relief for anxious Chinese companies and their auditors in their ongoing stand-off with the US securities regulator. In the second major development in that standoff this week, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped a lawsuit aimed at helping it get audit documents for a Chinese client of Deloitte Touch Tohmatsu‘s China unit. That should be good news for Chinese listed companies in New York and also for new IPO candidates, including software giant Kingsoft (HKEx: 3888), which has just announced plans for a New York IPO for its security software arm. Read Full Post…
I have a lot of respect for TV giant TCL (HKEx: 1070; Shenzhen: 000100), which has managed to remain relevant in China’s high-tech gadget space by moving aggressively into products like smartphones and high-end flat-screen TVs. But I’m a bit skeptical of the company’s latest move into the ultra competitive gaming space, following word that TCL plans to make gaming consoles and also specialized gaming TVs. News of this latest move by one of China’s oldest tech names comes just months after TCL announced a tie-up with leading search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) to make smart TVs. I was more positive on that venture, though I really do think this new one looks more problematic since it will take TCL into a new area that is very competitive and where it has little or no experience.
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on January 29. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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SEC, Deloitte Resolve Dispute Over Longtop Audit Work Papers (English article)
I wasn’t too impressed on reading about one of the first promotions in the United States by Tencent (HKEx: 700), following reports last year that it planned to take its popular WeChat mobile instant messaging service to the lucrative but highly competitive market. I realize it will be difficult for WeChat to find an audience in the US, where its name is unknown and it will face stiff competition from local players like Whatsapp and even Google (Nasdaq: GOOG). But the company will have to do a bit more to raise its profile if it really hopes to win over demanding US consumers. Read Full Post…
One of China’s biggest online entertainment companies is rapidly disappearing from the publicly listed realm, with word that Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) has become the latest US-listed Chinese firm to receive a management-led buyout offer. The news came as a surprise to me, since many believed that Shanda’s parent, Shanda Interactive, wanted to follow a strategy of listing its various units individually after it made its own privatization 2 years ago. But from another angle, this de-listing plan isn’t all that unexpected since Shanda Games’ shares have languished since they were first listed in 2009. Read Full Post…
Travel stories reach fever pitch in New Year run-up
I don’t want to sound too Scrooge-like so close to the Lunar New Year, but I’ll personally be quite happy to see the holiday come and go so we can finally see an end to the flood of travel-related stories that inundate the news this time each year. The last 3 weeks have seen our local media report on just about anything and everything with a travel-related angle, pandering to the millions of out-of-towners who have already started their exodus from Shanghai to their hometowns.
On the one hand, the reports underscore the remarkable advances in China’s transport network over the last decade to accommodate the hundreds of millions of people who have moved from the countryside to big cities like Shanghai. But on the other hand, the obsession with travel-related stories this time of year also reflects a cattle-like mentality in many Chinese industries that sees everyone jump on the same bandwagons until the next fad comes along. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on January 28. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Shanda Games (Nasdaq: SNDA) Announces Receipt Privatization Offer (PRNewswire)
Tencent (HKEx: 700) WeChat Pushes into US, Promotes Linking to Google (English article)
LightInTheBox (NYSE: LITB) Announces Resignation Of CFO (Businesswire)
TAL Education (NYSE: XRS) Makes Strategic Investment In Babytree (PRNewswire)
Suntech (NYSE: STP) Announces New Acting CFO And Board Member (PRNewswire)
A couple of Internet M&A deals are in the news as we head into the final days before the Lunar New Year, with word that leading search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) has purchased more of group buying site Nuomi, while top Internet company Tencent (HKEx: 700) may be eying restaurant ratings site Dianping. The first deal could reflect a new pattern for Baidu, which has mostly bought controlling stakes but made few outright acquisitions in its recent spree of major purchases. Meantime, the latter deal would look good for Tencent if it was really happening, though I have major doubts about whether it is. Read Full Post…
US electric car maker Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) is setting some tough goals for itself during its first year in China, aiming to take advantage of government incentives and its high-end brand image to quickly take a big share of the market. I did a little math based on the company’s latest remarks, and its ambitious target for this year would represent around three-quarters of all electric vehicles sold in China in 2012. If it really can meet the new target, I suspect the company’s biggest strength will be its position as a luxury brand, since most people who buy EVs in China will probably do so more for the snob factor than due to any incentives from Beijing or desire to save the environment. Read Full Post…
A welcome development looks set to shake up China’s fixed-line broadband sector this year, with word that leading wireless carrier China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) is offering aggressive pricing after receiving a license to offer fixed-line service late last year. Of course I’m speaking from the consumer’s perspective, since China’s 1.3 billion consumers and millions of businesses have had little or no choice for the last decade when choosing a fixed-line broadband supplier. The development looks less positive for the existing duopoly of China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA) and China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU, which may actually have to lower prices and improve their products to continue attracting new customers and keep existing ones from defecting. Read Full Post…
