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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
China’s top 2 Internet companies are starting to look increasingly alike, with the latest word that leading e-commerce company Alibaba is challenging social networking (SNS) rival Tencent (HKEx: 700) in the mobile gaming space. Alibaba’s move is just the latest into a new area for this hyperactive company, which spent much of 2013 in a series of major business initiatives and acquisitions as it prepares for a blockbuster IPO. In separate but similar news, media are reporting that Alibaba may be in talks to buy a stake in software security specialist and fast-rising search firm Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU), though I have my doubts about that particular rumor. Read Full Post…
I don’t usually have much praise these days for China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL), which emerged as the world’s biggest crybaby last year after a high-profile spat with leading Internet firm Tencent (HKEx: 700) involving the latter’s popular WeChat mobile instant messaging service. But perhaps the world’s biggest mobile carrier is trying to put its crying in the past and start a new chapter in 2014 by innovating rather than complaining, which looks like the case with a lucrative and fast-growing tie-up with leading online video firm Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU). Read Full Post…
It’s the time of year when we get to see where gadget makers are placing their future bets, as they strut their newest wares at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world’s biggest show of its kind. This year all of China’s “big 3” smartphone aspirants are at the show in Las Vegas, with Huawei, ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) and Lenovo (HKEx: 992) each focusing on different areas for future development. Interestingly, I couldn’t find any official mention of attendance at the event by fast-rising smartphone maker Xiaomi, even as it gets ready to embark on a global expansion in 2014. Read Full Post…
Executives from China’s top consumer electronics makers are laying out their road maps for 2014 at the world’s top trade show happening this week in Las Vegas, with leading PC maker Lenovo (HKEx: 992) detailing a conservative but smart looking plan to build up its smartphone business in the Americas. The plan was detailed by Lenovo’s Americas head, and will see the company target developing markets in Latin America first before gradually moving to the highly competitive US. Read Full Post…
More bright signs are emerging in the solar panel sector with word of 2 major new tie-ups, one involving ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) in Japan and the other Yingli (NYSE: YGE) in China. In the first, ReneSola has signed a massive deal to sell panels to a Japanese solar power plant developer. The latter case looks similar, with Yingli in its own deal for a major joint venture to co-develop new solar power plants with one of China’s top nuclear power companies. Read Full Post…
Just a week after I speculated that a tie-up could be coming between e-commerce sites Jingdong and Dangdang (NYSE: DANG), a new report is saying a similar partnership could be forming between Jingding and leading Internet firm Tencent (HKEx: 700). Sourcing for this latest report isn’t too solid, so I’m far from certain that these talks are really happening. But regardless of the actual situation, the news highlights the fact that the highly competitive e-commerce sector is sorely in need of consolidation and that whoever makes the first moves could have the best chances of long-term survival. Read Full Post…
Leading domestic dairy company Mengniu (HKEx: 2319) and e-commerce company LightInTheBox (NYSE: LITB) are in the headlines with new foreign tie-ups, including a joint venture for the former and a modest acquisition for the latter. I personally find the Mengniu development more interesting and significant, as it marks the latest move in the company’s drive to become China’s leading dairy products maker and positions it for an eventual global expansion. But investors were much more excited by the LightInTheBox move, which sparked a major rally for the firm’s languishing shares. Read Full Post…
We’re just a week into the New Year, and already new signs of political shenanigans at the nation’s 2 leading wireless telcos, China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) and China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU), are hinting at turbulence ahead as Beijing tries to liberalize the state-dominated telecoms services sector. Media are reporting that China Mobile has launched an internal probe into a botched initiative in Hong Kong, which looks to me like an extension of Beijing’s fast-expanding series of anti-corruption probes at major state-owned firms. Meantime, media are reporting separately that a top Unicom executive has left the company to joint one of the nation’s newly licensed virtual network operators (VNO), in a deal that looks aimed at undermining Beijing’s plans to inject new competition into the telecoms services sector. Read Full Post…
The start of a new year is seeing 2 of China’s top smartphone and telecoms equipment makers lay out their new goals for 2014, with the fast-rising Xiaomi aiming to continue its explosive growth as the more mature Huawei targets more modest gains. Meantime, another leading telecoms player, ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063), is also detailing a major reorganization aimed at rekindling growth as it tries to diversify beyond its core business of building networks for big telcos. All of these plans are consistent with previous signals from each of the 3 companies, and in that regard aren’t very surprising. But they do provide a hint of where priorities will lie in the new year. Read Full Post…
The new year has just begun, and already we’re getting signals that 2014 will be full of new twists and surprises for the solar panel sector as it struggles to emerge from its downturn dating back nearly 3 years. A clash involving Chinese panel makers accused by western rivals of receiving unfair state support looks set to enter a new phase, based on an announcement of new action in the US by SolarWorld (Frankfurt: SWV), the German panel maker that has led the charge against the Chinese companies. Meantime, a separate new joint venture announcement from Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE) looks smart, and reflects the new reality that China will become a major driver of solar plant construction in 2014. Read Full Post…
Many companies from traditional sectors have been taking a serious look at the Internet these days, worried that failure to develop a solid web strategy could result in their eventual demise. For sectors like retail and some other traditional product categories, I agree that strategy makes sense as the Internet radically changes the way that these industries operate. But I find the recent Internet obsession by the CEO of Vanke (HKEx: 1036; Shenzhen: 000002), one of China’s leading real estate developers, a bit more difficult to understand, since property doesn’t seem like a sector that can easily migrate to the web. Read Full Post…
