Stodgy telecoms giants ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) and Huawei were fighting a heated battle in the microblogging realm to be the “New Cool of School” last week, as each trumpeted niche smartphone brands aimed at copying the success of the ultra-trendy Xiaomi. But the original “King of Cool” had no time for the pair of challengers, and instead hinted at a major new global distribution deal as it chases its own role model, global tech giant Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). The subtext of all this is that everyone making smartphones ultimately wants to imitate Apple, whose careful cultivation of a premium and trendy image over the years has helped it to stay on top in the fast-changing world of high-tech gadgets for far longer than most companies.
Journalist China
Jingdong Posts Profit, Linktone De-Lists
On this day before Christmas, e-commerce giant Jingdong is making new noises that indicate it may make another attempt at an IPO in the new year, with word that it finally became profitable in the first three quarters of 2013. Meantime, the small but longtime Nasdaq-listed Linktone (Nasdaq: LTON) has announced it plans to voluntarily de-list from the Nasdaq to save cash, continuing the steady stream of departures by many underappreciated US-listed Chinese firms. Unlike other firms to de-list in the current wave, Linktone’s move isn’t a true privatization and looks more like a pure effort to save cash, indicating the company may be struggling financially. Read Full Post…
News Digest: December 26, 2013
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 26. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Rolls-Royce Says Britain’s SFO Begins Bribery Investigation Related To China (English article)
- First Virtual Network Operator (VNO) Licenses To Be Awarded By Year End (Chinese article)
- CNTV, Tencent (HKEx: 700), Skyworth Partner on ‘WeChat TV’ (English article)
- Unicom (HKEx: 762) Makes Biggest Upper Management Adjustment In 5 Years (Chinese article)
- InterDigital (Nasdaq: IDCC) Gains After Settling With Huawei on Patents (English article)
China Mobile, Apple Finally Reach iPhone Deal
Thank goodness! That’s my first and main reaction on reading that after years of negotiations, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) have finally announced their highly anticipated deal to sell the iPhone on the 3G and 4G networks of China’s dominant telco. Of course now the next big questions will be: How will China Mobile price the new iPhones, and how many units will it sell? Investors are clearly quite hopeful, with Apple’s shares rising 3.8 percent after the deal was finally announced. Read Full Post…
News Digest: December 24, 2013
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 23. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- China Telecom (HKEx: 728) To Save 3.14 Bln Yuan After Cut In Fees (English article)
- Jingdong Posts Small Profit in Q1-Q3 2013 (English article)
- PSEG Acquires Two Power Plants from Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) (PRNewswire)
- Shuanghui Joins Sigma’s Revised Bid for Spain’s Campofrio Food Group (Businesswire)
- Beijing Online Sales Pass Traditional Department Stores Sales For First Time (Chinese article)
Oral History: Shanghai Reopens
Shanghai has been in the news nonstop these last few months, first with the establishment of its new Free Trade Zone in September and again more recently when the city celebrated the 170th anniversary of the official opening of its port to the outside world. These 2 major events nicely encapsulate Shanghai’s unique identity as an open city that has become a living laboratory for the mixing of eastern and western ideas.
Shanghai’s achievements are all the more unusual because at many times there wasn’t any single pilot in control of an economic engine that was one of Asia’s most influential cities in the early 20th century. In many ways that’s part of Shanghai’s unique character and charm. It’s an open place that can be anything to anyone, and where people are largely free to pursue their own interests. Read Full Post…
Amazon Adds New Stratum To China Cloud
I don’t write too much about cloud services in China, mostly because I think the market is too immature despite Beijing’s strong promotion of the industry. Still, the latest announcement by e-commerce giant Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) that it’s formally launching cloud computing services in China seems like a good opportunity to re-examine the cloud phenomenon, including how the industry is likely to develop and who is best positioned to emerge as sector leaders. Read Full Post…
Hershey In Lifestyle Play With Golden Monkey
US chocolate giant Hershey (NYSE: HSY) is in the headlines this wintry day in late December, with word that it’s dipping its toe deeper into China with a modest acquisition of a Shanghai candy maker. I’ll admit I don’t know much about Golden Monkey Food, even though this company being acquired by Hershey is based here in my adopted hometown of Shanghai. But a description of the company provided by Hershey, combined with my own perusal of Golden Monkey’s web page, makes this particular deal look like a good one for Hershey as it tries to take on hometown rivals Mars and Dove in China’s rich candy market. Read Full Post…
Cars: Tesla’s Nameless Start, Ctrip Tries Rentals
I thought I would end the week with 2 interesting auto stories, one spotlighting legal speed bumps in the market and the other highlighting big potential in the car rental industry. The first case has US electric car maker Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) officially driving into China despite its failure to resolve a trademark dispute, meaning it has no official Chinese name as it enters the market. The second case has leading online travel agent Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) tying up with a car rental start-up, representing its latest move into a related area with strong growth potential. Read Full Post…
AsiaInfo, Simcere Bow Out From New York
It seems appropriate that 2 more longtime-listed Chinese companies are bowing out of New York as we head into the final days of 2013, with word that shareholders have approved plans to privatize telecoms software maker AsiaInfo-Linkage (Nasdaq: ASIA) and drugmaker Simcere Pharmaceutical (NYSE: SCR). AsiaInfo was the more lively of these 2 de-listing stories, with a narrow majority of shareholders approving a buy-out offer after several months of protest from others who thought the price was too low. Meantime, Simcere’s looming privatization raises the question of what’s next for this neglected company, whose foreign partners include Bristol-Myers Squbb (NYSE: BMY) and Merck (NYSE: MRK). Read Full Post…
China Mobile Faces Declining Profits In 2014
The headlines are swamped today with news about leading wireless telco China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL), after Chairman Xi Guohua spoke an event in Guangzhou where he gave details on a wide range of issues as the carrier formally launched its new 4G service. I don’t usually discuss the bottom line until the end of my posts, but with so much news and new data in the headlines it does seem better this time to start here with that assessment. In this case it’s safe to say that China Mobile will embark on a massive spending spree to promote 4G in 2014, meaning we’re likely to see declining profits for much or all of the year. Read Full Post…
