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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
One of the longest and strangest de-listings in the current wave of privatizations by Chinese firms could finally be nearing an end, with word that telecoms software maker AsiaInfo-Linkage (Nasdaq: ASIA) has received regulatory approval for a deal to buy out the company. This new announcement is just the latest bizarre twist in this story, as a deal of this size would normally be far too small to require such approval from China’s anti-monopoly regulator. But the approval seems to show that Beijing wants the deal to proceed in its current form, which means we may finally see an end to this strange story. Read Full Post…
Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei is not the world’s most talkative man, so when he says something in a rare media interview it’s worth taking notice. In this case Ren has personally stated that Huawei is temporarily halting its efforts to sell its telecoms equipment in the US, providing the final word on a controversial topic that has made headlines for much of the past year. But of course nothing is ever final, and a top US-based Huawei spokesman has quickly added that the company is ready to enter the US if and when Washington ever relaxes its informal ban on the company’s networking equipment. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 7-9. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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This week will go down in the history books as the week when China finally entered the high-speed telecoms era with its granting of 4G licenses after years of waiting. But China still has the dubious distinction as one of the world’s few markets where Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) wildly popular iPhone isn’t available to more than half of the country’s 1 billion mobile subscribers. That looks set to finally change soon, with media reporting that China’s dominant carrier China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) has finally signed an iPhone deal with Apple. Read Full Post…
Just a couple of days after I wrote that a wave of summertime attacks on foreign companies appeared to be firmly in the past, Chinese media are turning up the pressure on several luxury car makers with new accusations of high prices. This kind of attack is more in line with what we’re used to seeing from Chinese media, which like to periodically criticize big western names for quality problems or high prices. That’s quite different from what we saw over the summer, when Chinese regulators launched a series of probes into western firms for illegal activities like price fixing and bribery. Read Full Post…
In an unusual day for overseas traded Chinese firms, we’re getting interesting listing news bits from 3 of the world’s top financial markets, with companies making headlines in New York, London and Hong Kong. In New York, we’re hearing that unappreciated online game operator Perfect World (Nasdaq: PWRD) may be considering a privatization bid; in Hong Kong, Cinda, a manager of non-performing state-run assets, is getting a strong reception in the run-up to its large IPO; and last but not least, visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron has made a person appeal to e-commerce giant Alibaba to make its highly anticipated IPO in London. Read Full Post…
Top executives at controversial software security maker Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) have been blitzing cyberspace these past few days with a campaign to convince the world that it’s suddenly become a defender of justice and occupier of the moral high ground. This sudden offensive almost looks coordinated, with Qihoo aiming its newest assaults at 3 of its favorite targets, search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), top social networking firm Tencent (HKEx: 700) and fast-rising super-cool smartphone maker Xiaomi. Read Full Post…
I don’t know if I’m the only one who noticed this, but the flurry of attacks on foreign companies that began quite suddenly during the summer has ended just as quickly, replaced by what looks like a longer-term series of investigations against high-level officials at major state-owned firms. This second wave of attacks is obviously much more politically sensitive since it targets well-connected local Chinese officials, many of them high-ranking executives at some of the country’s leading state-run firms. Sensing that this anti-foreign campaign has now officially passed, visiting UK Prime Minister David Cameron has become a vocal supporter of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) (London: GSK), the British drugmaker that was at the center of one of the biggest attacks against a multinational during the summertime campaign. Read Full Post…
Media are buzzing about the latest survey on China’s most valuable brands, with each providing its own interpretation of the latest list from global advertising giant WPP (London: WPP) and its Millward Brown affiliate. Many companies that I regularly write about are at the top of the list, but an equally interesting is who isn’t there. I’m referring to consumer brands that are common elements of daily life for most people, printed on everything from shampoos to instant noodles. This category is currently dominated by foreign names, but the new list hints that 1 or 2 Chinese firms could be positioned to become the country’s first equivalent of Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) or Unilever (London: ULVR). Read Full Post…
Update: Since originally writing this, the MIIT has finally formally issued 4G licenses, allowing each of the 3 major telcos to operate a service based on the homegrown TD-LTE standard. China Mobile will formally launch service on December 18.
It’s a new day, so I figured that’s a good enough excuse to write about the latest 4G wireless services rumors, which seem to be coming almost daily at this point. The newest rumors look a bit sexier than other recent chatter, this time unveiling the brand name industry leader China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) will use for its new service, and also adding the company will finally offer an Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone for the network when it formally launches service later this month. Word of the actual launch date, in this case December 18, was probably the least interesting news in this latest report. That’s because every report I’ve read these last few months nearly always contains a launch date that is ultimately incorrect, and there’s no reason to believe that this new report will break that trend. Read Full Post…
The recent rush by Chinese web firms into the financial services has gained a new member, with word that real estate services SouFun (NYSE: SFUN) will enter the sector. I’ve generally been skeptical of this sudden swarm into financial services, which was touched off earlier this year by e-commerce leader Alibaba, since this new stream of online investment products looks rife with potential for controversy. But that said, this latest move by Soufun actually looks quite logical and shrewd, since the company’s core real estate business already has very close ties with the traditional financial services industry. Read Full Post…
