Bottom line: Sohu’s plan to list its Sogou search unit has a 50-50 chance of happening this year, while AirMedia’s 2-year-old privatization plan is likely to close within that period.
Sohu talks IPO for Sogou — again
A couple of IPOs are in the headlines as we head into the new week, led by an often-discussed offering by perennial third-place search engine Sogou, which is co-owned by Internet titan Tencent (HKEx: 700) and second-rate portal Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU). At the same time, another second-rate company, AirMedia (Nasdaq: AMCN), has slashed the proposed buyout price for its attempt to go private, reflecting the company’s own troubles.
Both of these stories have a bit of the “who cares?” element for long-term investors, since neither company is one that has particularly strong long-term prospects. But they do both reflect the larger realm of smaller Chinese Internet and media companies that are struggling for attention, as investors get mesmerized by giants like Tencent, Alibaba(NYSE: BABA) and JD.com(Nasdaq: JD). Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Xiaomi’s rising market share and securing of $1 billion in new financing underscore its nascent turnaround may have some legs, even as its position remains tenuous in the cutthroat market.
Xiaomi unveils latest phone
Former smartphone sensation Xiaomiis in several headlines as we head into the close of the week, all of which seem to underscore that its nascent rebound may have some legs. But as anyone in the industry will tell you, any smartphone maker is really only as good as its last model these days, meaning fortunes can quickly turn with just one misstep. The smartphone sphere is littered with such examples of such missteps that ultimately led to corporate downfalls, including Samsung (Seoul: 005930), as well as former giants Nokia (Helsinki: NOK1V) and Motorola.
That said, Xiaomi is a slightly different case from that trio, since its initial rise to fame was really almost exclusively based on hype and savvy marketing rather than any cutting-edge product. The company is trying to correct that problem now by improving its product lineup, including the unveiling of its latest phone and upgrades to its own operating system. At the same time, media are reporting the company has received a new $1 billion loan, meaning banks still have some confidence in the firm, even if investors are skeptical. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: India is unlikely to levy anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese solar panel makers, despite the likelihood that it will launch an investigation.
India set to launch anti-dumping probe on Chinese panels
The news just seems to be getting worse and worse for China’s embattled solar panel makers. First the group was hit a few years back by anti-dumping tariffs from the US and Europe, and more recently the highly cyclical industry has gone into a downturn that has pushed a growing number of players into the red. As if that wasn’t bad enough, media are reporting that India may be getting set to launch an anti-dumping investigation against the group.
The news has been spooking investors somewhat, but not as much as you might expect. In fact, most of the solar shares have been on a rally for the last month, and have pulled back a little in light of this news from India. Perhaps that’s because some are saying an anti-dumping probe will take at least a few months to complete, and also that it’s far from clear that India will actually rule against the Chinese companies. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: The formation of a joint venture between six leading cable operators looks designed to jump start Beijing’s stalled attempt to create a national player that can compete with the big telcos.
Five regions in cable TV joint venture
After years of snail’s-pace progress at consolidating the nation’s fragmented cable TV operators, a group of leading players is finally taking matters into their own hands with announcement of what could be a breakthrough joint venture. I’ve followed this story for a while now, and, along with everyone else, have been impatiently waiting for a state-supported national cable operator, called China Broadcasting Network Co., to take shape and provide a strong interesting alternative to the nation’s three big telcos for network-based services.
But such a development has moved forward at a pace even slower than molasses, mostly due to the huge bureaucracy involved. That mostly involves the interference of local interests, which are loathe to give up control over municipal and provincial cable TV networks, which they run as personal regional propaganda machines. As a result, all of the nation’s cable TV networks are dying a slow but certain death, as they get overtaken not only by the telcos but also by a rising generation of private sector Internet TV services like Youku and iQiyi. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China’s apparent partial blockage of some Whatsapp functions for brief periods is unlikely to end with a total blockage, mostly because the service is used almost exclusively by foreigners.
Whatsapp temporarily blocked in China
Foreign media are buzzing about what appears to be the blockage of some functions on Whatsapp, with the obvious implication that a full blockage of the the popular instant messaging app could be next. This particular story has a few interesting angles, led by the fact that Whatsapp isn’t used by very many Chinese and also that it’s owned by social networking giant Facebook (Nasdaq: FB).
There are a also a number of precedents to go by, none of which looks too positive for the future of Whatsapp. Just about every other major global social networking app has been blocked in China by now, including Facebook itself, as well as Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) and Japan-listed Line (Tokyo: 3938). But there are a few notable exceptions that have been allowed to keep operating in China, one of which is Whatsapp and two others being the Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) owned Skype and LinkedIn. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: A new scandal involving results that favor a major advertiser on Baidu’s mapping service could have a minor impact on the company’s stock during the next week, but is mostly an embarrassment.
Doctors criticize Baidu maps
A year after taking a beating over questions about the reliability of its search results, stumbling Internet titan Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) is back in the headlines over similar queries about results given by its popular mapping service. This time Baidu has quickly responded to the criticism from a group of doctors who are questioning the prominence of a powerful hospital group in search results on the mapping service, blaming the issue on a glitch and saying it is moving to correct the problem.
That’s far different from the last crisis, arguably the biggest in Baidu’s history, which began last spring when the story of a duped cancer patient made the rounds like wildfire on China’s Internet. In that instance, Baidu was slow to respond to the claims from a patient, who had already died at the time, that he was fooled by a cancer hospital whose name looked like a genuine search result but was really just an advertisement. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: LeEco is likely to spin off its new energy car unit by the end of the year following the departure of founder Jia Yueting from the listed company, while it could also close its smartphone division.
LeEco set to spin off car unit?
In what looks like a major turning point for the foundering LeEco(Shenzhen: 300104), the company’s charismatic but embattled founder has relinquished his role as chairman at the publicly listed firm. This particular news came out just as people were leaving home for work last night, so it’s still not completely clear on what exactly has happened.
But it appears that one of the companies that had agreed to provide a major cash infusion, a real estate developer named Sunac (HKEx: 1918) was refusing to hand over the funds because it said certain unspecified conditions weren’t met from its agreement. Thus it appears that Jia’s departure from the listed company, and probably most of LeEco in general, was probably the big sticking point. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Tencent’s roll-out of time playing limits for teenager gamers for a popular new title looks aimed at preventing a regulatory intervention, while its new TCL tie-up could presage a spin-off of its video business.
Tencent limits teenage gamers
Internet titan Tencent(HKEx: 700) is in a couple of headlines as the US observes its Independence Day holiday, starting with word that it’s limiting teenagers from playing too much of a very popular new title. The other headline has the company teaming up with TV stalwart TCL (HKEx: 1070; Shenzhen: 000100) in a new smart TV tie-up.
The only real common thread to these headlines is that they both involve Tencent, though each does spotlight a certain pattern that’s quite typical for China’s most successful Internet company. In the first case, the game story spotlights Tencent’s strong record at developing and operating games, which are its largest source of revenue. The TCL story highlights Tencent’s fondness for making strategic minority investments, often with mixed results. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: The resignation of Xunlei’s founder as CEO, even as he retains his chairman’s title, could indicate a sale is coming soon, with the most likely buyer as Xiaomi.
Big shifts happening in Xunlei boardroom
The incredible shriveling online video company Xunlei (Nasdaq: XNET) is making a tiny splash in the headlines as we head toward the weekend, with word that its founder is relinquishing his position as CEO. The move seems potentially significant, since one of the main obstacles that keeps more companies from being acquired in China is resistance by their founders to relinquish their “empires” to someone else.
In this case, Xunlei’s empire is rapidly vanishing, as it gets overtaken by larger rivals like Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) iQiyi and video services operated by Tencent (HKEx: 700) and Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU). That may mean that no one really wants Xunlei anymore, including ordinary stock investors. The company’s shares have been on a downward trajectory since its Nasdaq IPO three years ago, and now trade at $3.24 apiece, about a quarter of their IPO price of $12. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: A major altercation between a customer and deliveryman from STO Express underscores the intense competition in the sector, which puts huge pressure on couriers and companies in general.
STO delivers controversy
An incident making the rounds in Chinese media is highlighting just how brutally competitive the parcel delivery business has become — literally. The incident is quite appalling but not really too surprising, with reports that courier STO Express (Shenzhen: 002468) has fired a deliveryman who seriously beat a customer who filed a complaint about him.
This particular incident comes just a day after I wrote about the latest IPO by a parcel delivery firm, Best Inc, which is hoping to raise up to $750 million in New York. (previous post) That IPO is noteworthy because Best is still losing massive money, unlike most of the other courier companies that have made listings, even though the industry’s brutal competition makes it hard for me to believe the others are as profitable as they say. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Best Inc.’s IPO is likely to price and debut weakly due to its loss-making status and concerns about China’s economy, which could also weigh on an upcoming flurry of fintech offerings in Hong Kong and New York.
Best Inc loads up logistics IPO
After waiting months for this year’s first major New York IPO by a Chinese company, I was surprised to read the distinction looks set to go to a logistics firm backed by e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA). In this case the winner in this race to the IPO gate appears to be a company called Best Inc, with plans to raise a relatively sizable $750 million.
I say I’m surprised because all this time I’ve been waiting for one of a number of financial technology companies, often called fintech, to finally break through the IPO gate with the year’s first big offering. Peer-to-peer (P2P) lender China Rapid Finance (NYSE: XRF) actually took the distinction for first notable IPO of the year with its May listing on the New York Stock Exchange. But that offering was quite small at just $60 million. What’s more, the stock hasn’t exactly been a huge performer since then, and is now trading just slightly above its IPO price. Read Full Post…
