The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on August 11. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) Announces June Quarter 2016 Results (Businesswire)
Yihaodian Launches 1 Bln Yuan Price War Against Tmall Supermarket (Chinese article)
Bottom line: Sina’s latest financials show it could be benefiting from recent woes at Baidu, while JD.com’s results show its growth is slowing as it moves towards its important goal of becoming profitable.
Sina jumps on strong profit growth
Two of China’s top Internet companies have just reported their latest quarterly earnings, with web stalwart Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) wowing Wall Street with new numbers that show its Twitter-like Weibo (Nasdaq: WB) service may finally be gaining some traction. Meantime, investors were less impressed by e-commerce giant JD.com (Nasdsaq: JD), which continued to post strong revenue growth but remained squarely in the loss column. JD tried to comfort investors by saying its operations are now quite profitable on a non-GAAP basis, but that didn’t seem to change sentiment too much. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: New global initiatives by Alibaba’s cloud and electronic payments affiliates look smart by targeting Chinese customers abroad, but may only stand a 50-50 chance of longer-term success due to fierce global competition.
AliCloud global expansion moves ahead
Following lackluster results for initiatives involving its core e-commerce business outside China, Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is pushing ahead on the global stage with new moves for 2 of its other areas with big growth potential. One of those has the company unveiling a global strategy for its cloud services unit, AliCloud, which includes a tie-up with former Taiwan smartphone superstar HTC (Taipei: 2498). The other involves Alibaba’s Ant Financial affiliate, which is rolling out its core Alipay electronic payments service in Europe. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on August 11. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) Invests 20 Bln Yuan on Zhejiang Car Factory (Chinese article)
Bottom line: China’s anti-trust regulator is moving cautiously in approving the Marriott-Starwood merger because it involves 2 major global brands with a big presence in the high end of the market, but will ultimately approve the deal.
China extends anti-trust review for Marriott-Starwood merger
China is once again creating problems for an offshore M&A deal that would create the world’s largest hotel company, with word that it’s extending an anti-trust review period for the landmark merger of US hotel giants Marriott (NYSE: MAR) and Starwood (NYSE: HOT). Industry watchers got some brief entertainment earlier this year when Chinese insurer Anbang sparked a bidding war with its surprising offer for Starwood, operator of the Sheraton and Westin brands that had already agreed to be acquired by Marriott. Anbang later dropped that bid, but now more delays are coming from China, where the anti-trust regulator says it needs more time to review the deal. Read Full Post…
A sense of loss and also a surge of nostalgia were my first reactions on reading an obituary this week for the man credited with creating mainland China’s first major English-Chinese dictionary in the post-1949 period. It was quite telling that the dictionary compiled here in Shanghai by renowned lexicographer Lu Gusun wasn’t even technically completed until 1991, reflecting China’s conflicting feelings towards the West over the years.
From a much more personal perspective, some of the most enduring memories of my time in China revolve around such Chinese-English dictionaries, which were an integral part of my life when I first arrived here in the 1980s. Such translations were not only useful for getting around in daily life, but were also an occasional source of humor for myself and other foreigners due to their occasionally political overtones. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on August 10. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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HTC (Taipei: 2498), Alicloud Form Strategic Alliance in Virtual Reality (Chinese article)
Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Reports Q2 Financial Results (PRNewswire)
China Extends Marriott-Starwood Deal Review by Up to 60 Days (English article)
BP (London: BP) Seeks Buyers for Its Half of China Petrochemical JV (English article)
China Film (Shanghai: 600977) Rises 44 Pct in Shanghai Trading Debut (Chinese article)
Bottom line: LeEco’s rescue plan for Coolpad will fail due to stiff competition in China’s smartphone markets and overly ambitious targets for its own new line of smartphones.
LeEco ousts Coolpad CEO
Less than 2 months after becoming the largest stakeholder of Coolpad (HKEx: 2369), online video sensation LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) is wasting no time in making major changes at the struggling smartphone maker. The most symbolic of those has LeEco’s dynamic founder Jia Yueting ousting Coolpad’s chairman and CEO and taking over the chairman’s position for himself. More substantially, LeEco is indicating it will become Coolpad’s largest customer going forward as part of its own plans to build an entertainment ecosystem around devices like Internet-connected smartphones, TVs and cars. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Apple’s cleanup of its China app store reflects the deceptive marketing that often occurs on the Chinese Internet, and also Apple’s more transparent approach towards its actions in China.
Apple cleans up China app store
iPhone users in China are discovering a new look at Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) local app store, following the removal of more than 10,000 apps over a one-day period late last week. App store users first noticed something unusual when it appeared that the popular news app called Jinri Toutiao, or Today’s Headlines, suddenly seemed to disappear from Apple’s China store. But further examination showed that Apple was simply removing redundant versions of the app, many of which had very similar names and identical appearances. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on August 9. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Cleanup Sees More Than 10,000 Apps Removed From China Store (Chinese article)
LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) Founder Jia Yueting Named Chairman of Coolpad (HKEx: 2369) (Chinese article)
Alipay Enters Europe with Service for Overseas Chinese Shoppers (Chinese article)
China Media Corp Invests in US Virtual Reality Company NextVR (Chinese article)
Midea (Shenzhen: 000333) to Control 94.55 Pct of Kuka Shares as Offer Period Ends (Chinese article)
Bottom line: Ele.me’s new fees will raise the ire of restaurant partners on its platform but is unlikely to produce a mass revolt, and reflects growing pressure on the company to find new revenue sources and become profitable.
Restaurants grumble over new fees from Ele.me
Signs of stress are showing up at leading online take-out dining service Ele.me, which is facing howls of protest from its restaurants partners over a major new fee. This kind of mass complaining is relatively common in China’s cyber realm, especially in industries where online companies are losing money and desperately looking for new revenue sources. The take-out dining industry certainly fits that description, as stiff competition from names like Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and Meituan-Dianping forces companies like Ele.me deeply into the red. Read Full Post…
