After shopping around for an investor for much of this year, money-losing video sharing site PPTV has finally found a new patron in retailing giant Suning (Shenzhen: 002024). I’m quite happy to see this latest development in China’s rapidly consolidating online video space, as it means I can finally stop writing about all the latest rumors that have popped up for the last 6 months surrounding PPTV. Rumors of this particular tie-up first emerged about a month ago (previous post), and I’ll admit that this deal doesn’t look particularly attractive to me. Read Full Post…
This year’s shake-up of the online video space is taking yet another turn, with word that Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU), one of China’s top 3 services, has agreed to buy rival Xunlei’s service called Kankan. If true, this development would be quite exciting, as it would mark the rise of a third major player in the space that is undergoing a major consolidation. Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) remains the industry leader after its formation last year with the merger of China’s 2 largest video sites. Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) iQiyi is emerging as a strong number 2 after its acquisition of PPS in May for $370 million. Sohu previously operated China’s second largest video sharing service, and a purchase of Xunlei Kankan would comfortably bolster its place as one of China’s top 3 sites. Read Full Post…
High-flying smartphone maker Xiaomi is at the center of 2 recent strings of microblog posts, one touching on an interesting new connection with Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) and the other hinting at an increasingly cozy relationship with struggling online clothing seller Vancl. Interestingly, Xiaomi’s talkative co-founder and chief executive Lei Jun is largely absent from the dialogue in both cases, which each has sensitive overtones, implying that perhaps we could see more news in the weeks ahead. Read Full Post…
Update: After publishing this originally, a Qunar spokeswoman pointed out that Goldman Sachs was among the investment banks underwriting its IPO. So that changes the tenor of the last part of the post, which says that no premium investment banks were involved in the offering.
A long awaited year-end fund-flurry of fund raising by Chinese tech firms is gaining momentum, with online travel sites Qunar and Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) leading the charge as investor interest finally returns to the market. Qunar has just made the first public filing for its long-delayed IPO, while Ctrip continues to dazzle the markets by raising the size of its recent mega bond offer for the second time, underscoring strong demand from investors. Read Full Post…
Youku Tudou sues Xiaomi for copyright infringement
Earlier this week I wrote how smart TV could be poised for a sudden explosion in China due to a combination of factors that made the market especially well suited for development of this product. (previous post) Now we’re seeing one of the major obstacles that smart TVs could face, namely copyright lawsuits by various players against one another as each seeks to gain the upper hand in an increasingly competitive market. We could soon be seeing an avalanche of such litigation, with word that leading online video website Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) has just sued Xioami for copyright infringement, following the latter’s recent rollout of a new smart TV product. Read Full Post…
China’s smart TV space has gotten a big lift in recent months with a flurry of major new developments, including 2 major new moves this past week by industry veteran LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104). This sudden rush to smart TVs, which deliver most of their content over the Internet, is being driven by a number of factors that make China ideal for development of the market. Read Full Post…
Online travel site Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) has just become the latest Chinese Internet company to announce a mega-bond offering, taking advantage of its market-leading status to raise up to $500 million. While the bond itself is interesting, the more intriguing matter is what Ctrip plans to do with the funds. The company says that acquisitions is one possibility, leading me to speculate the company could purchase a stake in fast-rising rival Qunar, or even purchase the company outright. Read Full Post…
After years of being locked out of China’s lucrative gaming market, US software giant Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) may have finally found an opening through a new joint venture with BesTV (Shanghai: 600637), the digital arm of the nation’s second largest media company. On the one hand I should congratulate Microsoft for its tenacity in pursuing China’s electronic gaming market, which is one of the world’s largest. But on the other hand, I have to return to one of my common refrains about the world’s biggest software maker in observing that this effort looks a bit late and will have difficulty finding an audience in China’s highly competitive gaming market. I also have my doubts about the selection of BesTV as its partner, but I’ll come back to that later. Read Full Post…
Smart TVs, which let consumers watch programs via Internet-based channels, has suddenly become the latest flavor of the day for China tech firms, with just about every major Internet player piling into the market in the last few months. Top e-commerce firm Alibaba and search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) have both announced major new initiatives in the last 2 months, and now social networking leader Tencent (HKEx: 700) is joining the frenzy with its own new tie-up. At the same time, retailing giant Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) may also be making moves in the space, with word that it’s near a deal to purchase online video company PPTV. Read Full Post…
A new announcement from leading online travel services firm Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) is showing just how important a strong mobile strategy is to the future of Internet companies in China, where legions of consumers now surf the web over their cellphones. Ctrip’s announcement shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to anyone who follows the sector, since most major Internet firms have specifically designated mobile as a key priority area for future growth. Robin Li, founder of leading search company Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) early this year officially put himself in charge of the company’s mobile division (previous post); and e-commerce leader Alibaba has also embarked on a major acquisition spree this year with mobile technologies as one of its main focuses. Read Full Post…
There’s a small flurry of IPO news today, with word that Baidu-invested (Nasdaq: BIDU) online travel site Qunar has relaunched its plans for a New York public offering. At the same time, anyone who was hoping for a near-term listing for hot smartphone maker Xiaomi might have to wait a while, with word that the firm won’t make a public offering for at least the next 5 years. Lastly, no IPO story would be complete without the latest speculation on the multibillion-dollar planned listing by e-commerce leader Alibaba, as pundits speculate on its next move following a recent clash with Hong Kong stock regulators. Read Full Post…
