A day after announcing the arrival of a new chief financial officer (previous post), we’re getting word that fast-fading e-commerce superstar Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) is preparing to join hands with a major competitor by opening a new storefront on Alibaba’s TMall. The CFO change and now this latest tie-up with a rival all reflect the growing reality that Dangdang is rapidly fading from China’s fiercely competitive e-commerce crowd, and could even become one of its first major victims. One could even say this latest series of moves reflects a certain desperation, as Dangdang tries to reverse a worrisome trend that has seen its losses balloon over the last year.
Search Results for: baidu e-commerce
Ctrip Bonds: Outspending Private Rivals 携程债券：超出私募的竞争对手
As competition intensifies in nearly every major space on the Chinese Internet, companies are finding themselves increasingly in need of new money as their profits tumble and cash reserves dwindle. The options for new funding are particularly limited for younger private companies, whose main source of money is usually private equity and venture capital that is relatively limited. Older listed companies have more choices, since they can tap financial markets by issuing bonds or new shares to raise money. That distinction is seeing a small but growing number of older Chinese Internet firms raise money by issuing new debt to compete with their smaller but very aggressive rivals in the fight for market share. In the latest development on that front, leading online travel services provider Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) has just announced plans to issue up to $140 million in convertible bonds . (company announcement)
Alibaba Buy-Out: Slow Growth Ahead 阿里巴巴未来增速或放缓
Financial markets have given their verdict on the future growth prospects for e-commerce leader Alibaba, and frankly speaking the long-awaited assessment doesn’t look too exciting or promising. I said last week when word first emerged that Alibaba was near a deal to buy back 20 percent of its shares held by Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) that the most interesting elements would be the valuation Alibaba got from the transaction, as well as the name list of investors. (previous post) For starters, the valuation that Alibaba got from the deal is a bit disappointing for a company whose value rocketed from just $2.5 billion when Yahoo first purchased its stake in 2005 to more than $30 billion last year on the explosion of China’s e-commerce market.
Alibaba-Google: China’s Android Addiciton 阿里巴巴—谷歌：中国的“安卓瘾”
Despite its high profile exit from the mainland search market in 2010, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has quietly regained its position as a powerful force in China these last two years through the rapid rise of its Android mobile operating system (OS) that powers many of the nation’s smartphones. Its new rise was on display last week, as the US Internet giant threw a major wrench into the smartphone plans of Alibaba, China’s leading e-commerce company. With most Asian cellphone makers increasingly dependent on Android, Chinese firms that will depend on the mobile Internet for future growth need to think about creating their own new mobile platforms to rival Android. Otherwise they will risk becoming hostage to the world’s biggest Internet company, which could use its clout to ensure its own products always take precedence over its Chinese rivals’.
Tencent Wechat Wows Mobile IM 腾讯微信主导移动即时通讯
The fight for dominance in of China’s mobile Internet is producing some interesting global shifts, with big names like Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and Alibaba facing aggressive, younger competitors as they try to translate their dominance of the older desktop Internet to the mobile space that will become a key growth driver in the next decade. But one company that seems on track to maintain its dominance is Tecent (HKEx: 700), China’s largest Internet company by market value, which rose to prominence a decade ago with its highly popular QQ instant messaging product. Now it seems that Tencent’s mobile instant messaging product Wechat, better known by its Chinese name of weixin, is facing little or no opposition in its rapid rise to become China’s dominant mobile IM product. (previous post)
Alibaba in Anti-Piracy PR Blitz 阿里巴巴进行反盗版公关
E-commerce leader Alibaba has been on a quiet PR offensive for much of the last year, seeking to convince the US that its Taobao marketplaces aren’t havens for pirates whose sales of knock-off products cost legitimate brands billions of dollars in lost sales each year. That drive has reached a crescendo with the company’s highly trumpeted announcement of a new deal with Hollywood to fight the sale of pirated movies online. The deal will see Taobao and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) work together to identify merchants that sell pirated movies over Taobao’s various e-commerce platforms and remove the pirated merchandise. (English article)
News Digest: September 4, 2012 报摘： 2012年9月4日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 4. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) to Spend 10 Bln Yuan on Cloud Computing Center – CFO (Chinese article)
- China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Wants China Telecom (HKEx: 728) to Adopt TD-LTE -Source (Chinese article)
- Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) Flagship Stores to Carry General Merchandise (English article)
- McGraw-Hill, New Oriental (NYSE: EDU) Unveil College Readiness Program for China (PRNewswire)
- Renren (NYSE: RENN) Eyes E-Commerce, Mobile Games, Seeks Acquisitions (Chinese article)
Ctrip Travels Overseas With Priceline 携程网与外国公司价格线合作
Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) has just announced a new tie-up with US travel services giant Priceline (Nasdaq: PCLN), marking the latest partnership with an overseas partner by Chinese firms looking to tap growing demand from increasingly wealthy Chinese travelers. These tie-ups are also being driven by intense competition that has recently emerged in the travel space, as up-and-coming younger firms with names like Qunar and TravelSky and new sites opened by big Internet names like Jingdong Mall look to steal market share from older established players like Ctrip and eLong (Nasdaq: LONG).
More Top Execs Leave NetEase, Jingdong 京东和网易高管离职
July is becoming the season for high-level resignations at Chinese Internet firms, with media reporting the new departures of top officials at Jingdong Mall, one of China’s top e-commerce sites, as well as the web portal unit of online game firm NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES). Those departures, if correct, would follow the similar resignation earlier this week of the chief operating officer at Tudou (Nasdaq: TUDO), China’s second largest video sharing site, which is currently merging with industry leader Youku (NYSE: YOKU). (previous post)
Price Wars Shake Up Travel Sites 价格战或促在线旅游业洗牌
E-commerce leaders like Jingdong Mall, Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) and Alibaba are taking their bloody price wars to the travel arena, where a new round of cutthroat competition threatens to infect this more established industry dominated by the likes of Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) and eLong (Nasdaq: LONG). This new round of price wars could also potentially undermine up-and-comer Qunar, which just last year received a $300 million investment from search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) but could need even more cash if the sector gets plunged into the same prolonged cutthroat competition now gripping the e-commerce sector.
Dangdang Links With Tencent 当当网和腾讯联手
China’s overheated e-commerce wars are quickly becoming a game of musical chairs that has seen many top names form partnerships with other big players, including an interesting new tie-up between top-tier operator Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) and leading Internet company Tencent (HKEx: 700). This new tie-up looks quite interesting and significant, though I should also point out that it’s just the latest in a steady string of recent initiatives for Dangdang, which has also just announced the launch of a more dubious move targeting the wedding market.
