Bottom line: Apple’s new loss in a China trademark dispute marks a minor setback, but is more symbolically significant as the latest in a sudden series of negative developments for the company in its second largest market.
Apple loses China trademark dispute
After a relatively long winning streak in China, Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) fortunes are suddenly looking much less certain in its second largest market. First the tech giant posted a big drop in quarterly China sales during its latest reporting quarter, and now it has just lost a trademark dispute with a local company over use of its iPhone brand.
This latest setback doesn’t look that big for Apple in terms of money, since the winner in the dispute is a leather goods maker that will presumably use the iPhone trademark on products like wallets and clothing. But the loss is symbolic for a global giant that until just a few weeks ago was riding high in China on the back of a string of positive developments and media coverage. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on May 5. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Loses China Trademark Case for ‘iPhone’ on Leather Goods (English article)
Lackluster Chinese Box Office Posts Weak 5 Pct Gain Over May Day Holiday (Chinese article)
SolarReserve Partners With Shenhua (HKEx: 1088) on $2 Bln China Solar Projects（English article）
Telsa (Nasdaq: TSLA) Says China 2nd Largest Market for Model 3, Eyes Suzhou Plant (Chinese article)
China’s YOU On Demand (Nasdaq: YOD) in JV with LA-Based Frequency Networks (PRNewswire)
Bottom line: A new global tie-up with Uber marks a major advance for Ant Financial’s Alipay, while new Internet car initiatives by Tencent and Alibaba are unlikely to find big audiences despite getting big resources from their backers.
Alibaba, Tencent car initiatives drive ahead
A series of stories involving Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and Tencent (HKEx: 700) reflect the growing importance China’s leading Internet firms are placing on cars, which could be the next major battleground for web-based services. Alibaba is in 2 related headlines, including one that says its affiliated Ant Financial unit has signed a major tie-up that will allow anyone in the world to use its Alipay electronic payments service to pay for Uber hired cars.
The other 2 headlines both involve car manufacturing, including one that says mass production has begun for the first Internet-equipped model co-produced through a tie-up between Alibaba and SAIC (Shanghai: 600104), China’s leading car maker. The other headline says a car-making venture backed by Tencent has been quietly poaching workers from the likes of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Germany’s Daimler (Frankfurt: DAIGn), as it gears up for its own production. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on May 4. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Tencent (HKEx: 700) Venture Poaches Google Talent as Chinese Techs Pile into Autos (English article)
SAIC Begins Mass Production for Car Jointly Produced With Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) (Chinese article)
Bottom line: A new scandal surrounding deceptive results on Baidu’s search service could force the company to be more transparent, but is unlikely to have a long-term impact on the company’s stock.
Baidu at center of new scandal
I have to admit I’ve been quite surprised by a new storm involving the manipulative ways of search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), which began building over the May Day holiday and became so big it splashed into global headlines after the company’s stock tanked on Monday. My surprise is mostly that this scandal became so big, since Baidu’s manipulative pay-to-play tactics for search results are quite well known, and should be obvious to anyone who uses the search engine regularly.
The scandal that’s riveting China saw a 21-year-old student search on Baidu for a hospital to treat his rare form of cancer, and select what he thought was the best option partly based on a high search ranking. The young man later died, but not before blasting the hospital and Baidu for their misleading ways, resulting in a firestorm of criticism on the web. The growing noise caused Baidu’s stock to tank on Wall Street, shedding nearly 8 percent in Monday trade. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on April 30. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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AIG (NYSE: AIG) Selling Down $1.2 Bln Stake in Chinese Insurer PICC (HKEx: 2328) (English article)
MIIT Vice Minister to Meet with Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) Asia Chief, Plant Coming? (Chinese article)
Yingli (NYSE: YGE) Discloses Preliminary Financial Results for Full Year 2015 (PRNewswire)
Yahoo in Talks to Sell Major Silicon Valley Office to LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) – Report (Chinese article)
21Vianet (Nasdaq:VNET) Issues 1.75 Bln Yuan in Convertible Bonds (GlobeNewswire)
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on April 29. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Carl Icahn Says Sold Entire Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Stake on China Woes: CNBC (English article)
Bottom line: Alibaba’s new cloud tie-up shows that Korea is a primary market for its global expansion, while the new $4.5 billion funding for its Ant Financial affiliate could be followed by an IPO within the next 12 months.
Alibaba in Korea cloud initiative
E-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is in a couple of major headlines today, led by word that its Ant Financial affiliate has just raised a whopping $4.5 billion in only its second-ever funding round. That particular story has been rippling through the headlines for a few weeks now, and is most notable because the deal is finally done and is triple the company’s original fund-raising target.
The other headline has Alibaba itself in a new deal to launch cloud computing services in South Korea, working in a partnership with a unit of local telecoms giant SK Telecom (Seoul: 017670). This particular deal is interesting because it represents Alibaba’s recent search for global growth stories, in a bid to satisfy investors worried about a slowdown in its home China market. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on April 27. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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It seems that all the goodwill in China garnered by Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook wasn’t enough to prevent the company from hitting a major new roadblock, with word that its book and movie services have been blocked in the country. The move nicely illustrates 2 faces of Beijing that sometimes seem contradictory. On the one hand, Chinese leaders crave the attention they get when global leaders like Cook visit China and pay due respect to the market. But on the other, they have little tolerance for anyone who violates the country’s strict censorship rules.
Buzz is now centering on whether Apple will be able to somehow bring its book and movie services into compliance with new Chinese rules rolled out last month, allowing the services to resume. If this were Google(Nasdaq: GOOG) running into similar problems, I would say the answer would be “no”, since the company has little goodwill with Beijing. But Apple has invested heavily to win the favor of Beijing leaders, meaning it’s likely to get a more sympathetic ear, probably after personal intervention by Cook himself. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on April 23-25. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) Book, Film Services Go Dark in China (English article)
China Suspends New Business Registration of Online, Offline Finance Firms – Report (English article)
