A couple of separate reports are shining a spotlight on some of the shenanigans happening at former social networking (SNS) superstar Weibo (Nasdaq: WB), and also on its dimming prospects as it gets overtaken by more nimble, innovative rivals. The first and more entertaining of those reports details how Weibo routinely inflates the number of followers for some of the most popular people on its service through use of phantom “zombie” accounts. The second details a worrisome trend that says the number of mobile users for Weibo dropped sharply in August, hinting at problems ahead in this high-growth area. Read Full Post…
Much of the world is fixated on the upcoming IPO of e-commerce giant Alibaba in New York, but a far smaller new listing plan by mobile game developer Feiyu Technology is shining a low-key spotlight on a recent jump for such listings in Hong Kong. Many have said that Hong Kong should be the most attractive offshore listing ground for Chinese venture-backed IPOs, since the former British colony is closer geographically and culturally than the currently favored site of New York. But strict listing rules on profitability and ownership structure have kept most Chinese venture-backed tech firms looking to New York instead. Read Full Post…
Worrisome signs of a crackdown are growing in the online video sector, where a field of young private firms rolling out a new generation of TV-like products are facing strong resistance from traditional television stations. The latest signs of turmoil are coming from PPTV, a former industry leader that is slowly getting carved up among investors as it is forced to scrap some of its most promising new products. The former high-flyer is showing up in 2 separate headlines today, including one that has seen it shelve its TV set-top box product. The other headline has the company selling 10 percent of itself to Phoenix Publishing & Media (Shanghai: 601928), marking its third major stake sale in the last year as it slowly gets carved up among a group of diverse investors. Read Full Post…
A new report on big investment plans in digital media by Hunan Satellite Television is shining a spotlight on this aggressive company in interior China, and its potential to become an important consolidator as Beijing looks to revamp the stodgy traditional media sector. According to that report, Hunan Satellite is planning to invest 1 billion yuan ($160 million) in its Mango TV service, which delivers video over the Internet and other digital platforms and competes directly with private sector firms like Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) and Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) iQiyi. Read Full Post…
Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) hugely popular WeChat and QQ instant messaging platforms are once again hogging the headlines, reflecting the increasingly important role the 2 services are playing for the future development of the Internet giant. This time WeChat is in the news after coming under new government restrictions aimed at censoring some of its content. Meantime, QQ has formally launched an official shopping channel in partnership with e-commerce giant JD.com (Nasdaq: JD), laying down a big challenge for sector leader Alibaba. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on August 12. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Dairy Farm to Pay $925 Million For China’s Yonghui (Shanghai: 601933) Stake (English article)
Xiaomi Admits To Secretly Collecting User Information In Taiwan, Apologizes (Chinese article)
Investors have taken some of the shine off of recently listed online cosmetics seller Jumei International (NYSE: JMEI), following reports that some third-party merchants on its site were engaged in the sale of fake goods. In an interesting twist, the news had little or no effect on another recently listed e-commerce firm, JD.com (Nasdaq: JD), which was also mentioned in the same reports. To some extent the mixed reaction shows that investors are still less familiar with Jumei, which is a younger firm and was far less known to Wall Street before the company’s recent listing. Still, this kind of selling of knock-off goods is always a risk for any e-commerce firm that allows third-party vendors to sell products on its sites. Read Full Post…
Update: Since originally writing this post, Tencent has issued a statement in response to the original Chinese media reports saying it has no plans to close its microblogging service. It adds the service will be combined with its news service, as part of a broader restructuring of its online media group.
New reports are saying that leading Internet firm Tencent (HKEx: 700) is quietly halting development for its largely ignored microblogging service, in what would amount to a rare admission of defeat in its core social networking services (SNS) business. The move would be long overdue, as Tencent’s microblogging service, a variant of US leader Twitter’s (NYSE: TWTR) service, was never really a major player in China. So in that sense I have to at least congratulate Tencent for finally conceding defeat in the space to Weibo (Nasdaq: WB), the Twitter imitator founded by leading web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA). Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 23. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Tencent (HKEx: 700) Halts New Development For Microblog Service (Chinese article)
Alibaba Joins With Banks In Online Lending Initiative (Chinese article)
New Oriental (NYSE: EDU) Announces Q4 Results, $120 Mln Share Repurchase (PRNewswire)
Xiaomi Unveils New Flagship Smartphone, The Mi 4, With A Metal Frame (English article)
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Revenue Lags Street’s View Despite Strong China Growth (English article)
Several news bits from the electronics retailing space are in the headlines today, reflecting the volatile state of a highly competitive sector where margins are razor thin. US retailing giant Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) leads the headlines, with word that it’s mulling a sale of its China business 3 years after closing most of its own-brand stores in the market. Leading e-commerce firm Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) is also reportedly eying a retreat in the China home appliance market, while homegrown player Aisidi (Shenzhen: 002416) is moving in the other direction with its purchase of one of the nation’s top online cellphone retailers. Read Full Post…
Today’s Headlines assaulted for copyright violations
It’s not easy being a high-flying start-up, and the burden becomes even heavier when a company builds up huge expectations for itself through excessive hype. Smartphone sensation Xiaomi was in the headlines last week when it launched a big price cut, leading some to speculate the company was struggling to meet its aggressive sales targets. Now in the latest setbacks for other start-ups, media are reporting that a fast-rising news app called Today’s Headlines is being assaulted on several fronts for copyright infringement. Separately, a newly launched group of mobile service providers called virtual network operators (VNOs) has also received a setback after experiencing widespread technical glitches. Read Full Post…
