I’d like to finish out this week by taking a look at 2 business personalities in the news these last few days, namely tech guru Lee Kai-Fu and tech financier and industry pundit Charles Xue, more commonly known by his self-given moniker Xue Manzi. Lee has just disclosed over his microblog that he has been diagnosed with cancer, while Xue’s arrest for soliciting prostitutes stems from own personal fondness for beautiful women. Read Full Post…
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News Digest: September 6, 2013
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 6. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- China Probes Against Foreign Pharma Unfair: EU Business Lobby (English article)
- Xiaomi Launches New Mi3 Smartphone, To Sell For 1,999 Yuan (Chinese article)
- Alibaba to Invest in Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Video Business – Source (English article)
- US Unlikely To Block Shuanghui Purchase of Smithfield (NYSE: SFD) (English article)
- Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) Closes Offering of $600 Mln of Convertible Notes (PRNewswire)
Xiaomi Joins $10 Bln Club
Froth in company valuations seems to be building once again in China’s high-tech realm, with word that up-and-coming smartphone maker Xiaomi’s latest fund raising values the company at more than $10 billion. The last time I wrote about such a rapidly rising valuation was about 2 years ago when an investor in high flying e-commerce site Jingdong proclaimed that company was also worth more than $10 billion. Jingdong’s value later came down considerably, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Xiaomi’s latest valuation is also just a bit too high on too much investor enthusiasm about this company that is growing fast but also playing in a very competitive market. Read Full Post…
China Telecom, NetEase JV Challenges WeChat
The headlines are buzzing about a new joint venture between wireless carrier China Telecom (HKEx: 728) and Internet company NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES), in one of the bigger media frenzies I’ve seen in quite a while for this kind of tie-up. But everyone loves a good contest, and this particular joint venture offers just that with a major new challenge to Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) hugely popular WeChat mobile instant messaging service, known in Chinese as Weixin. Just to make sure everyone understands what this story is about, China Telecom and NetEase have even given their new service the name of YiChat or Yixin in Chinese, which both sound quite similar to the English and Chinese names Tencent’s service. Read Full Post…
Vipshop, Dangdang Look Solid, Shares Sag
E-commerce firms Vipshop (NYSE: VIPS) and Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) have both just reported their latest quarterly results that look quite solid, as the former consolidates its position as China’s leading discount online retailer and the latter overhauls its business model. But you would never know the results were good based on shareholder reaction, with shares of China’s 2 largest US-listed e-commerce firms both tumbling after their reports came out. Read Full Post…
Baidu Eyes Group Buying With Nuomi
Barely a month goes by these days without rumor of a new acquisition target for Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), which suddenly seems anxious to buy up major assets in its bid to diversify beyond its core search business. The latest rumors say Baidu is close to a deal to purchase Nuomi, the group buying unit of social networking leader Renren (NYSE: RENN). As one of China’s most profitable Internet companies, Baidu is hoping to take advantage of low valuations of Chinese Internet firms, many of which are running low on cash and have had trouble attracting interest from foreign investors. Baidu, by comparison, has plenty of resources to make such purchases, including $2.5 billion in cash from 2 recent major bond sales. Read Full Post…
WeChat Revs Up With 5.0, Unicom Launch
The headlines have been buzzing with news about the rollout of the latest edition WeChat, which is being called a major overhaul as operator Tecent (HKEx: 700) tries to commercialize the wildly popular mobile instant messaging service. At the same time, media are reporting that WeChat has achieved another major milestone in its new tie-up with telco China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU), with up to a million people pre-registering for the new Unicom-based WeChat service in the first 2 days after it became available. Read Full Post…
People’s Daily, Xinhua Merge Search Sites
When is the merger of search sites operated by 2 major media and a top telco not a very big news story? The answer: When all 3 of those companies are big state-run behemoths that have a poor track record for innovation in the fast-moving Internet world. That’s my personal assessment on reading news that Panguso and Jike, the respective online search sites of the Xinhua news agency and People’s Daily newspaper, have merged their operations to form a new company. (English article) In addition to its Xinhua backing, Panguso counts dominant mobile carrier China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) as its other major stakeholder. Read Full Post…
China Merchants Banks On WeChat
Following its initial roll-out of a trial program 2 months ago, mid-sized commercial lender China Merchants Bank (HKEx: 3968; Shanghai: 600036) is boosting its tie-up with Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) popular WeChat mobile instant messaging service. The growing tie-up is leading media to dub the new WeChat-based service as China Merchants Bank’s newest “branch office”, and looks like an interesting model to watch as online products and services migrate from the desktop to the mobile Internet. Read Full Post…
Baidu, Tencent Challenge Qihoo In Security
Security software has remained a relatively quiet product area in China despite its huge potential, largely due to the domination of the market by early entrant Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU). But that looks set to change soon, with the latest reports indicating that search leader Baidu and social networking giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) could be preparing to enter the market with their own rival products. Read Full Post…
HK Nets Another High-Tech IPO
Hong Kong’s stock exchange looks set to snare another Chinese high-tech IPO, with media reports that a unit of Sinosoft Technology is planning a relatively large offering in the market. The reports, if true, would mark yet the latest sign of a shifting tide that could see more Chinese high-tech starts-ups list in Hong Kong as they eschew their previous favorite destinations on stock exchanges in New York. Read Full Post…
