Things have certainly changed over the last 3 years in Lunar New Year messaging, as reflected by the flood of tech executives using their microblogs to weigh in on Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) launch of a red envelope gift function for its popular WeChat platform over the holiday period. Most of the comments were admiring and even in a slight state of awe at the big success of WeChat’s hongbao product, which lets users send gift money to their friends and relatives over the popular instant messaging platform. But at least one post from Alibaba smelled of sour grapes, and a Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) executive also took a backhanded swipe at the rival to his company’s own Weibo microblogging service. Read Full Post…
New data is highlighting an online trend that I wrote about last year, namely that microblogs have peaked in popularity and are starting to decline, in a bad sign for leading web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) as it rushes monetize and list its popular Weibo service. Frankly speaking, I’m not too optimistic anymore about the prospects for Sina Weibo, which is really just a copy of US social media pioneer Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) and hasn’t shown much ability to innovate in the rapidly changing social networking (SNS) space. All that said, I imagine this latest report from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) is prompting new urgency for Sina to separately list its Weibo unit, and that such an IPO could come later this year. Read Full Post…
China’s top 2 Internet companies are starting to look increasingly alike, with the latest word that leading e-commerce company Alibaba is challenging social networking (SNS) rival Tencent (HKEx: 700) in the mobile gaming space. Alibaba’s move is just the latest into a new area for this hyperactive company, which spent much of 2013 in a series of major business initiatives and acquisitions as it prepares for a blockbuster IPO. In separate but similar news, media are reporting that Alibaba may be in talks to buy a stake in software security specialist and fast-rising search firm Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU), though I have my doubts about that particular rumor. Read Full Post…
Spin doctors from Chinese tech titans Tencent (HKEx: 700) and Alibaba have been hard at work these last few days, doing their best to promote their products and add positive interpretations to news involving their companies. Tencent chief Pony Ma was actively hyping up several of his company’s products and services, while an Alibaba executive was touting a visit between founder Jack Ma and visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron. Tencent also got a helping hand from restaurant ratings giant Dianping, whose low-key founder was hyping a new tie-up between Dianping and the payments platform on Tencent’s wildly popular WeChat instant messaging service. Read Full Post…
Most people are focusing on Alibaba in the new announcement of its major new logistics tie-up with leading home appliance maker Haier (HKEx: 1169), so I thought I would take a different approach and focus instead on the underappreciated Haier. Actually, I should clarify and say that Haier was formerly underappreciated, as investors quickly discovered its shares after announcement of the $360 million tie-up, bidding the stock up to a 14-year high on optimism about the new partnership. I’ve always been quite positive on Haier, one of China’s top brands in home appliances, and think this new venture continues its tradition of carefully considered partnerships with good chances for success into new areas. Read Full Post…
Smartphone makers may soon be getting an ally from China’s cash-rich Internet companies, with word that e-commerce leader Alibaba is preparing a massive giveaway in a bid to boost its mobile business. This move looks strikingly similar to something Alibaba did nearly a decade ago, when it made the strategic decision to offer its e-commerce services for free on its newly launched Taobao platform. That decision was derided by eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY), its chief rival in China at the time, which said that giving away services for free was not a real business model. As Chinese Internet historians know, eBay ultimately lost that battle and Alibaba has gone on to become one of the world’s biggest e-commerce companies. Read Full Post…
A series of moves surrounding leading e-commerce firms Alibaba and Jingdong are raising speculation that the pair could be accelerating towards highly anticipated IPOs that have become stalled for different reasons. Alibaba wants desperately to list in Hong Kong, but was thwarted after a disagreement with local regulators. Now media are speculating that a recent personnel move involving one of those regulators could breathe new life into the Hong Kong listing plan. Jingdong, meantime, tried to launch an IPO last year but failed due to lack of investor interest. Now media are reporting the company is on the cusp of a major acquisition, indicating it may be trying to raise its profile as it prepares for another IPO attempt.Read Full Post…
Two of China’s oldest listed Internet firms are in the headlines these last few days, led by word that leading portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) has become the late web giant to make a mega bond offering as it eyes potential acquisitions. In the other more amusing news, NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES) is reportedly struggling to build up its pig-raising business that it hyped a couple of years ago, spotlighting its inability to expand beyond its core online game business. Read Full Post…
Lenovo compliments Huawei on Italy smartphone push
China’s microblogging sphere is buzzing with a series of new posts that hint at a couple of budding friendships in the nation’s tech realm, one between smartphone aspirants Huawei and Lenovo (HKEx: 992) and the other between e-commerce titan Alibaba and online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). Of course it’s quite possible that the tweeting is just casual conversation by company executives on their Weibo accounts. But both instances also hint at the potential for future tie-ups that could help these all 4 of these companies attain their different strategic aims. Read Full Post…
I’ve been watching with interest this week as e-commerce leader Alibaba has discovered a sudden urgency to grow its business in the social networking (SNS) space, with founder Jack Ma leading the charge. In the last few days, media have reported that Alibaba has made a major new acquisition in the sector, and Ma is also trumpeting the importance of the company’s recently launched Laiwanginstant messaging service that will compete with Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) hugely popular WeChat service. All this comes after Alibaba earlier this year signed a landmark agreement to buy a major stake in Sina’s(Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo service, often called the Twitter of China. Read Full Post…
Alibaba may have lost its affection for Hong Kong’s securities regulator after an impasse over its IPO plans, but it appears to be moving in a happier direction these days with US Internet giant Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO). That’s my assessment, following word that Yahoo will hold onto a larger share of China’s e-commerce leader than the 2 sides had previously agreed to last year when they reached a landmark deal to end their 7-year-old stormy marriage. That leads me to my longer-term forecast that perhaps we could see this pair remain united for the next few years in a strategic alliance, which could even see Alibaba acquire its own strategic stake in Yahoo at some point in the not-too-distant future. Read Full Post…
