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Tag Archives: 58.com
China 58.com latest Business & Financial news from Doug Young, the Expert on Chinese High Tech startups, (former Journalist and Chief editor at Reuters)
Two scandals in China’s tech world were hot topics in the microblogging realm this past week, drawing heated discussion on allegations of copycatting and other unethical business behavior at smartphone sensation Xiaomi and newly listed social networking app maker Momo (Nasdaq: MOMO). The debate reflected the wide range of views on the many dubious business practices like intellectual property theft and violation of business contracts that are a regular feature in China’s corporate business landscape.
In less controversial chatter, computing giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992) was also tooting its own horn loud and clear as it celebrated the 10th anniversary of its landmark purchase of IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) PC business. As a long-time China tech writer it was hard for me to believe that historic deal is already a decade in the past, and it certainly kicked off a drive that would propel Lenovo to become the world’s biggest PC brand. Read Full Post…
In the absence of big company news so far this week, I’ve decided tolook at the scorecard for the flood of technology IPOs over the last 12 months and what it might say about what’s ahead into next year. The record so far looks quite good in general, especially for companies that made a flurry of New York offerings at the end of last year and whose shares have mostly doubled or more since then.
But one notable exception to the trend is mobile games, as 2 of the 3 major players to make recent listings are now squarely in negative territory. That doesn’t bode well for a 3 upcoming similar listings, 1 in New York and 2 in Hong Kong, which appear to be stalling due to the cool investor sentiment. Read Full Post…
Beijing’s notorious smog was thick in the blogosphere this past week, with tech executives sending out a flurry of cautionary messages as the city held its annual marathon. This particular issue shines an important spotlight on the fact that many of China’s top tech firms are clustered in the Chinese capital, running the range from search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) to top portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) and PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992).
Meantime, other interesting buzz in the blogosphere was coming from security software specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU), which finally admitted defeat in its anti-monopoly lawsuit against Tencent (HKEx: 700) after the case was denied a final appeal by China’s highest court. One final interesting tidbit came from several executives at Lenovo, which unleashed a flurry of buzz after the company’s announcement of vague plans to set up a separate unit dedicated to smart devices. Read Full Post…
US-listed Chinese companies have made a flurry of strategic moves on Wall Street over the long October 1 holiday, with former high-flyers Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) and 58.com (NYSE: WUBA) taking steps to prop up their sagging share prices. The correction now taking place is long overdue, following huge run-ups in New York-traded Chinese stocks over the last year and a half. Still, the sell-off doesn’t bode too well for car rental firm eHiCar Services, which has just become the first major Chinese firm to file for a Wall Street IPO following the blockbuster listing for Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) last month. Read Full Post…
With Alibaba’s (NYSE: BABA) blockbuster IPO nearly in the history books, I wanted to take this opportunity to explore what’s ahead for the company as it gets set to break numerous records with its New York listing. One good indicator of what lies ahead would be the performance for shares of other Chinese tech firms that have listed over the last 12 months. But such comparisons have limited value, since Alibaba is clearly in a far different class from all these other companies, following a pricing of its shares that makes it more valuable than such global corporate giants as Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Disney (NYSE: DIS). Read Full Post…
A look at the latest earnings from online travel agent Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR) and online classified ad site 58.com (NYSE: WUBA) made me feel like I was living in a parallel universe where everything was the opposite of what it should be. Qunar, China’s second largest online travel agent backed by leading search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), saw its loss soar 10-fold as its costs grew far faster than revenue. And yet investors welcomed the results, bidding up the company’s stock by 6 percent. Conversely, the profitable 58.com saw its earnings more than double, and yet it’s stock tanked nearly 8 percent on the report. Read Full Post…
A series of microblog posts this past week is highlighting the breakneck pace of wheeling and dealing happening behind the scenes on China’s Internet as it undergoes an unprecedented wave of consolidation. What started as a trickle of buying early last year has become so routine that barely anyone notices now when new deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars are signed. Equally interesting are the untold stories of companies quietly being dismantled in the wake of larger deals, and hints of deals to come in the microblog posts of executives at firms leading the consolidation. Read Full Post…
Newly listed companies are becoming popular investment targets for some of China’s tech giants, with online classified site 58.com (NYSE: WUBA) and video sharing site Xunlei (Nasdaq: XNET) both picking up major new backers in the form of Tencent (HKEx: 700) and Xiaomi, respectively. Meantime in other IPO news, a long-delayed domestic IPO for the website of the official Xinhua news agency is finally moving ahead, some 2 and a half years after a deal was first rumored. The case of Xinhuanet is particularly interesting because Xinhua and People’s Daily, the official Communist Party newspaper whose People.com (Shanghai: 603000) website is already listed, recently merged their 2 money-losing online search sites. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 28-30. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China Telecom, Unicom Get 4G FDD-LTE Trial Licences In 16 Cities (English article)
Tencent (HKEx: 700) Invests $736 Mln For 19.9 Pct Of 58.com (NYSE WUBA) (company announcement)
Trina (NSYE: TSL) CEO Elected First President of New China Photovoltaic Industry Assn (PRNewswire)
New Energy Car Sales Rise 10-Fold, Turning Point Seen For BYD (HKEx: 1211) (Chinese article)
Mobile game operator Chukong is back in the headlines with its latest filing for a New York IPO, while recently listed 58.com (NYSE: WUBA) is also making news with word that it’s eying strategic acquisitions to complement its popular online classified advertising site. Chukong’s newly released financials reveal that it’s growing at lighting speed in the attractive mobile games space, even as its losses also mount. Meantime, 58.com’s M&A plan looks quite attractive to me, as it attempts to build a diversified classified advertising site that we haven’t seen emerge in China so far. Read Full Post…
The booming market for Chinese IPOs in New York got some worrisome signals last week after investors shunned 2 new listing candidates, raising the very real possibility that the current wave of enthusiasm is quickly ebbing. That could mean a new period of stagnation or even a downturn is looming for the sector, which suffered for 2 years before rebounding sharply in the second half of 2013. Read Full Post…
