Bottom line: KFC’s and McDonald’s latest moves to add high-tech elements to their China stores are a savvy way to update their images, and could help to attract a younger trendy crowd that has abandoned both chains in recent years.
KFC links up with Alipay
Leading global fast food chains McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) and KFC (NYSE: YUM) are both in the headlines as we head into the heart of summer, each trying new high-tech approaches to reignite their faltering China stories. Announcement of these latest initiatives seems especially appropriate right now, as we’re approaching the first anniversary of a food safety scandal that dealt a major blow to both chains in China.
KFC’s deal will see it pair up with Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) to offer its affiliated Alipay electronic payments service at hundreds of its China stores. The McDonald’s news is similarly high-tech, and will see the chain extend its new state-of-the-art hamburger customization program to the China market. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 4-6. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Ant Financial Raises 13 Bln Yuan in First Funding, Valued at 180 Bln Yuan (Chinese article)
Alibaba-backed (NYSE: BABA) Meizu Sells 8.9 Mln Smartphones in H1, Up 540 Pct (Chinese article)
Bottom line: Shanghai will bid aggressively for Chinese tech firms to list on a new Nasdaq-style board planned for the city, while shares of companies privatizing from New York will continue to sag in sync with China’s stock market sell-off.
Soccer club eyes IPO on new Shanghai board
A new Shanghai-based Chinese board that aims to compete with Wall Street for new high-tech listings is moving closer to reality, with reports that Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) iQiyi online video service and Alibaba’s (NYSE: BABA) affiliated Ant Financial unit will be among the exchange’s inaugural listing candidates. A separate report also says that another Alibaba-affiliated company, soccer team Evergrande Taobao, will also list on the board, which is being referred to right now as the new strategic industries board.
Meantime in New York, the current week looks set to end with just a single privatization announcement for a US-listed Chinese firm, a sharp slowdown from the 20 earlier offers in the month of June. In this case the abrupt slowdown is at least partly due to the plunge in China’s stock markets this week, and we’re unlikely to see any more offers until the situation stabilizes. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 3. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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iQiyi, Ant Financial Picked to Make First IPOs on New Strategic Industries Board (Chinese article)
Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) Said in Talks for More Seattle-Area Office Space (English article)
Xiaomi Sold 34.7 Mln Smartphones In H1 2015, Up 33 Pct Year-On-Year (English article)
China Unicom (HKEx: 763) Makes 4G Service Available to MVNOs (Chinese article)
Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR) Receives Final Judgment in Its Dispute With eLong (GlobeNewswire)
Bottom line: Alibaba’s boosting of its stake in a leading Indian e-payments firm is part of a broader strategy that aims to replicate its China success in India through a series of acquisitions, and looks relatively well conceived.
Alibaba eyes new India investment
Just a week after abruptly pulling out of a major US investment, e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is increasingly focusing on India as the first major stop on its global expansion, with word that it’s in talks for a major new investment in a local e-payments firm. The new investment in Paytm, which would be worth about $600 million, is just the latest in a growing string of similar Indian acquisitions for Alibaba as it tries to replicate its success in China in overseas markets.
From a strategic perspective, India looks like a smart bet for Alibaba. The Indian market shares many characteristics with China, including the lack of a mature western-style retail industry from the pre-Internet era. As a result, a far bigger percentage of people in these markets are more likely to shop online. What’s more, the Indian retail market is relatively less competitive than western markets, and is experiencing rapid growth. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China needs to let traditional banks behave more independently and encourage them to take risks, or risk seeing them overtaken by private, entrepreneurial financial companies.
Alibaba bank goes online
China’s 2 leading e-commerce companies were in the headlines last week with major new moves in the financial services sector, continuing a trend that has seen private firms pose the first serious challenge in decades to China’s banking establishment. One move saw Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) launch its online bank, MYbank, as part of a Beijing pilot program to allow private companies into the sector. The other saw JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) form a credit scoring joint venture, aiming to tap its huge volumes of transaction data to help rate the creditworthiness of individuals. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 1. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) Eyes $600 Mln Investment in India Online Payment Firm Paytm (Chinese article)
Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU0 to Invest 20 Bln Yuan in Nuomi.com Over Next 3 Years (English article)
KFC (NYSE: YUM) Forms Alliance With Alipay (Chinese article)
Yingli (NYSE: YGE) Seeks Public Solar Investment With Internet Financing Platform (PRNewswire)
Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) to Offer Loans to Sellers in China, 7 Other Countries (English article)
Bottom line: Alibaba will mount an intense campaign in Washington over the next 6 months in a bid to avoid major embarrassment if its name appears on a widely watched list of global Internet companies that don’t do enough to fight piracy.
Volume grows in Alibaba anti-piracy drive
Just weeks after hiring a major lobbyist to convince Washington it’s serious about fighting piracy, e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is turning up the volume in its campaign with a couple of new announcements about its commitment to combating the problem. The latest of those has seen Alibaba jointly issue an announcement with the Washington-based International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition, reaffirming an earlier tie-up aimed at stamping out the selling of fake products in Alibaba’s popular e-commerce marketplaces.
The other announcement came earlier in the week, and saw Alibaba announce it was strengthening its cooperation with a Chinese organization that fights online copyright infringement. Unfortunately for Alibaba, no one paid too much attention to these 2 announcements, with the result that its renewed anti-piracy blitz wasn’t publicized too much in mainstream media. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 26. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China Reinsurance Group Said to Pick Sponsors for $2 Bln HK IPO (English article)
Wanda Plans to Invest in Travel Site Tongcheng (Chinese article)
Bottom line: Suning’s Japanese expansion and receipt of a new license to build and operate a private broadband network are both positive developments, but also reflect a lack of quick progress in transforming its core China-based retail business.
Suning in Japanese expansion
A couple of new reports involving Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) made me realize it’s been quite a while since I’ve written about this company that is trying to transform from a traditional retailer to a major e-commerce player. Both reports are interesting and noteworthy, though neither is related to its e-commerce drive, which doesn’t appear to be going anywhere quickly.
One of the deals involves Suning’s purchase of a money-losing Japanese electronics seller 5 years ago, and will see it now plow several billion yuan into a major expansion of the Laox chain of home appliance stores. The second deal has Suning named as one of 4 companies to receive licenses to build broadband networks to offer services under a newly announced pilot program to open the sector to private money. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China’s opening of the electronic payment services market could see PayPal and other foreign providers finally receive long-awaited licenses to operate in the market by year-end.
PayPal may finally get China green light
Foreign financial companies came a step closer to realizing a long-awaited goal last week, when Beijing announced it would allow them to open fully-owned electronic transaction processing ventures for e-commerce services in the year-old Shanghai free trade zone. The move comes after years of lobbying by foreign companies like PayPal, MasterCard (NYSE: MA) and Visa (NYSE: V), which have watched enviously at the rapid growth of a domestic financial system that China committed to open when it joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. Read Full Post…
