Tag Archives: Alibaba

Latest news about Alibaba, historical stock charts, analyst ratings, financials, and today’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd

INTERNET: Sina CEO Turns Attention To Company Revival

Bottom line: A major new investment in Sina by CEO Charles Chao indicates he wants to take one last try at revitalizing the company’s core portal business, and might consider a sale if a good offer emerges.

Sina CEO Chao buys big stake in company

The China Internet world has been buzzing this week with speculation over what is driving a massive new personal investment of nearly $500 million in leading web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) by its longtime CEO Charles Chao. I have quite a bit of respect for Chao, who is more of a western-style, bottom line-focused CEO than many of his Chinese Internet peers who run their companies like personal fiefdoms.

But that said, I’ve also previously said that Chao lacks the kind of bigger vision that many of his peers have, and that he should consider stepping aside to make way for some new leadership. Accordingly, perhaps this latest move by Chao augers a return to his company’s core portal business, following his focus over the last few years on building up its recently-listed Twitter-like Weibo (Nasdaq: WB) unit. That could be followed by his exit in a year or two, and even a possible sale of some or all of its remaining core assets. Read Full Post…

News Digest: May 30-June 2

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 30-June 2. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • IMAX China Files For HK IPO, Betting on Booming Film Demand (English article)
  • Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) Says Outage Due to Staff Error, Not Hack (English article)
  • Solarworld (Frankfurt: SWVK) Gains EU Probes of Possible China Duty Evasion (English article)
  • Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), Yahoo Japan (Tokyo: 4689) To Open Tmall Japan Pavillion (Chinese article)
  • Vipshop (NYSE: VIPS) Comes Under New Short Seller Attack, Shares Drop 6 Pct (Chinese article)

FINANCE: Alibaba Finance Advances At Private Bank, Stumbles At Alipay

Bottom line: Alibaba’s technical glitch at Alipay, the launch of its new bank and use of its Taobao platform to auction of bad loans reflect its growing clout in financial services, as it attempts to build up its Ant Financial unit for a future IPO.

Technical glitch interrupts Alipay

E-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is in a trio of finance-related headlines, spotlighting its growing bet on financial services that could be a huge growth area as Beijing opens the sector to private investment. One headline has seen Alibaba get official permission from its home province to open a bank, after it became one of the first 3 entities to receive private banking licenses under a pilot program by Beijing.

The second headline has seen the company’s popular Alipay electronic payments service experience technical problems that cut off access for 2 hours earlier this week, prompting it to quickly say that no accounts were compromised. The final news bit comes in a larger story about China’s growing bad asset crisis, which will see the nation’s top bad asset management company use Alibaba’s Taobao marketplace to auction off some of those assets. Read Full Post…

News Digest: May 29, 2015

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 29. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • China’s Top Online Travel Agent Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) Taken Offline By Hackers (English article)
  • BOC Hong Kong (HKEx: 2388) Said to Narrow Bids for $6.8 Bln Nanyang Bank (English article)
  • Alibaba’s (NYSE: BABA) Online Bank Secures Launch Approval (English article)
  • HK Securities Regulator Confirms Investigation of Hanergy (HKEx: 566) (Chinese article)
  • Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) Announces Unaudited Q1 Results (PRNewswire)

INTERNET: Twitter Eyes China Ads, Weibo Eyes Car Services

Bottom line: Twitter’s growing pursuit of business from Chinese advertisers shows it is watching the market for a potential future entry, while a new equity tie-up could see Didi Kuaidi’s hired car services launch on Weibo later this year.

Twitter chases China advertisers

Social networking (SNS) pioneer Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) and its Chinese clone Weibo Corp (Nasdaq: WB) are both in the China headlines today, each taking gambles on different parts of the market. After previously saying that China isn’t a market where it can do business, the original Twitter has quietly begun to court local advertisers, even as its actual service remains blocked in the country. Meantime, Weibo, which rose to prominence after Twitter was first blocked in China in 2009, has announced a relatively large new investment in local hired car services leader Didi Kuaidi. Read Full Post…

IPOs: Didi Kuaidi Steers Towards IPO, But Where?

Bottom line: Didi Kuaidi’s IPO could come as early as the fourth quarter, with Hong Kong, China and New York standing equal chances of winning what could be the year’s biggest China Internet listing, worth up to $2 billion.

Didi Kuaidi to list in Q4

Just days after launching a massive promotion to attract new customers to its private hired car services, Didi Kuaidi is reportedly starting the process that could end with a major IPO for China’s largest taxi app operator by year end. Such a development wouldn’t come as a huge surprise, following the company’s formation earlier this year through the merger of 2 bitter rivals to create a Chinese market leader reportedly valued at up to $9 billion.

But equally interesting will be where this fast-driving company chooses to list. Just a year ago the answer would have almost certainly been New York, which is where most of China’s top Internet companies are traded. But a recent boom in China’s own stock markets and a new program that allows mainland investors to buy Hong Kong stocks have made Chinese Internet companies start to seriously consider both of these markets for IPOs as well. Read Full Post…

CELLPHONES: Huawei’s Big Order, Coolpad’s Continuing Struggle

Bottom line: Huawei’s big deal with JD.com reflects growing momentum that will see it overtake Xiaomi in China’s smartphone market by year end, while Qihoo’s boosting of its stake in its Coolpad joint venture could be a prelude to an eventual buyout.

Huawei’s Honor scores big smartphone win

Two big smartphone stories are in the headlines today, led by a massive new order for Huawei that could help it move up the charts to unseat the stumbling Xiaomi as China’s second largest manufacturer. Another struggling player is in the second headline, with software security specialist Qihoo (NYSE: QIHU) announcing it will boost its stake in its joint venture with Coolpad (HKEx: 2369), another former superstar that is fast fading out of the China smartphone race.

After a period of brief quiet at the start of this year, these latest developments reflect some major shuffling happening in China’s smartphone market, which is at once the world’s largest but also extremely competitive. The latest trends show that global giant Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has begun to resurge in the market, and that the stodgier Huawei is also rapidly moving up the food chain. Meantime, former high-flyers like Xiaomi and Coolpad seem to be moving in the other direction. Read Full Post…

MEDIA: CCTV Takes Aim At LeTV, JD.com

Bottom line: CCTV’s new attacks on LeTV and JD.com reflect its growing assertiveness to counter the rise of new media, and could become more frequent in the months and years ahead.

CCTV takes aim at LeTV, JD.com

The rapid rise of new media is posing a serious challenge to China’s traditional media, which is perhaps partly behind a couple of headlines that have state-run broadcasting giant CCTV leveling separate attacks against online video high-flyer LeTV and e-commerce giant JD.com (Nasdaq: JD). The first case has seen CCTV sue LeTV for copyright infringement related to its popular Lunar New Year’s eve TV program. The second has CCTV airing an investigative report accusing JD.com of offering refurbished iPhones over its site that used unauthorized components, causing some to break down. Read Full Post…

INTERNET: Car Giant Rises In Uber-Baidu-Yidao Yongche Tie-Up

Bottom line: A Yidao Yongche merger with Uber China continues the rapid consolidation in China’s hired car services, which could be followed soon by a successful bid by Uber and Baidu for Nokia’s digital mapping division.

Yidao Yongche to merge with Uber China

Rapid consolidation is taking place in China’s hired car services market, with word that a new alliance is shaping up between major local player Yidao Yongche and an existing tie-up between global giant Uber and local Internet search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). As a longtime Chinese Internet watcher, I’m quite surprised at the sudden and rapid speed of consolidation in this particular sector, since such consolidation in other areas tends to be a slow and painful process that often takes years.

A major factor behind this sudden and rapid consolidation could be the participation by all 3 of China’s top Internet players, including Baidu, alongside social networking giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) and e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA). Two of those companies are also involved in a related headline that is seeing Baidu and Tencent making separate bids for the digital mapping division being sold off by former cellphone giant Nokia (Helsinki: NOK1V). Read Full Post…

INTERNET: Regulatory Toughness Needed Towards Alibaba, Telcos

Bottom line: China’s largest corporations need to face stiffer regulatory penalties to ensure their compliance with Beijing rules, as part of a campaign to clean up the country’s business climate.

More strictness needed in Alibaba, telco cases

Some of China’s leading high-tech firms were in the headlines last week for foot-dragging in response to government calls to change their business practices, in separate cases that show why Beijing needs to get more aggressive about enforcing its rules among big domestic corporations.

The first case saw e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) sued by one of the world’s top makers of luxury goods for allegedly refusing to clean up its popular sites of trafficking in pirated goods. The second saw critics accuse China’s 3 major mobile carriers of taking largely empty steps to improve their mobile data pricing and speeds, after Beijing called on them to take such action. Read Full Post…

INTERNET: Alibaba On M&A Steroids With New Series Of Deals

Bottom line: The accelerating pace of deals by Alibaba and its founder Jack Ma could be cause for concern, potentially overwhelming the company and Ma and creating headaches as they work to integrate so many new tie-ups.

Alibaba in new deal frenzy

It’s no secret that e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) has been on a buying binge over the last 2 years, snapping up billions of dollars worth of smaller companies and forging new alliances as it tries to get into just about any Internet and media business it can find. But even a veteran industry watcher like myself is getting dizzy this week by the accelerating series of deals, which has seen the company and its charismatic founder Jack Ma in at least 4 headlines involving major new tie-ups in a wide variety of spaces.

One of those is coming in the logistics space, with Alibaba announcing its purchase of a stake in a major Chinese parcel delivery service. Another comes in entertainment, where the company is reportedly in talks for a smart TV joint venture with PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992). Yet another deal is in finance, with Jack Ma reportedly buying a stake in the Hong Kong-listed Reorient Group (HKEx: 376). And all of those deals are coming a day after media reported that Ma has become a new investor in the sports entertainment unit of online video services high-flyer LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104). Read Full Post…