The ongoing game of musical chairs in China’s online search space is continuing this week with word that Internet portal Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) wants to sell its Sogou unit, operator of China’s third largest search engine. While many of the previous rumors of consolidation in the search space have looked dubious to me, this one actually looks like it could be credible for a number of reasons I’ll detail shortly. If it’s true, I would also commend Sohu for making a shrewd move by getting out of a crowded market where it has limited resources and expertise compared with other players. Read Full Post…
Tag Archives: Baidu
Outlook Hazy For Cloudary IPO
Last month’s New York IPO filing by online retailer LightInTheBox has many predicting a new stream of Chinese listings could soon hit the market, prompting many to guess who might be next. One of the leading candidates for a near-term New York offering was Cloudary, the literature unit of online entertainment firm Shanda, though that prospect is dimming with each passing day due to recent turmoil at the company. Read Full Post…
News Digest: May 8, 2013
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 8. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Games Will Be Breakthrough Area For Tencent (HKEx: 700) WeChat – Ma (Chinese article)
- Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Acquires Online Video Business of PPS for US $370 Mln (PRNewswire)
- Ex-Qidian Team to Provide Content for Tencent (HKEx: 700) Book Channel (English article)
- Nokia (Helsinki: NOK1V) Changes China Head For 4th Time In 3 Years (Chinese article)
- Alibaba Posts Q4 Profit Of $640 Mln, Up 172 Pct (Chinese article)
- Latest calendar for Q1 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
China M&A Finance Goes Global With CNOOC, Citic Securities
An interesting new trend has major Chinese firms financing their global expansions with mega bond offerings, with leading brokerage Citic Securities (HKEx: 6030; Shanghai: 600030) and oil exploration giant CNOOC (HKEx: 883; NYSE: CEO) becoming the latest to tap international debt markets. This kind of overseas mega bond issue isn’t really new for Chinese firms, as many in sectors ranging from telecoms to real estate have issued similar corporate debt in the past. But what’s new now is that these latest offers are coming from companies that have made major acquisitions over the last year, and now they’re testing the markets to see if bond buyers will help to pay for those assets. Read Full Post…
Beijing Crackdown Boosts Legal Video
A new crackdown on Chinese websites that traffic in pirated material is coming as welcome news to China’s struggling online video sharing sector, where companies are still struggling to find success in a tough market. But while it’s easy to blame the pirates for their woes, China’s money-losing video sharing sites are also simply victims of choosing a sector where earning profits is extremely difficult if not impossible. That reality is reflected in the fact that sector pioneer YouTube still struggles to earn money, even some eight years after it was first established. Read Full Post…
Baidu Bets On Video With PPS Buy
Local media have been buzzing these past few days with word that online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) is on the cusp of clinching a deal to buy video sharing site PPS, in a move that would instantly create a solid new number-two player in China. The only problem is that this space is turning out to be a very difficult one to earn money, as reflected by an unrelated new interview showing profits could still be years away for money-losing industry leader Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU). Read Full Post…
News Digest: April 27-29, 2013
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 27-29. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) To Buy Online Video Firm For $400 Mln-Paper (English article)
- Websites Closed In Crackdown On Pirate Movie Networks (English article)
- AgBank (HKEx: 1288) OKs Plan To Issue 90 Bln Yuan In Capital Instruments (HKEx announcement)
- China Telecom (HKEx: 728) Sells E-Surfing Media Stake To Parent (HKEx announcement)
- ZTE (HKEx: 763) Announces Q1 Results (HKEx announcement)
- Latest calendar for Q1 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
News Digest: April 26, 2013
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 26. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Announces Q1 Results (PRNewswire)
- Citic Securities (HKEx: 6030) To Issue $800 Mln In Bonds (HKEx announcement)
- BYD (HKEx: 1211) Announces Q1 Results (HKEx announcement)
- Detroit Electric forms EV venture with China’s Geely (HKEx: 175) (English article)
- Tencent (HKEx: 700)Wins Unfair Competition Suit Against Qihoo 360 (English article)
- Latest calendar for Q1 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
Bears Chase Baidu After So-So Earnings
Internet search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) can’t seem to do anything right these days, even when it posts quarterly earnings results that look relatively respectable to me. I suspect that the same short-term traders who bid up Baidu’s stock to meteoric heights in the years after its 2005 IPO are now trying to make more money by short selling the company. That’s my best explanation for the 8 percent sell-off in Baidu stock in after-hours trade after it posted its latest quarterly earnings report. If the losses carry into the regular Friday session, Baidu could easily see its market capitalization drop below the $30 billion mark as its stock tests new lows not seen for more than 3 years. Read Full Post…
Games Drive Mobile Apps
A new media report is underscoring the importance of games for the future of China’s mobile app developers, who are desperately looking for ways to monetize the big sums of money they spend developing such applications. Social networking sites Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo, Tencent (HKEx: 700) and Renren (NYSE: RENN) are all good examples of companies that have quickly built up communities of tens and even hundreds of millions of users by developing popular desktop and mobile apps. But earning money from those huge communities has proven much more difficult, as all of these companies are quickly discovering. In that environment, games have emerged as one of the few things that users of these popular apps are actually willing to pay for. Read Full Post…
Taxi Apps Drive Onto Investor Map
The rapid rise of location-based services (LBS) on the Internet is spawning a new generation of start-up companies, with taxi finders one of the latest to join the trend. Such apps use GPS technology to create services that rely on a person’s location, such as helping that person to find nearby restaurants or shops. Just this week a friend was telling me about one such new LBS to help frustrated consumers find taxis, and now we’re reading about 2 other companies that are moving onto the investor radar with their own new tie-ups. Read Full Post…