For the latest news on U.S.- and Hong Kong-traded Chinese stocks, visit our new Bamboo Works site.
Former high-flyer Qunar is quickly discovering the risks of using third-party agents to provide many of its travel services, as many of those agents are suddenly leaving the platform in a mass uprising. The revolt in many ways looks similar to what happened 2 years ago to e-commerce leader Alibaba, which saw a similar uprising of smaller third-party merchants on one of its B2C e-commerce platforms after changing some of its pricing policies. Read Full Post…
Security software specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) is learning that bad news comes in waves, with new reports saying the company’s highly hyped new search engine isn’t doing quite as well as previous reports indicated. The news, if true, would follow another major setback for the company last month when an anti-monopoly lawsuit it filed against Internet giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) was thrown out by a judge in a courtroom in southern Guangdong province. (previous post) Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 3. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Internet security software maker Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) is in the headlines much more than most companies of its size, sometimes for positive news but equally often for its controversial business tactics that many might consider bordering on the unethical. Against that backdrop, it’s interesting to see that Qihoo has just announced a new government tie-up that looks like an effort to improve its image in the marketplace. That announcement has Qihoo saying it will provide enterprise Internet security solutions to the Commerce Ministry, a major government body. (company announcement)
A social networking (SNS) application called WeChat has boomed on China’s Internet over the last two years, challenging Twitter-like industry leader Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo and even cellular titan China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) with its innovative and cleverly designed features. Now the popular instant messaging program for smartphones is showing early signs of stepping onto the world stage, with the potential to become China’s first true contribution to a vibrant global Internet culture. Such a development would mark a significant milestone for China, whose most successful high-tech firms have thrived so far by largely copying existing global technologies.
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on February 22. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on February 20. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
There’s a flurry of interesting new developments in China’s online search market, which has suddenly become a hotbed of new activity after a several years of quiet during a period of domination by sector leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). Leading the reports is news that e-commerce giant Alibaba, which already operates an e-commerce search site called eTao, is entering the more mainstream search market. At the same time, other reports are saying that Sohu’s (Nasdaq: SOHU) Sogou, the industry’s third largest search engine, is in talks to acquire Soso, the search engine run by Chinese Internet titan Tencent (Nasdaq: 700). Lastly there’s the more minor news bit that the search engine run by the People’s Daily has run into hard times and is laying off up to 10 percent of its staff.
After several misguided e-commerce initiatives that ended in failure, Internet giant Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) is finally making what looks like a smart move in the highly competitive space by focusing on what it does best: providing search services. In this case, media are reporting that China’s dominant provider online search company has quietly launched an e-commerce search engine, in what looks like a direct challenge to e-commerce leader Alibaba’s own eTao e-commerce search site.
Interesting new rumors are appearing in the media about a possible alliance between 2 of China’s most up-and-coming search engines, Sohu’s (Nasdaq: SOHU) Sogou and Qihoo 360′s (NYSE: QIHU) So.com. While such an alliance looks very smart and could mount a serious challenge to longtime industry leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), I would be seriously skeptical that anything will ever happen. The main obstacle is simple, and is the same obstacle that prevents mergers and other strategic tie-ups from happening more broadly in China’s Internet world: big egos. In this case, we’re talking about 2 of the Chinese Internet world’s biggest egos who are notoriously difficult collaborators, namely Sohu’s chairman chief executive Charles Zhang and Qihoo’s founder and chief executive Zhou Hongyi.
Following earnings reports earlier this week that showed advertising business stabilizing at Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU), we’re getting even more upbeat results from online game operator NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES) and leading Chinese chip maker SMIC (HKEx: 981; NYSE: SMI), which points to a broader Chinese economic recovery. I’ll be honest and say I’m most encouraged by the news from SMIC, which for years has had huge potential but always failed to realize that potential due to management and other internal issues. The year 2011 saw the company suffer through a bruising power struggle, after which the 2 men at the center of the struggle were both thrown out of the company and a new experienced CEO was brought in to try and finally put the company on more solid footing.
