China was on holiday much of this week for the annual Dragon Boat Festival, but there was no respite for the building trade hostilities between Beijing and the EU that are quickly souring bilateral relations. Last week Beijing launched a probe into unfair state support against EU wines and hinted at another similar probe into luxury cars, targeting 2 product areas where European names have successfully tapped the China market. (previous post) Now this week Europe is firing back with a complaint against punitive steel tariffs launched by Beijing, while Britain is making its own worrisome noises about the safety of telecoms equipment from Huawei Technologies. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 8-10. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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UK Lawmakers Say Huawei-BT (London: BT) Deal Exposes Flawed Security Controls (English article)
Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU), Sina (Nasdaq: YOKU) Collaborate On Content Promotion (PRNewswire)
Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) Kindle Reader Makes Formal China Launch (Chinese article)
Sohu’s (Nasdaq: SOHU) Sogou Denies Reports Of Acquisition By Alibaba (Chinese article)
US Food Workers Union Comments On China Poultry Plant Disaster (Businesswire)
A day after we saw the latest sign that Lenovo (HKEx: 992) was pursuing a major purchase in the US, we’re getting news of another smaller deal by China’s leading PC maker with word of a new smartphone tie-up with faded Japanese brand NEC (HKEx: 6701). Whereas I quite like the US deal that would see Lenovo buy the low-end server business of IBM (HKEx: IBM), this smaller deal with NEC looks more like Lenovo’s older pattern of buying up dying global brands with little or no real value. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 24. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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LightInTheBox Sets IPO Price Range, To Raise Up to $87 Mln (Chinese article)
Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Announces Results For Fiscal Q4 (HKEx announcement)
Softbank Says Won’t Use Huawei Equipment After Sprint (NYSE: S) Buy (Chinese article)
Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) Talks To Buy PPTV Collapse Over Price (Chinese article)
Levono (HKEx: 992), Jingdong Partner on 3C Service and Maintenance (English article)
China telecoms watchers are scratching their heads in complete puzzlement today, following the latest media reports that Beijing may require the nation’s 3 big telcos to all build 4G networks based on a homegrown Chinese technology called TD-LTE. This latest signal coming from unnamed sources at China’s telecoms regulator surprised even me, as there was no indication before that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) might make this requirement. But then again, the MIIT has become famous for its mixed signals over the years, in what I suspect are deliberate leaks by the agency designed to get more public feedback on internal policy debates. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 15. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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EU To Warn China It May Levy Duties Against Huawei – Sources (English article)
Dongfeng Motor (HKEx: 489) Acquires 40 Pct of Fujian Motor (Chinese article)
Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) Announces Updates to Q1 Guidance (PRNewswire)
When is a company executive talking about the importance of the New Zealand market major news? The answer is: When the executive is the press-shy Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of China telecoms equipment giant Huawei, having his first ever meeting with reporters. Ren founded Huawei in the 1990s as a telecoms equipment importer, and has gone on to build the company into the world’s second largest networking equipment maker and one of China’s biggest high-tech exporters. Yet despite his 2 decades in the business, Ren had never done a media interview in all that time — a fact that the company confirmed for me when I asked about his media roundtable this week with a group of New Zealand reporters. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 10. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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New Zealand One of Huawei’s Most Strategic Markets -CEO Ren (Press release)
Jingdong Tests 3-Hour Delivery Service in Beijing (English article)
The latest numbers and outlook from telecoms equipment maker ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) look decidedly ugly, leading me to wonder if the struggling former superstar is destined either for extinction or a radical makeover in the next few years. ZTE’s woes come as crosstown rival Huawei faces similar challenges due to a rapidly slowing global market for networking equipment. Huawei is responding to the challenge by aiming for big new orders in Australia, and is also discussing its succession plans as media-shy founder Ren Zhengfei nears his retirement. Whoever Ren ultimately chooses to replace him will certainly have a difficult job ahead, as Huawei could easily follow the same path as ZTE, which itself appears to be on the edge of a downward spiral like those followed by defunct former giants Motorola and Nortel. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 2. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Websites Closed After Police Crackdown On Pirate Movie Networks (English article)
Huawei’s CEO Says Successor Won’t Be From Family, No Listing Plans (English article)
The UnionPay Travel Prepaid Card Launched by The Bancorp (Nasdaq: TBBK) (Businesswire)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 24. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Huawei Lowers Long-Term Target For Enterprise Sales (English article)
Taiwan Investigates Taobao for Tax Evasion (English article)
MIIT: Market To Decide If Tencent (HKEx: 700) WeChat Charges Fees (Chinese article)
Yingli (NYSE: YGE) Signs $165 Mln Loan With China Dev Bank (PRNewswire)
Columbia Pacific, China Partner To Develop Senior Living Projects (Businesswire)
