The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 17. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Geely (HKEx: 175) 2014 Profit Drops 50 Pct On Forex Loss In Russia (HKEx announcement)
Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) To Announce $600 Mln Investment In Uber – Source (Chinese article)
Insurer Delta Lloyd (Amsterdam: DLL) Sells Belgian Bank To China’s Anbang (English article)
Bottom line: The target of Qihoo’s rumored smartphone purchase could be Coolpad, while Xiaomi’s new tie-up with Midea could be followed by similar pairings in a broader drive to develop smart appliances.
A couple of big deals are bubbling around in the smartphone space today, led by yet another new tie-up involving smartphone sensation Xiaomi, this time with home appliance maker Midea (Shenzhen: 000333). But the hyperactive Xiaomi is having to share the spotlight with the edgier security software specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU), which is reportedly eying a deal for its own major smartphone acquisition worth up to $1 billion.
Each of these deals has slightly different motivating factors, but the central theme is that companies like Qihoo and Xiaomi increasingly see smartphones as a central element of larger suites of product and services rather than just a stand-alone product. In Xiaomi’s case, the company already counts smartphones as its core central product and is trying to build up an ecosystem of related products and services like smart TVs and air conditioners. Qihoo is eying smartphones as a vehicle for propagating its core software and Internet services. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 16. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Qihoo (NYSE: QIHU) Set To Buy Smartphone Maker For 5 Bln Yuan – Source (Chinese article)
Xiaomi Makes 1.266 Bln Yuan Investment In Midea (Shenzhen: 000333) (Chinese article)
Tuniu (Nasdaq: TOUR) Wins $148 Mln From Hony, JD.com, Ctrip (Chinese article)
China Unicom (HKEx: 762) Drops to Eight-Month Low As Manager Probed (English article)
Childcare E-commerce Site ‘Miyabaobei’ Secures $60 Mln Series C Funding (English article)
Bottom line: NQ Mobile and Qihoo stocks are likely to come under pressure over the next 12 months due to ongoing questions about boardroom stability and aggressive accounting practices.
“Scandal” seems to be the buzzword in China’s corporate Internet world this week, following the resignations of top officials at 2 of the nation’s leading security software makers, NQ Mobile (NYSE: NQ) and Qihoo (NYSE: QIHU). The former case looks the most serious, with NQ’s Chairman and co-CEO Henry Lin, also known as Lin Yu, resigning for murky reasons. Meantime, another one of Qihoo’s independent board members has resigned, following similar departures earlier this year, suggesting disagreement over aggressive accounting practices favored by the company’s opinionated CEO Zhou Hongyi. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 19. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) Sues Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) For Attack On Reputation (Chinese article)
Online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) has just become the first of China’s “big 3” Internet companies to release third quarter results, showing it’s not in any danger of losing its overwhelming share of China’s search advertising revenue anytime soon. Many media like to focus on the fact that Baidu has seen its dominance in China’s search market fall sharply over the last year, as newer rivals backed by Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) and Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) have collectively grown to take nearly half of the market by traffic volume. But while Baidu’s share of traffic may be sinking, it still holds the lion’s share of money that advertisers pay to search engines in China. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 29. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
The near-monopoly held by Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) WeChat in China’s mobile messaging space could soon get a fresh shot of competition, with word that e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) was in talks for an alliance to revive China Mobile’s (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) fast-fading Fetion text messaging service. Such a powerful tie-up could take direct aim at the current stranglehold on the market held by WeChat, which now has more than 400 million active users and has become an indispensable communications tool for many. Read Full Post…
Big foreign multinationals may be feeling the heat from a recent string of anti-monopoly investigations, but Chinese Internet firms won’t have to face such worries anytime soon. That’s the latest message coming from Beijing, with word that China’s Supreme People’s Court has ruled in favor of social networking giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) in a long-running lawsuit claiming the company controlled a monopoly in the instant messaging market. I originally sided with Tencent when the case was filed 3 years ago by security software specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU), because I felt the lawsuit looked retaliatory for an unrelated suit between the pair at that time. But much has changed since then, most notably the meteoric rise of Tencent’s wildly popular WeChat mobile instant messaging service that has become an indispensable tool for millions of people in China, myself included. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 17. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Ant Financial Set Up With Alibaba Assets Alipay, Yu’ebao And Others (Chinese article)
Spring Airlines To Become First Public Low-Cost Carrier With IPO By Year End (Chinese article)
Internet Giants’ Brawl Ends With Qihoo (NYSE:QIHU) Final Loss To Tencent (English article)
McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) Hits Snag In China Expansion With Franchisee Dispute (Chinese article)
Publicity savvy smartphone maker Xiaomi was making awkward noises in the blogosphere this past week, as it found itself stinging from critical remarks made by a top executive at Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the company’s role model. At the same time, the company got an unexpected show of support from another source, as controversial Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) CEO Zhou Hongyi defended the smartphone maker over a different brouhaha involving involving an embarrassing data security investigation in Taiwan.
In separate news, TV giant TCL (Shenzhen: 000100) Chairman Li Dongsheng was talking up a potential electronic payments alliance, with word that his company is discussing a tie-up with UnionPay, operator of China’s leading electronic transactions network. Just last week I commended Li for taking some new risks a decade after 2 disastrous partnerships with European companies. But this latest chatter is starting to get a bit worrisome, as Li seems to be thinking in quite a few directions that are increasingly scattered and lack any common theme. Read Full Post…