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Tag Archives: Qunar
Qunar company news. Find out the latest breaking news for Qunar Cayman Islands Limited (QUNR).
Overview of an expert, doug Young.
Qunar, one of China’s largest online travel booking platforms, plans to expand its mobile business with a new $500 million investment
Bottom line: Ctrip’s latest M&A reflects the growing scarcity of good acquisition targets for cash-rich Chinese Internet firms, which could pressure them to issue dividends or launch share buy-backs.
Ctrip makes UK acquisition
A new overseas purchase by leading online travel agent Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) is drawing yawns from investors, reflecting the very real fact that Chinese Internet firms have far too much cash in their coffers and no place to spend it. This particular dilemma is one that most western companies would love to have, since excess cash can be used for not only M&A and organic expansion, but also to pay dividends or buy back shares. But in the case of Chinese companies, a big chunk of the cash has been raised in a series of massive bond and share offerings over the last 2 years, meaning it would be strange to turn around and return the money to investors through a dividend or share repurchase. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 26. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Bottom line: China is positioned to become a global leader in development of open platforms as an Internet business model, but regulators should take a more active role in overseeing these marketplaces.
Ctrip joins open platform rush
China is quickly becoming a global leader in a type of online business that uses an open platform model at its core, with travel stalwart Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) becoming the latest entrant into the space after years of operating a more traditional closed platform service. While traditional closed platforms see website operators sell products directly to consumers, open platforms let operators simply manage online marketplaces where consumers can shop for products from a wide range of third-party merchants. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 10. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES) Says Momo CEO Was Corrupt While At Company (Chinese article)
Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR) Forecasts Profit By End Of 2016 (Chinese article)
SouFun (NYSE: SFUN) Terminates Strategic Cooperation With Century 21 China (PRNewswire)
Tencent (HKEx: 700) Doubles 2015 Budget For Literature Subsidiary (English article)
LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104) Seeks License to Make Electric Car (English article)
Bottom line: Qunar’s ballooning losses reflect its aggressive spending on market share, which will turn off investors and pressure its stock until it shows signs of moving towards profitability.
Qunar losses swell past revenues
My third-quarter Chinese earnings season officially ends today with the newly issued results of online travel agent Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR), whose losses appear to be spiraling out of control. Frankly speaking, I could never really understand why investors were so attracted to this company, whose main asset seems to be its association with leading Chinese search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), which also happens to be Qunar’s majority stakeholder. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 2. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Fosun (HKEx: 656) Raises Club Med (Paris: CU) Bid Hours Before Deadline (English article)
Jack Ma, Pony Ma May Join In Ping An’s (HKEx: 2318) $4.75 Bln Fund Raising (Chinese article)
Bottom line: Qunar could experience some short-term loss of business due to the withdrawal of Home Inns properties from its site, and its open platform business model makes it prone to such problems.
Home Inns checks out of Qunar lodge
Signs of turmoil are coming from the lodge operated by Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR), with word that the online travel agent has just lost a major customer with the abrupt departure of leading budget hotel chain Home Inns (Nasdaq: HMIN). The departure of such a major customer, if true, would mark a big blow to Qunar, which had a recent similar break-up with chief rival Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP). Home Inns’ decision is motivated by different reasons than Ctrip’s, which I’ll explain shortly. But the 2 spats highlight the fact that Qunar’s business model, which centers on an open platform for third-party travel agents, is far more prone to problems than traditional travel sites that directly sell products like hotel rooms and air tickets to consumers. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 15-17. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Major Hedge Funds Piled Into Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) In Third Quarter (Chinese article)
eHi Car Services (NYSE: EHIC) IPO Delayed By False Information Claims (Chinese article)
Bailian Group Takes 10 Pct Of Shanghai Disneyland (NYSE: DIS) Operator (Chinese article)
China Mobile’s (HKEx: 941) TD-LTE Subs Reach 50 Mln (English article)
Home Inns (Nasdaq: HMIN Removes All Listings From Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR) (Chinese article)
In the absence of big company news so far this week, I’ve decided tolook at the scorecard for the flood of technology IPOs over the last 12 months and what it might say about what’s ahead into next year. The record so far looks quite good in general, especially for companies that made a flurry of New York offerings at the end of last year and whose shares have mostly doubled or more since then.
But one notable exception to the trend is mobile games, as 2 of the 3 major players to make recent listings are now squarely in negative territory. That doesn’t bode well for a 3 upcoming similar listings, 1 in New York and 2 in Hong Kong, which appear to be stalling due to the cool investor sentiment. Read Full Post…
The headlines are buzzing today with news about newly listed Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), led by word that the e-commerce giant may explore an electronic payments tie-up with global gadget leader Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). I’ll be quite frank and say that such a tie-up would seem destined for disaster, based on the previous experience between Alibaba and Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO), its only other major partner in a similar past tie-up.
Meantime, Alibaba has also announced a spin-off of its fledgling online travel business, posing the interesting possibility of some major acquisitions as it tries to quickly expand the unit and also presenting a challenge to sector leaders Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) and Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR). Lastly there’s the largely technical news bit that Alibaba’s stock broke through the $100 mark for the first time in the latest trading session, putting it nearly 50 percent above its IPO price, as investors eagerly await the company’s maiden earnings report set for next Tuesday. (earnings calendar) Read Full Post…
Wanda Group is already one of China’s leading commercial property owners, and now it’s taking aim at the fast-growing travel sector with word that it’s purchased a major travel agency in affluent Zhejiang province. There’s no financial detail on the deal, but the purchase should help to bolster Wanda’s position that has already made it China’s leading travel company just 2 years after its formation. The group could ultimately become one of China’s leading integrated travel and leisure companies if it eventually lists, providing an attractive alternative to the crowded field of publicly listed firms like online travel agent Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) and leading hotel operator Home Inns (Nasdaq: HMIN). Read Full Post…
