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.
Tag Archives: Sina
Shanda Ties With Alibaba 盛大牵手淘宝 合作失败可能性大
China’s unruly and highly competitive Internet space has created all kinds of interesting partnerships, with word of a new tie-up between e-commerce giant Alibaba and former online game leader Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) emerging as the latest. The driving force behind most of these tie-ups is a desire to drive more traffic to Internet sites as companies search for more customers. In this case, it appears the 2 companies are aiming to sell e-commerce goods to Shanda’s millions of online gamers from Alibaba’s hugely popular TMall online shopping mall. (Chinese article)
Critique Lands Lee Kai-Fu In Trouble 李开复因评论惹麻烦
News Digest: February 20 报摘：2013年2月20日
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.
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- Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Reports Q4 Financial Results (PRNewswire)
- How China’s Most Influential Micro-Blogger Got Himself Banned From Weibo (English article)
- Geely (HKEx: 175) Leading China Bids For US Green-Car Startup Fisker: Sources (English article)
- Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Completes Purchase of Mobile OS Developer Tapas – Report (English article)
- Village Roadshow Pictures Asia’s Debut Films Break Box Office Records in China (Businesswire)
News Digest: February 8 报摘：2013年2月8日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on February 8. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Vipshop (NYSE: VIPS) Stock Jumps 22 Pct, Worth 4 Dangdangs (NYSE: DANG) (Chinese article)
- Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Microblog Android Version Supports WeChat Sharing (English article)
- Minsheng (HKEx: 1988) Approved Offer 20 Bln Yuan in Convertible Bonds (HKEx announcement)
- Xunlei Sues Youku (NYSE: YOKU), Douban for IPR Infringement (English article)
- Alcatel Lucent (Paris: ALUA) China Workers To Take Unpaid Leave -Source (Chinese article)
Baidu, Sohu Results: Ad Market Stabilizing 百度、搜狐财报：广告市场趋稳
Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) are kicking off the China Internet earnings season with results that don’t look particularly exciting but do appear to show some early signs that China’s collapsing advertising market may be near a bottom. If that’s the case, look for the situation to stabilize and start to rebound as early as the second quarter for advertising-dependent firms, perhaps providing a good buying opportunity as spending starts to pick up around the middle of the year.
‘Tis The Season To Reorganize 中国互联网企业扎堆重组
I don’t know if anyone else has noticed this, but a lot of Chinese Internet firms suddenly seem to be engaged in a series of major reorganizations. I came to this conclusion after reading this morning that Suning.com (Shenzhen: 002024), one of China’s top e-commerce firms, has just undergone a major structural reorganization as part of what the company says is a regular exercise. (Chinese article) News of this latest reorganization comes the same week that headlines have been buzzing with news of another major reorganization at Tencent (HKEx: 700), China’s leading Internet company. (Chinese article)
SMS At Start of Long Decline For Telcos 短信业务风光不再
New government data on mobile text messaging, also known as SMS, is underscoring how this former cash cow for China’s telcos is quickly losing its audience, forcing the carriers to quickly look for replacement revenue sources. The new data also adds some new perspective to the high-profile clash between leading telco China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) and top Internet player Tencent (HKEx: 700) that erupted last month, as the former accused the latter of stealing its SMS business.
Baidu Becomes Latest Sina Weibo Suitor 百度有意投资新浪微博
The list of companies looking to invest in Sina’s (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo microblogging platform continues to grow with word that online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) has become the latest suitor to woo the popular social networking site (SNS). Word of Baidu’s interest comes weeks after e-commerce leader Alibaba was also reportedly seeking a similar tie-up with Sina, though that deal was said to have reached an impasse after the companies failed to agree on a price. (previous post) Frankly speaking, all 3 of these leading Internet companies seems to be a bit hyperactive at the moment with unrelated internal activities, prompting me to wonder if each potentially has too many distractions to craft a deal that will ultimately be good for anyone.
News Digest: January 12-14 报摘：2013年1月12-14日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on January 12-14. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Sina (Nasdaq: SINA), Netease Youdao Partner on Microblog Translation (English article)
- China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Says Apple’s CEO Cook Discussed Cooperation Issues (Chinese article)
- Citic Telecom (HKEx: 1883) Buys 79 Pct of Macau Phone Operator (English article)
- Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) Announces Changyou (Nasdaq: CYOU) Mgmt Changes (PRNewswire)
- Robin Li Takes Direct Oversight of Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) Mobile Division (Chinese article)
Facebook Forges Links, Sina Shuffles; Facebook未弃中国梦 新浪或将一分为二
News involving a new China tie-up by Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) will undoubtedly reignite speculation that the social networking giant could finally enter the world’s biggest Internet market in 2013, fulfilling the long-stated goal of company founder Mark Zuckerberg. Meanwhile in other Internet news, leading web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) is reportedly undergoing yet another new internal shuffle, foreshadowing major changes in store for one of China’s oldest online companies in 2013.
