Let’s close out the week with a look at a few developments in the mobile space, including news of a pending crackdown on applications developers that looks quite counterproductive, along with word of layoffs at mobile services pioneer Sina (Nasdaq: SINA). I’ll wrap things up with a look at the hot new location based services (LBS) space, where a company called Jiepang is teaming up with Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) for a promotion that underscores the big growth potential of this new kind of service. All of these tidbits underscore the huge growth potential of China’s mobile services space, which has spawned a huge range of new products but also a somewhat unruly marketplace where competition has also become fierce.
Tag Archives: Sina
News Digest: December 12 报摘： 2012年12月12日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 12. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- SEC Charges Consultant With Fraud In Chinese Reverse Mergers (English article)
- Sina (Nasdaq: SINA), AutoNavi (Nasdaq: AMAP) Launch Location-based SNS Platform (PRNewswire)
- Regulator OKs Agricultural Bank (HKEx: 1288) Issue of Up To 50 Bln Yuan in Notes (HKEx announcement)
- Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) CEO Meets with Lenovo (HKEx: 992) CEO in China (English article)
- ZTE (HKEx: 763) to Invest $30 Mln More In The US Market (Businesswire)
Auditor Tussle With US Regulator, Defections Ahead 审计机构与SEC角力
Media are buzzing with word that the US securities regulator is once again tussling with major auditors over access to the accounting records of US-listed Chinese firms, in the latest chapter of an ongoing story; but what has me more intrigued is the scramble that is probably taking place behind the scenes, as those same auditors try to figure out what they will do when the inevitable happens and they are forced to share their records with the US Securities and Exchange Administration.
Baidu on the Downtrack? 百度在滑落？
Excitement over the first serious challenge to Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) longtime supremacy in online search seems to be getting a bit overblown, with investors jumping on just about any excuse to punish Baidu and reward fast-rising challenger Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU). Some may find it a bit odd that I’m defending Baidu at this juncture, since I’ve been a regular critic of this company that has abused its dominant position in online search for years to squelch potential rivals. But all I’m really saying is that it’s far too early to write a death notice for Baidu, which still has plenty of fight left in it as it tries to defend its dominant position that has seen it control more than 70 percent of China’s lucrative online search market for years.
News Digest: November 28 报摘： 2012年11月28日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 28. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- China Telecom (HKEx: 728), Unicom (HKEx: 762) In Race To Offer iPhone 5 First (Chinese article)
- Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo Microblog Launches Professional SNS Service (English article)
- Strategic Materials Advisory Council Opposes Chinese Acquisition of US Defense Supplier (Businesswire)
- Focus Media (Nasdaq: FMCN) Reports Q3 Results (PRNewswire)
- Belarus In Talks With China, India, Others On Potash Giant (English article)
News Digest: November 24-26 报摘： 2012年11月24-26日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 24-26. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- China Eastern (HKEx: 670) Seals $5.4 Bln Deal To Buy 60 A320s (English article)
- Xunlei to Spin Off Online Video Business for IPO – Source (English article)
- Alibaba, Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Continue Partnership Talks – Source (English article)
- SAP (Frankfurt: SAP) Plans Shanghai Listing (Chinese article)
- Jingdong Mall CEO Says Sales to Reach 60 Bln Yuan This Year, Achieve Profit in 2013 (Chinese article)
Alibaba, Sina Haggle on Weibo Value 阿里巴巴与新浪就微博估值陷入僵局
I was surprised to see reports today that Alibaba and Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) have reached an impasse in their rumored negotiations for the former to buy a strategic stake in the latter, since both sides clearly want this deal to happen as it would greatly benefit both. But then I had a closer look at the reports, and my conclusion is simply that the 2 sides are still negotiating in an attempt to place a value on Sina, whose popular and increasingly influential Weibo microblogging service lies at the heart of their planned tie-up. Such disagreement is standard for this kind of negotiation, and I fully expect the 2 sides to reach a deal that should be one of the most significant tie-ups we’ve seen for China’s Internet space since the merger of leading online video sites Youku (NYSE: YOKU) and Tudou earlier this year.
News Digest: November 23 报摘： 2012年11月23日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 23. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Alibaba Talks On Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Investment At Impasse Over Price – Source (Chinese article)
- AIG (NYSE: AIG) Explores Joint Venture with PICC Group and PICC Life (Businesswire)
- GM (NYSE: GM) Rolls Out China-Developed Electric Car in World’s Top Auto Market (English article)
- Tencent (HKEx: 700) WeChat Reinstates “Public” Account Verification (English article)
- Xiaomi Box Temporarily Suspends Video Content Service (Chinese article)
Advertising Winter Enters Deep Freeze 中国广告行业进入严冬
Leading Chinese media company CCTV has been trumpeting the results of its annual advertising auction for 2013 held over the weekend, which saw spending increase by 11.4 percent despite the recent slowdown that has hit the sector. But from my perspective, these results look very gloomy indeed for reasons I’ll explain shortly, meaning advertising-dependent Internet leaders like search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) and video sharing site Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOUKU) won’t have much to cheer about in 2013.
Sina Weibo Sniffs E-Commerce With Alibaba 阿里巴巴或牵手新浪微博
New reports over the weekend have Sina’s (Nasdaq: SINA) popular but profit-challenged Weibo microblogging service sniffing out a strategic tie-up with e-commerce leader Alibaba, in what looks like a very smart tie-up to me if it’s true. Meantime in related news, NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES) is shuttering one of its main social networking services (SNS) sites, again reflecting how difficult it is to make money in the popular but cash-poor world of SNS. Let’s take a look first at the big news regarding a potential Sina-Alibaba tie-up, which would mark a major step in the drive by Sina Weibo towards becoming profitable.
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Earnings Friday: Sina, NetEase, Pactera 解读在美上市中国企业业绩
I’m christening today “Earnings Friday” because it’s easily the peak day of third-quarter earnings announcements for major US-listed Chinese firms, with everyone from real estate services firm E-House (NYSE: EJ) to drug maker Simcere Pharmaceutical (NYSE: SCR) releasing their results overnight. Since I have a natural bias towards tech, I’m going to focus today on the latest results from 2 of China’s oldest Internet firms, Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) and NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES), as well as its newest player Pactera (Nasdaq: PACT), which was formed just last week through the merger of former IT outsourcing leaders HiSoft and VanceInfo. (previous post)
