Tag Archives: Sina

Sina latest Business & Financial news overview of Doug Young, the Expert on Chinese companies, (former Journalist and Chief editor at Reuters)

Sina, Tencent Pose Threat in SNS, E-Commerce 新浪腾讯攻城掠地

Despite their late arrival to the game, Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) and Tencent (HKEx: 700) could soon become potent forces in their newly chosen fields of SNS and e-commerce, respectively. Sina looks the sharpest in this latecomer strategy, reporting that its Boke Qing social networking site, which held its beta launch last month (previous post) has already registered its 1 millionth user. (English article) Sina has achieved the breakneck growth by packaging Qing as a more substantial complement to its wildly popular Weibo microblogging service, considered the Twitter of China. Qing, which links seamlessly with Weibo, is likely to grow exponentially over the next few months, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it reach 10 million users by year end. If it achieves that kind of growth, it could easily challenge industry leader Renren (NYSE: RENN), which reported 31 million users in the first quarter of this year. If Qing really achieves such fast take-up and Weibo starts generating some profits, I could see Sina packaging these two units together and making a US public listing for the pair as soon as the end of 2012. Meantime, Tencent has detailed plans to develop a mega-platform for both B2C and C2C called Paipai, and will put 500 million yuan, or about $80 million, behind the effort. Like Sina, Tencent has proved to be very adept at leveraging a huge user base for its wildly popular QQ instant messaging service into other areas, overtaking Shanda (Nasdaq: SNDA) and NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES) in just a few years to become China’s biggest online game operator. Of course, it will face stiffer competition in e-commerce, going up against sector giant Taobao, along with other names like Dang Dang (NYSE: DANG), 360Buy and Wal-Mart-invested (NYSE: WMT) Yihaodian. Despite that, I’d still give Tencent’s e-commerce initiative a fair shot at success due to its unique position as China’s Internet leader, while Qing’s success looks almost 100 percent guaranteed due to its links to Sina and Weibo.

Bottom line: Sina’s new Qing SNS service could become a major player by year-end, while Tencent’s new e-commerce initiative also stands a good chance of success.

新浪(SINA.O)在社交网络服务领域、腾讯(0700.HK: 行情)在电子商务领域,都算是後来者,但可能迅速崛起。新浪势头凌厉,上月启动轻博客公测版後,其注册用户已突破100万。新浪以轻博客作为微博的补充,两款产品实现相互联通,实现用户数量迅猛增长。新浪轻博客在未来几个月可能呈飞速成长,若到今年底用户达到1,000万,我一点都不会惊讶。若这成为现实,则可挑战该领域领头羊–人人网(RENN.N),今年第一季人人网注册用户已达到了3,100万人。如果轻博客果真发展神速,微博也开始盈利,我认为,最快到明年底,新浪就可能将轻博客与微博整合到一起,在美国上市。与此同时,腾讯也制定详细计划,打造B2C和C2C商务平台拍拍网,将为此投入5亿元资源。与新浪相似,腾讯也善于利用其庞大的QQ用户群,将服务拓展至新领域,短短几年时间就取代盛大(SNDA.O)和网易(NTES.O),成为中国最大的网络游戏运营商。当然,腾讯在电子商务领域面临的竞争会更激烈一些,需要面对当当网(DANG.N)、京东商城、和沃尔玛(WMT.N)投资的1号店等强劲对手。但鉴于腾讯在中国互联网领域的地位,我还是对其在电子商务领域的尝试寄予厚望。至于新浪的轻博客,其成功几乎没有悬念。

一句话:新浪轻博客到今年底将成为社交网络服务领域重要力量,而腾讯在电子商务领域新尝试也很有希望取得成功。

Related postings 相关文章:

Sina Gets Serious on SNS With New “Blogging Light” 新浪推出轻博客 大力进军社交网络业务

Wal-Mart Buys Into China E-Commerce 沃尔玛进军中国电子商务

Belle, Baidu See Beauty in Online Shoe Store 百度和百丽投资优购网或为明智之举

News Digest: August 5, 2011

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on August 5. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.

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Tudou Sets $28-$30 Per Share Range For IPO To Raise $1.6 Bln (Chinese article)

◙ Online Game Developer Kylin Lands USD 20 Mln in New Funding – Source (English article)

Perfect World (Nasdaq: PWRD) Agrees to Sell Its Film Business (PRNewswire)

Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) to Supply 30 MW of PV Modules for Qinghai Solar Projects (PRNewswire)

NetEase.com (Nasdaq: NTES) to Report Q2 Financial Results on August 17 (PRNewswire)

News Digest: August 4

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on August 4. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.

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China Telecom (HKEx: 728), Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) In Preliminary iPhone Deal – Source (English article)

Tudou Plans to Raise $120 Mln in US IPO This Week – Source (Chinese article)

Elavon (NYSE: USB) and China UnionPay Reach Processing Agreement (Businesswire)

Sina Corp (Nasdaq: SINA) to Report Q2 Financial Results on August 17 (PRNewswire)

Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) to Report Q2 Financial Results on August 16 (PRNewswire)

NetEase Sharpens Up Messaging in Run-Up to Portal Spin-Off 网易剥离门户网站 再度磨砺电邮服务

Internet stalwart NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES) is prettying up its popular e-mail and other messaging services as it prepares to spin off its older portal business into a separate company, bringing focus back to these services that were once its bread and butter but later became neglected as it moved its attention to online games. Chinese media are reporting that just weeks after telling the world of its plans to spin off its portal business, most likely into a separate unit that will become publicly listed (previous post), NetEase is releasing some figures for its e-mail service, once a leader in China, that still look relatively impressive. The company says it now has more than 400 million registered e-mail users, whose accounts will be integrated with its mobile, instant messaging and other platforms. (English article) It goes on to add that the e-mail business, banking on advertising and income from other value added services, is already profitable. Old timers will remember that NetEase’s 163.com and 126.com were among China’s earliest e-mail services, and at one point were nearly synonymous with e-mail in China. Of course the same can be said of AOL, which is now a shadow of its former self. But in NetEase’s case, I think these portal and messaging products never really fell from grace quite as badly as AOL and were rather just neglected. That said, I’m quite confident NetEase can revive these products without too much effort if  it tries and, if it does, create a nice “new” product to compete with old rivals Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) and Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) in an IPO that should be fairly profitable and attractive.

Bottom line: NetEase’s renewed attention to its e-mail is the latest step as it prepares its portal business for an IPO that should be quite attractive.

互联网公司网易<NTES.O>在筹备剥离门户网站、成立单独公司之际,正在装扮网易电邮与其他信息传送功能。昔日相关服务曾是网易的核心业务,但因网易後来把重点放在了网游上,这些业务被冷落。几周前网易刚刚对外公布要分拆门户业务,很可能要成立一家单独的公司,将来还可能会上市。中国媒体报导网易正公布其电邮服务相关数据,曾经电邮领域的领头羊现在表现仍算不错。公司称网易目前拥有注册电邮用户4亿人,用户的账户将与其他平台整合。而且网易还表示得益於广告与其他增值服务,电邮业务已开始盈利。老客户应该还记得,网易的163.com和126.com属中国最早的一批电邮服务,甚至一度是中国电邮的代名词。当然你也可以说美国在线(AOL)也发生过类似的事。但就网易而言,我认为,网易的门户和讯息类产品从来都没有像AOL那样跌得那麽惨,它们充其量只是被忽视了而已。可以这麽说,如果网易尝试,我相信其可以不费吹灰之力地重振这些产品,并在IPO中创建一个可以抗衡新浪<SINA.O>和搜狐<SOHU.O>的新产品。

一句话:网易重新关注其电邮服务是准备为其门户业务上市所迈出的最新一步。

Related postings 相关文章:

NetEase Looks to Reinvigorate Portal 网易似要重振门户

Sohu: New Media Fox or Just Another Game Player? 搜狐:新媒体巨头还是一个网游公司?

Sina Gets Serious on SNS With New “Blogging Light” 新浪推出轻博客 大力进军社交网络业务

Dajie, China’s Linked In, Breaks Out With New Funds

While names like Renren (NYSE: RENN), Kaixin and Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) battle it out for supremacy in the mainstream social networking space, another less-known name, Dajie, has quietly popped onto the scene with a new round of funding in its drive to become China’s version of professional networking site Linked In. Chinese media are reporting that Dajie.com, founded just three years ago, has received a round of venture funding in the neighborhood of $10 million from a respectable field of investors that includes Fidelity Growth Partners Asia and leading education services provider New Oriental (NYSE: EDU). (English article) Industry watchers will note that Linked In (NYSE: LNKD), which raised $350 million in a May IPO, isn’t blocked in China, but also that it hasn’t made an especially strong effort to cultivate the China market. Frankly speaking, I think the market for a more professional-type service like Linked In in China is probably relatively small, as most people who use SNS in China tend to be quite young and like to mostly chatter on these sites. But as these same young people grow up and move into white collar jobs, sites like Dajie could easily become a hot ticket in the China Internet market, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Linked In takes a serious look at China in the next 2 to 3 years as that happens, assuming that China doesn’t lock it out the way it has with other social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. (previous post) Considering that Dajie is probably at least 2-3 years away from an IPO at the earliest, I’d say this is definitely a company to watch and one that could offer investors a good way to tap into the growing legions of young white-collar Chinese with increasing amounts of money to spend.

Bottom line: Dajie looks like a good player to watch in the underdeveloped field of SNS for professionals, and could become the country’s next Linked In following a new round of funding.

Related postings 相关文章:

Linked In Braces for Lock Out, But Does It Really Matter?

Sina Gets Serious on SNS With New “Blogging Light” 新浪推出轻博客 大力进军社交网络业务

Facebook’s China Tie Up: No Big Deal Facebook能否入华?

 

Taobao Mall Takes Hit with Drug Sale Ban 中国规范网络售药 或重创淘宝商城

Alibaba’s Taobao Mall, the B2C portion of Taobao that was split off into a separate entity under a restructuring last month (previous post) looks set to take a hit, as China moves to clean up its unruly pharmaceuticals industry by banning the sale of drugs online. (English article) The campaign looks very much like similar ones that Beijing has launched from time to time, and in particular resembles a drive a few years back to stop hospitals from making bogus claims through advertisements. That campaign saw traditional and new media companies like Focus Media (Nasdaq: FMCN) and Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) suffer as hospitals and clinics, in search of more revenue as they were freed from state support, had become some of the biggest buyers of advertisements at the time. It’s hard to say how big the impact will be on Taobao from this latest drive to regulate drug sales, but I’m guessing such sales probably comprise a fair share of its transaction volume, probably somewhere in the 5-10 percent range. The loss of commissions from such sales won’t be devastating, but will certainly deal the company a setback, especially as it prepares for in IPO which I expect will come in the next year as Taobao investors, most notably Japan’s Softbank, clamor for some return on their investment. The ban could also have an impact on some other e-commerce sites, though many of the big ones, such as Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) and Vancl, seem to be steering clear of the drug sector and focusing on less controversial products like books and clothing. Still, this latest ban is just the latest reminder that nothing in China is certain, either online or offline, and these kinds of periodic “clean-ups” can hit just about anyone at any time.

Bottom line: Alibaba’s Taobao Mall will take a hit with China’s latest crackdown on online drug sales, taking away some of the company’s momentum as it prepares for an IPO as soon as next year.

中国正对网上售药进行治理,以规范药品行业,阿里巴巴旗下的淘宝商城料将受到影响。这与中国政府以往不时推出的行动很像,尤其是几年前,因为医院和诊所改制,不再得到国家资金支持,为寻找创收渠道,部分医院诊所成为广告商最大客户之一,而当时,政府发起禁止医院打广告夸大药效的行动,让分众传媒(Focus Media)<FMCN.O>和新浪<SINA.O>等媒体公司遭重创。很难说这次规范药品行业销售行动对淘宝的影响有多大,但我猜测,淘宝的交易额将受到一定影响,比例可能在5-10%左右。此类销售的佣金损失不会是毁灭性的,但肯定对淘宝商城不利,尤其是该公司正准备上市。我预计,由於淘宝投资者,尤其是日本软银,急於获取投资回报,公司将在明年上市。这一禁令也可能影响到其他电子商务网站,但当当网<DANG.N>和凡客诚品等许多大型平台正清除售药类别,重点发展图书和服饰等争议较小的产品。但此事提醒我们,在中国没有什麽是确定的,无论是线上还是线下,这些不时进行的“严打行动”可能在任何时间,影响到任何人。

一句话:中国近期严打网络售药,阿里巴巴旗下的淘宝商城或受创,在公司准备进行IPO之际,可能对其造成一定影响。

Related postings 相关文章:

Taobao Split: Separating Wheat From the Chaff 淘宝一分为三 如何取其精华

Alibaba, Tencent Join Mobile OS Bandwagon 阿里巴巴和腾讯进军移动操作系统领域

Alibaba, eBay Lovefest Over as eBay Rethinks China 阿里巴巴和eBay的蜜月期结束

Sina Gets Serious on SNS With New “Blogging Light” 新浪推出轻博客 大力进军社交网络业务

It’s official: Less than two months after Chinese media first carried reports of a new Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) service that I said looked suspiciously like a Facebook-type SNS product (previous post), China’s most popular Web portal has announced the public beta testing launch of the new product, called Boke Qing in Chinese, or Blogging Light. (Chinese article) Sina’s own description of the new service, which ingeniously allows users to interlink new accounts with their existing accounts on its wildly popular Twitter-like Weibo product, says that Qing is designed to complement Weibo by providing users with the ability to post longer messages, as well as photos and other multimedia offerings. Does this sound a bit like Facebook? The beta site at qing.weibo.com says the service already has about 700,000 users, though I’ve no doubt that is probably a bit inflated. Still, considering Google’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) early success with its new SNS product, Google Plus, despite being years behind Facebook, I’d say this new Qing product, which smartly draws on Weibo’s huge user base, stands a strong chance of success and could quickly pose a major challenge to industry leaders Renren (NYSE: RENN) and Kaixin, as well as SNS products being developed by established net giants like Tencent (HKEx: 700). From a broader perspective, Qing will undoubtedly be coupled with Weibo into a single SNS business unit at Sina, which is hoping to quickly build up the company for a blockbuster IPO in the next two to three years. It’s still too early to say if Qing will be able to make big headway in the market, but I would say the chances are good that it could quickly catch up with and possibly even overtake Renren or Kaixin in the next couple of years.

Bottom line: Sina’s beta launch of a new SNS product, Qing, is the latest move to leverage its popular Weibo service, which could soon pose a challenge to SNS leaders Renren and Kaixin.

媒体一个多月前首次报导称,新浪<SINA.O>推出了轻博客,我当时说过,这项新服务看似像Facebook一类的社交网产品。新浪周一正式宣布启动轻博客公测版本。用户可使用新浪微博账户直接登录轻博客,两款产品已实现相互联通,据新浪描述称,轻博客是微博的补充,可以发布长文和组图,以及其他多媒体功能。这听起来是不是有点像Facebook?轻博客(qing.weibo.com)测试版网页称,该服务已拥有约70万名用户,我怀疑这可能有点言过其实。但鉴於谷歌<GOOG.O>在社交领域多年落後Facebook,而其新推出的社交产品Google Plus仍初获成功,我敢说,由於聪明地利用了新浪微博庞大用户群的优势,因此轻博客的成功机率很大,并且可能很快会对人人网<RENN.N>、开心网以及正研发社交产品的腾讯<0700.HK>等构成较大威胁。更宏观地看,轻博客无疑将与微博联手,成为新浪独立的社交网业务,在未来两到三年进行大规模首次公开募股(IPO)。现在谈轻博客是否能在该市场取得重大进展还为时过早,但我认为,轻博客未来一两年迅速赶上、甚至超越人人网和开心网的机率较大。

一句话:新浪启动最新社交产品轻博客公测版,是利用新浪微博杠杆效应的最新举措,可能很快会对人人网和开心网构成挑战。

Related postings 相关文章:

Sina’s Latest Weibo Move Looks Like SNS 新浪似要发展社交网站

Sina’s Weibo Steps Outside China 新浪微博进军日本市场

Weibo in Smart Telecom Tie-up, Silly English Move 微博与中国电信合作实属明智之举 推英文版纯属浪费时间