Just a month after word emerged that Japanese mobile messaging giant Line had found a China partner, new reports are saying the company is preparing to formally enter the market in the next few months. The company will certainly have a steep hill to climb in China, where it will have to challenge industry juggernaut WeChat, owned by Tencent (HKEx: 700). But that said, I do think that Line could quickly gain a major audience in China if it positions itself as an alternative for globally-minded business professionals. It should move as quickly as possible, as I fully expect global leader WhatsApp to make a similar major push into China within the next year. Read Full Post…
Tag Archives: Tencent
New Licenses, Price Wars Coming For VNOs
Last month’s launch of China’s first new mobile services in a decade is showing early signs of shaking up the market, with competition likely to intensify as more licenses are awarded to a new generation of privately owned virtual network operators (VNOs). According to the latest headlines, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is getting ready to issue its third round of VNO licenses, which allow private companies to sell telecoms services under their own brands by leasing network capacity from the nation’s 3 existing state-run telcos. Read Full Post…
Kaixin Grows Games, Tencent Buy In Sight?
I’ll be a bit whimsical on this final day of the week with a prediction that a sale could be looming for social networking (SNS) site Kaixin, following reports of strong growth for the company’s online gaming business. Anyone reading this is probably puzzled, unsure about the relationship between a growing gaming business and a company getting acquired. I’ll explain all that shortly, but will end the suspense now by saying the potential buyer would be Internet titan Tencent (HKEx: 700), which shares a number of links and other key qualities with the much smaller Kaixin. Read Full Post…
Second IPO Wind Lifts Zhaopin, Xunlei, Dianping
After going the entire week without a major IPO story, 3 major developments are showing there’s still some life in the market despite earlier signs of stumbling. At the top of the news is online recruiting site Zhaopin (NYSE: ZPIN), which has just posted a nice trading debut after a solid pricing for its new American Depositary Shares (ADSs). Meantime, video sharing site Xunlei is steaming ahead with its own listing by formally setting a price range for its shares, which means a final pricing and trading debut are likely next week. Last but not least there’s restaurant ratings site Dianping, which has formally hired investment banks for a new mega offering to raise up to $1 billion. Read Full Post…
News Digest: June 11, 2014
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 11. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- ZTE (HKEx: 763) Taking Staff From BlackBerry, Motorola Mobility (English article)
- China Sovereign Fund Managing Director Said to Plan Fund (English article)
- 37 TD-LTE Networks, More Than 400 Terminals In Operation Worldwide (Chinese article)
- FTS International Enters China With Sinopec (HKEx: 386) JV (English article)
- Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) Mobile QQ Tests JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) Shopping Channel (English article)
Tencent Opens WeChat Content To Sogou
Internet titan Tencent (HKEx: 700) is wasting little time in its search for synergies with its growing stable of strategic partners, with word of a new tie-up between its popular WeChat instant messaging service and its search partner Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU). The new partnership will see WeChat provide exclusive access to its huge volumes of user-generated content for indexing by Sohu’s Sogou search engine. The alliance comes just 9 months after Tencent and Sohu announced an equity tie-up that saw the 2 companies combine their search businesses to form China’s third largest player. Read Full Post…
News Digest: June 10, 2014
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 10. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Legend Holdings Profit Up 20 Pct In 2013, Becomes Limited Stock Company (Chinese article)
- China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Takes 18 Pct Stake In Thai Carrier True Corp (HKEx announcement)
- WeChat Opens Contents To Tencent (HKEx: 700) Backed Search Engine Sogou (English article)
- Ping An Bank Forms Alliance With 20 P2P Lending Platforms (Chinese article)
- Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) To Team With Soccer Club FC Barcelona – Reports (Chinese article)
Weibo: JD Seeks Value, Tesla Tries Tech
UPDATE: Following original publication of this post, I was informed that Tencent wasn’t among the buyers of shares that raised $1.8 billion in JD.com’s IPO. Tencent did buy $1.3 billion worth of JD.com shares through a concurrent private placement at the time of the IPO, raising its stake in JD.com to 20 percent.
E-commerce giant JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) was well represented in the microblogging realm this past week, generating debate about the company’s surprisingly high valuation following its listing last month in New York. Meantime, electric car (EV) sensation Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) also got some new buzz from big-time booster Li Xiang, founder of the recently listed Autohome (NYSE: ATHM), who disclosed the launch of a new app and talked about the EV maker’s strong early China sales. Read Full Post…
News Digest: June 5, 2014
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 5. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Lenovo (HKEx: 992), IBM Said to Seek Extension in U.S. Review of Deal (English article)
- Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) Announces Offering Of $150 Mln In Convertible Notes (PRNewswire)
- Tencent (HKEx: 700) in Talks to Acquire Lottery Firm LotySynergy (HKEx: 1371) (English article)
- As IPO Nears, Alibaba Preps Employees For $40 Bln Windfall (English article)
- NQ Mobile (NYSE: NQ) Probe Turns Up No Problems After Short Seller Attack (Chinese article)
Baidu, Auto Makers In New Fund Raising
Some interesting new fund raising is taking place at opposite ends of the corporate universe in China, with plans coming from Internet giant Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and automotive stalwart Volkswagen (Frankfurt: VOWG). One move will see Baidu potentially issue a major new bond, while VW will raise money by issuing yuan-denominated securities backed by its China-based auto loans.
While these 2 plans are quite different in nature, they do collectively reflect the growing number of options available to foreign investors looking for different kinds of exposure to the China market. It’s also worth noting that these options will bring new types of risk, especially as China’s economy shows signs of slowing that could lead to growing defaults from local governments, companies and even consumers. Read Full Post…
Tencent-JD Take Aim At Alibaba In C2C
The alliance between Tencent (HKEx: 700) and JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) formed earlier this year is quickly revving up to challenge Alibaba’s dominance of China’s C2C e-commerce segment, with word of 2 big new moves in the space. This new alliance immediately challenged Alibaba shortly after its formation, pooling the 2 companies’ resources to create a player with a quarter of the market in the lucrative B2C space that sees major retailers sell their products to consumers online. But Alibaba still has near-complete dominance over the equally lucrative but more fragmented C2C space, sometimes called online auctions, which sees individuals and small merchants sell their products to consumers online.
