I wanted to take a break from the usual companies I write about to look at the quietly rising NQ Mobile (NYSE: NQ), which has just joined a elite club of top Chinese web firms with a new major bond issue. The fact that NQ, formerly known as NetQin, could issue these bonds at all reflects its growing attractiveness to investors as a strong bet on China’s security software market. I can’t comment too much on its products, as I haven’t used them; but the company certainly looks well positioned to gain share in a market now dominated by Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU), whose free security software is becoming the subject of growing controversy. Read Full Post…
I love a good case of irony, which is why I was amused to read that software security specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) is suing leading search firm Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) for unfair competition. The irony lies in the fact that Qihoo is notorious for using underhanded tactics against its rivals and is now accusing Baidu of similar behavior. Perhaps Qihoo should instead be congratulating Baidu for winning over its rival to the Dark Side. Meantime in separate legal news, up-and-coming smartphone maker Xiaomi is being sued for the second time in a week in relation to its smart TV products, hinting that this new product area could face an uphill battle from a flood of litigation. Read Full Post…
I’m always looking for signs that the overseas IPO market for Chinese tech firms may finally be warming after a long winter now in its third year, but the latest signs from privatizing IT outsourcing firm Pactera (Nasdaq: PACT) and restaurant ratings site Dianping are hardly encouraging. Pactera has just announced it has formally signed a buyout offer that will take the company private, making it the latest in a long string of Chinese companies to de-list from New York. Meantime, media are reporting that Dianping, a dynamic site often likened to US site Yelp (NYSE: YELP), doesn’t plan to list for the next 5 years. Read Full Post…
Youku Tudou sues Xiaomi for copyright infringement
Earlier this week I wrote how smart TV could be poised for a sudden explosion in China due to a combination of factors that made the market especially well suited for development of this product. (previous post) Now we’re seeing one of the major obstacles that smart TVs could face, namely copyright lawsuits by various players against one another as each seeks to gain the upper hand in an increasingly competitive market. We could soon be seeing an avalanche of such litigation, with word that leading online video website Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) has just sued Xioami for copyright infringement, following the latter’s recent rollout of a new smart TV product. Read Full Post…
China’s smart TV space has gotten a big lift in recent months with a flurry of major new developments, including 2 major new moves this past week by industry veteran LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104). This sudden rush to smart TVs, which deliver most of their content over the Internet, is being driven by a number of factors that make China ideal for development of the market. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 12-14. 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) Get FDD-LTE Spectrum Allocations (English article)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 11. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Alibaba Gives Up Plan For Hong Kong Listing – CEO (Chinese article)
Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) Wins Fund License, Prepares To Roll Out Product (Chinese article)
China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Quits Race For Pakistan Telco Warid (English article)
Tencent (HKEx: 700) Targets 2 Bln Yuan In 2013 Mobile Gaming Revenue (English article)
Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) Prices Offering of $700 Mln Convertible Senior Notes (PRNewswire)
Online travel site Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) has just become the latest Chinese Internet company to announce a mega-bond offering, taking advantage of its market-leading status to raise up to $500 million. While the bond itself is interesting, the more intriguing matter is what Ctrip plans to do with the funds. The company says that acquisitions is one possibility, leading me to speculate the company could purchase a stake in fast-rising rival Qunar, or even purchase the company outright. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 7. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Qingdao Haier (Shanghai: 600690), KKR Form Strategic Partnership (Businesswire)
Tencent (HKEx: 700) Says Is Part Of Consortium Seeking Banking License (HKEx announcement)
Chinese Game Developer Forgame (HKEx: 484) Surges In HK Trading Debut (English article)
Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) Sells 2 Solar Power Plants BlackRock-Managed Fund (PRNewswire)
Socialgist In Deal to Provide Social Data from Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo (PRNewswire)
After seeing its stock price quadruple over the last year on huge expectations for its online search service, Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) must be feeling some pressure to start delivering returns to investors who have bet on the company’s strong growth potential. That’s the most positive explanation I can find for a sudden slew of complaints against Qihoo from other Internet executives who accuse the company of tinkering with their software. Those accusations have produced an entertaining war of words on the Twitter-like Weibo service between Qihoo Chairman Zhou Hongyi and top executives from smartphone maker Xiaomi, software maker Kingsoft (HKEx: 3888) and web portal operator Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU). (previous post) Read Full Post…
I seem to be using the phrase “flavor of the day” quite a bit these days, as quite a few emerging products and sectors like smart TVs and social networking services (SNS) are suddenly drawing interest from a wide range of companies in established industries. The latest sector to get my “flavor of the day” moniker is banking and financial services, with word that Gree (Shenzhen: 000651), one of China’s top appliance makers, is looking to enter the space. I have no particularly strong feelings about Gree, though I have to say that this new move looks ill-conceived and is a telltale sign that the broader rush into banking services is quickly becoming overheated. Read Full Post…
