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)
Social networking apps (SNS) have become the flavor of the day among Chinese Internet firms, especially in the mobile space, and it’s rare to go more than a week or two without reports of a big new move by a major player in the space. Amid all that chatter, I was intrigued to read the latest report of an interesting new tie-up between leading microblog operator Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo and appliance maker Hisense (Shanghai: 600060) into the unlikely field of smart air conditioners. Read Full Post…
A simmering feud between leading wireless carrier China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) and top Internet firm Tencent (HKEx: 700) was back in the headlines last week with new accusations by the former against the latter, drawing attention to the near monopoly status that many state-run firms often enjoy due to strong government protection. Beijing should be applauded for finally taking important steps over the last year to end that monopoly in the telecoms space, which has sapped the sector of innovation. Now it needs to extend that approach to other sectors to create firms that can truly compete on the global stage. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 17. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 3. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Rattled By Investigations, Foreign Firms In China Beef Up Compliance (English article)
WeChat scores a hit in HK, Taiwan but could face resistance in US
I’ve been traveling through Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau these last few days, so thought I’d end the week with a look at Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) hugely popular WeChat mobile messaging service and the challenges it faces in its quest to go global and commercialize. I’ve been quite surprised by how widespread WeChat, known in Chinese as Weixin, has become in all 3 of these Chinese-speaking areas. But at the same time, comments from one of my industry friends also indicate Tencent could face an uphill battle winning acceptance in the US, where it could face heavy competition from rival products and skepticism due to its China connections. New media reports also indicate WeChat’s hyped new relationship with China Merchants Bank (HKEx: 3968; Shanghai: 600036) may also be running into problems, indicating the road to commercialization may not be as smooth as Tencent had hoped. Read Full Post…
The headlines are buzzing about a new joint venture between wireless carrier China Telecom (HKEx: 728) and Internet company NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES), in one of the bigger media frenzies I’ve seen in quite a while for this kind of tie-up. But everyone loves a good contest, and this particular joint venture offers just that with a major new challenge to Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) hugely popular WeChat mobile instant messaging service, known in Chinese as Weixin. Just to make sure everyone understands what this story is about, China Telecom and NetEase have even given their new service the name of YiChat or Yixin in Chinese, which both sound quite similar to the English and Chinese names Tencent’s service. Read Full Post…
I’m calling today “IPO Tuesday” because there are quite a few interesting news bits involving Chinese listing plans, led by an unexpected report that Internet giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) is eying Singapore for a listing for its popular WeChat mobile messaging service. That same report cites a source saying that Tencent itself eventually aims to complement its existing Hong Kong listing with a dual listing in New York — another unexpected twist for one of China’s most dynamic Internet companies. Meantime, China’s largest investment bank CICC is also making headlines with word of a listing plan, as Internet company 500wan.com moves ahead with its own New York IPO. Read Full Post…
A suddenly intensifying rivalry between Internet giants Alibaba and Tencent (HKEx: 700) is building steam, as the pair jockey for position in the fast-growing space for electronic payments and other financial services. It does seem appropriate that these 2 companies are setting the national tone in this race, as they are China’s 2 biggest Internet firms and have risen rapidly on the strength of their ability to innovate. I slightly favor Tencent in this new race due to its ability to roll out new services that complement its existing products at a relatively gradual pace. That contrasts with Alibaba’s most recent approach of launching a much wider range of services at a quicker pace, which runs the risk of overwhelming and confusing consumers.
The headlines have been buzzing with news about the rollout of the latest edition WeChat, which is being called a major overhaul as operator Tecent (HKEx: 700) tries to commercialize the wildly popular mobile instant messaging service. At the same time, media are reporting that WeChat has achieved another major milestone in its new tie-up with telco China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU), with up to a million people pre-registering for the new Unicom-based WeChat service in the first 2 days after it became available. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on August 7. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Mead Johnson (NYSE: MJN) Announces China Probe Resolution, Fined $33 Mln (Businesswire)
Lacoste Launches Online Business in China (Businesswire)
China Steps Up Internet Financial Sector Oversight (English article)
Tencent (HKEx: 700) WeChat-Customized Wo SIM Pre-Orders Exceed 1 Mln (English article)
