Bottom line: Shares of Sina and Youku Tudou will continue to be laggards due to their cloudy outlooks, and Youku Tudou could face even greater pressure if it doesn’t sell itself to a larger buyer like Alibaba.
Sina’s Q3 results fail to excite
Today marks the high point of the third-quarter earnings season for Internet companies, with leading web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) and top online video site Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) posting results that didn’t impress investors too much. Both companies reported operating losses for the quarter, even though each managed to pare those losses from previous periods. But the bottom line for Sina was anemic growth in its core advertising revenue, while Youku Tudou’s biggest trouble sign came from ballooning costs. Youku Tudou isn’t being helped either by an ongoing government crackdown against online video operators. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 13. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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KKR, Citic (HKEx: 267) In $1.5 Bln Bid For United Envirotech (Singapore: UNIT) (English article)
Bottom line: Alibaba will to focus on globalization to maintain momentum for its overvalued stock, but the shares are likely to pull back in the first half of next year due to overvaluation.
Alibaba sales jump on Double Eleven
This year’s November 11 shopping day belonged to e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), even though I’m just slightly reluctant to write too much about this overhyped company. But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention some of the impressive numbers that Alibaba logged during this year’s Double-Eleven Singles Day event, led by its headline total sales of 57.1 billion yuan ($9.3 billion), up 63 percent from last year. The market didn’t seem too impressed with the growth, with Alibaba’s shares tumbling 3.9 percent in the US trading day after the end of the Chinese shopping binge. Read Full Post…
Lenovo’s (HKEx: 992) talkative CEO Yang Yuanqing was headline news in the microblogging realm over the past week, as the chatty executive formally launched his own account on Sina Weibo and proceeded to bombard the airwaves with a steady series of thoughts on a wide range of topics. Yang is already quite talkative in general, granting numerous media interviews and giving his thoughts on just about anything to anyone who will listen. So this kind of move isn’t really that surprising, and I expect we’ll hear lots from him in the months and years ahead.
Meantime, executives from the equally talkative Xiaomi were also full of microblogging chatter, touting their latest steal of a high-profile executive from another tech firm. In this case they were congratulating themselves for hiring Chen Tong, one of the earliest top employees at web stalwart Sina (Nasdaq: SINA). A final footnote in this week’s microblogging roundup also saw a teasing tweet from the missing CEO of online video site LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104), amid recent speculation that he may have left China to avoid criminal prosecution. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Xiaomi’s new $1.5 billion funding is smaller than expected but gives it a strong valuation, as its small investments in Youku Tudou and iQiyi look like a smart way to quickly build up its product ecosystem.
Xiaomi gets rich valuation from new funding
There’s no shortage of news this week on hyperactive smartphone sensation Xiaomi, which is showing up at least 3 major headlines as it lands major new funding and explores potential tie-ups with China’s top 2 online video sites as well as faded smartphone pioneer BlackBerry (Toronto: BB). I almost have to catch my breath after writing all of that, as any one of these 3 stories would normally qualify as major news. The fact that all 3 are coming at the same time testifies to Xiaomi’s ability to do big deals, and its charismatic CEO Lei Jun may soon take the title for China’s most hyperactive tech leader from the current holder of that title, Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) founder Jack Ma. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 8-10. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Chinese Social Networking Service Momo Files For $300 Mln IPO (English article)
GCL-Poly (HKEx: 3800) Approves Plan To Buy 30 Pct Of Struggling Chaori Solar (English article)
Bottom line: Lenovo’s latest results show its smartphone business continues to gain market share at the expense of profits, and it would be better advised to focus on building a strong brand to increase customer loyalty.
Lenovo smartphones post health sales gains
The latest results for leading PC maker Lenovo (HKEx: 992) don’t look too rosy, even as the company’s smartphone business continued to outperform the global market. There are quite a few pieces to this puzzle, which means the longer-term outlook for Lenovo’s smartphone business is still unclear as the overheated market undergoes a much-needed shakeout. The outcome of this story will be crucial to Lenovo’s future, since the global market for its core PC business is stagnating and even starting to contract as consumers gravitate to a newer generation of more mobile, specialized devices. Read Full Post…
Global gadget leader Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and its chief Chinese imitator Xiaomi have been filling the online airwaves these last few days, though for very different reasons. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook was drawing praise and admiration from a wide range of tech executives on their microblogs, following his widely publicized editorial in which he disclosed that he is gay.
Meantime, a number of top officials from the talkative Xiaomi were also talking up a storm, which verged on gloating, as their company once again poached another high-profile Silicon Valley talent. They also had plenty to say as their high-flying company claimed the undisputed spot as the world’s third largest smartphone maker, behind only sector leaders Samsung (Seoul: 005930) and Apple. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 5. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) Announces September Quarter 2014 Results (Businesswire)
Nissan (Tokyo: 7201) Cuts Global Sales Outlook On China Slowdown (English article)
China’s PICC P&C (HKEx: 2328) Plans To Raise $1.2 Bln In Rights Offer (English article)
Qatar Investment Authority, Citic Group Set Up $10 Bln Investment Fund (Chinese article)
Former Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Exec Chen Tong Joins Xiaomi Content Team (Chinese article)
Bottom line: Improved working environments are allowing Chinese tech firms to compete with multinationals for top talent, a template that state-run firms and other industries would be wise to follow.
Xiaomi attracts top exec from Spotify
Fast-rising smartphone maker Xiaomi made headlines last week when it lured away a top western executive from European online music streaming giant Spotify by offering him an attractive new job at its Beijing headquarters. The move marks the latest in a stream of high-profile defections by technology executives from comfortable jobs at major western firms to join up-and-coming Chinese names like Xiaomi and Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU).
The movement reflects a maturation for China’s fast-growing high-tech sector, whose rapid rise and improving working conditions are making companies more competitive with big western names traditionally preferred by many highly-skilled workers. But the trend is still limited mostly to China’s private high-tech sector, and is largely absent in state-run firms and other industries. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 4. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Xiaomi Said To Seek Funding At Valuation Of About $50 Bln (English article)
