Weibo: Smog Worries Execs, Qihoo Admits Defeat To Tencent
Beijing’s notorious smog was thick in the blogosphere this past week, with tech executives sending out a flurry of cautionary messages as the city held its annual marathon. This particular issue shines an important spotlight on the fact that many of China’s top tech firms are clustered in the Chinese capital, running the range from search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) to top portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) and PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992).
Meantime, other interesting buzz in the blogosphere was coming from security software specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU), which finally admitted defeat in its anti-monopoly lawsuit against Tencent (HKEx: 700) after the case was denied a final appeal by China’s highest court. One final interesting tidbit came from several executives at Lenovo, which unleashed a flurry of buzz after the company’s announcement of vague plans to set up a separate unit dedicated to smart devices.
Let’s jump right into this week’s blogosphere round-up with the Beijing Marathon, which took place on Sunday amid a new cloud of thick haze that has recently blanketed the Chinese capital. Photos in the Chinese media featured some runners wearing face masks at this year’s event, casting an embarrassing spotlight on the smog that is rapidly causing Beijing to lose its appeal as a workplace for aspiring tech executives.
The list of tech executives lamenting the situation during the marathon was quite diverse, with officials from Lenovo, e-commerce giant JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) and car information site Autohome (NYSE: ATHM) among the many who commented on the issue. Lenovo vice president Wei Jianglei took a humorous approach, commending his company’s CEO Yang Yuanqing, who was running in the race for the first time, for being a human air purifier. (microblog post)
JD.com vice president Xu Lei simply voiced his admiration for colleagues and others who were running in the race despite the obvious health dangers created by the smog. (microblog post) Autohome’s plainspoken founder Li Xiang was even more direct, urging runners to wear face masks on the day before the race (microblog post), while Duan Dong, vice president of online classified advertising site 58.com (NYSE: WUBA) posted several photos showing the thick smog (microblog post).
Elsewhere in Beijing, top Qihoo executive Zhou Hongyi’s was busy posting his thoughts on his company’s final defeat in a lengthy lawsuit that had accused Tencent of operating a monopoly in the instant messaging space. Zhou really didn’t have much choice but to admit defeat, since a Guangdong court ruled against Qihoo earlier this year and the final avenues to appeal finally ran out last week when the Supreme People’s Court refused to hear the case. (previous post)
In a microblog post that was relatively short for the talkative Zhou, he simply said he was exhausted by the fight and at last could return to the business of developing new products. (microblog post) Qihoo privacy official Tan Xiaoguan was more critical, commending Tencent for its broader innovation but also criticizing it for ruthlessly squashing all competition the highly influential instant messaging space. (microblog post) I originally disliked this lawsuit when Qihoo filed it several years ago, as it looked retaliatory for a separate lawsuit filed by Tencent at the time. But since then the rapid rise and monolithic dominance of Tencent’s WeChat mobile messaging service has certainly given more weight to the Qihoo’s monopoly claims.
Last there was a predictable stream of buzz coming from several Lenovo officials after their company announced a vague plan to set up a separate unit dedicated to smart devices. (company announcement) Lenovo senior vice president Gina Qiao sent out a generic post seeking employees for the new unit (microblog post), while vice president Chen Xudong put out a post commending his company for taking this kind of initiative as a reflection of its broader mission of actively changing with the times. (microblog post)
The talkative Lei Jun, chief hypemaster at smartphone sensation Xiaomi, also weighed in on the topic with a post welcoming Lenovo to an area that his company is also trying to develop. (microblog post) Lei’s post was a bit self-serving, since he probably sees Lenovo’s decision as imitating his own company’s own recent moves into smart devices. I’m personally quite skeptical of this latest Lenovo announcement, and will have to see some more details and product announcements before I’m convinced that it means anything.
