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Media/Entertainment
youngchinabiz.com : latest Business news about Media – Entertainment in China by expert / journalist Doug Young : more than two decades of experience in writting about Chinese Companies
Bottom line: AP’s willingness to consider new tie-ups with Xinhua is the result of economic pressures being felt by western media, but is unlikely to produce any major alliances due to the potential for negative publicity.
AP open to deeper partnership with Xinhua
Rapid changes in the traditional media realm are creating some strange bedfellows, and the situation looks even stranger in China due to the strong elements of censorship and state control. That odd combination of circumstances is creating a perfect storm that has led some western media companies to do the previously unthinkable and consider partnerships with some of China’s most centrally controlled media. Recent rumors have said that global financial news leader Bloomberg may be considering such a tie-up, and now the latest reports are saying US media giant Associated Press (AP) is also open to such partnerships. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China’s regulators should work closely with innovators like Alibaba and SMG to minimize the risk from their new financial products that bring small lenders and borrowers together.
Alibaba, SMG partner on film finance
E-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) made its latest advance in the financial realm last week, announcing a major tie-up with Shanghai’s leading broadcaster to promote film finance over its online platform based on the crowd-funding concept. The move extends Alibaba’s recent forays into both entertainment and finance, and could provide a major boost for smaller Chinese movie makers who often lack access to project funding.
But the reality is that movie making is a highly risky business for even the most experienced companies, and smaller productions are famous for losing money. That means many of the projects that get financed through the new Alibaba tie-up with Shanghai Media Group (SMG) may ultimately see investors lose some or all their money if and when poorly conceived projects fail to find an audience. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: A rebellion by a major hospital group against Baidu could reflect growing discontent towards the search engine among Chinese advertisers, which could force it to lower prices and make its business practices more transparent.
Medical group takes on Baidu
Local media are swarming to a story that has seen a major hospital association advise its members to yank their advertisements from Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), cutting off a top cash cow for China’s leading search engine. The Putian Healthcare Industry Chamber of Commerce is saying the grievances that led to its action are related to the high prices that Baidu charges for its services. But Baidu has weighed in with its own view, calling the move retaliatory for its own refusal to accept ads containing false and exaggerated claims from many Putian members. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: The latest blockage of Reuters sites in China is probably temporary and related to coverage during the recent National People’s Congress, but still reflects the very real risk of doing business in the tightly controlled media market.
Reuters websites blocked in China
China’s latest crackdown on foreign media has just netted global news giant Reuters (Toronto: RTR), in a potentially worrisome trend that has seen Chinese censors block a growing number of websites operated by big multinationals. Despite longer-term crackdowns on big names like Bloomberg and the New York Times, Reuters had managed to largely steer clear of China’s censors and its websites have remained largely accessible in China for most of the last 2 years.
But I couldn’t access any of Reuters sites in Shanghai starting last Thursday, and later reports confirmed the company’s Chinese- and English-language websites have been blocked throughout the country since then. (English article) Before I go any further, I should disclose that I previously worked at Reuters for a decade, and maintain contact with many of my former colleagues 4 years after leaving the company. Reuters Chinese site also is a regular user of my work, though apparently none of that has been viewable in China for the last few days. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: A new SEC probe into Youku Tudou’s accounting, following another probe into possible disclosure breaches by Alibaba, could undermine investor confidence in big Chinese Internet firms.
SEC probes Youku Tudou accounting
Just a month after e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) said it was being probed for possible violations of US securities laws, former online video high-flyer Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) revealed it is also being questioned by the US stock regulator for aggressive accounting practices that may have misled investors. The nature of the potential violations are quite different in each case, but both create a worrisome larger picture since they involve 2 of China’s biggest and most trusted Internet companies. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Unusual scheduling announcements mean the latest quarterly earnings from Youku Tudou and Dangdang could disappoint, though a recent sell-off in their shares looks overblown.
Quarterly earnings announcements often ignite big moves in stocks, sparking big gains or losses if companies exceed or miss market expectations. It’s far less common to see company announcements of when they will release their latest quarterly reports create similar reactions. But that’s exactly what’s happened with the latest such earnings date announcements from struggling online video site Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) and faded e-commerce player Dangdang (NYSE: DANG).
Shares of both companies have tanked to lows not seen in more than a year, following their release of unusual announcements about when they will report their next quarterly earnings. Company announcements of such dates are quite standard industry practice, allowing investors to prepare and attend conference calls to discuss the numbers. Such date announcements typically come 1-3 weeks before the actual results are announced, giving investors adequate time to prepare. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: New developments in the break-up of Shanda Group are likely to result in the successful sales of its games and literature units in the next 6 months.
Cloudary pools resources with Tencent literarture
The slow-motion break-up of former online entertainment superstar Shanda Group continues in 2 different headlines, with word that its core online literature and gaming businesses are set to be taken over by Internet giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) and a couple of major brokerages, respectively, in separate deals. Both of these deals look quite exciting, as they involve the entry of serious-looking buyers who could ultimately use their acquired Shanda assets to create some interesting and potentially competitive new companies in their respective spaces. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Alibaba’s 2 latest big investments in Snapchat and Snapdeal look like good bets for strong financial returns, but are unlikely to produce any major strategic benefit.
Alibaba in talks for Snapdeal stake
I was a bit confused on my first reading of the headlines today, after seeing articles saying e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) was in talks to invest in 2 companies whose “snappy” names sounded quite similar. But a closer reading made it clear that these were 2 very different deals, one involving the popular US social networking service (SNS) Snapchat, and the other involving a popular Indian e-commerce site called Snapdeal.
Despite their big geographic and product differences, these 2 deals seem to represent a growing trend for Alibaba, which is no longer acquiring companies but instead only buying small strategic stakes. The strategy looks mostly advantageous to the investment targets. That’s because it’s helping to push up the valuations of names like Snapchat and Snapdeal to frothy levels, much the way Alibaba used similar investments to pump up its own valuation in the run-up to its IPO last year. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: New smaller acquisitions by 58.com and Tuniu look like smart, focused moves to complement their existing business, and should quickly help to improve their top and bottom lines.
Tuniu buys Taiwan-focused travel agents
A couple of smaller acquisitions are in the headlines today, with word that online travel agent Tuniu (Nasdaq: TOUR) and Internet classified ad site 58.com (NYSE: WUBA) have both made strategic purchases that look like thoughtful, well-targeted moves. In this case Tuniu has announced it will buy 2 travel agencies that will boost its exposure to the Taiwan travel market, while 58.com is buying a site that specializes in home interior decoration products.
Both deals were relatively small, worth less than $40 million, which is generally the kind of purchase I like to see as it indicates a more focused approach to M&A. That contrasts sharply with the much bigger recent purchases by China’s largest Internet companies, most notably by Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China’s Internet companies are expecting a slowdown this year as the nation’s economy slows, but their shares could see some upside if the declines are less severe than many are forecasting.
Qihoo, Phoenix, LITB see slowing growth
It’s not often that we see any major macroeconomic trends when a diverse group of Internet companies all report results on the same day, since individual company and sector factors often have a big influence. But we’re seeing just such a trend emerge in the new results from the high-tech trio of software security specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU), e-commerce firm LightInTheBox (NYSE: LITB) and online media firm Phoenix New Media (NYSE: FENG), which all are forecasting a sharp slowdown in the first quarter of this year. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: LeTV could be a company to watch as it embarks on a global expansion, drawing on a savvy business model that sells smart TVs and smartphones at low prices in exchange for video subscription contracts.
LeTV makes cryptic debut at trade show
A major telecoms show happening this week in Spain was filled with small bits of news, but one of the biggest surprises came when I stumbled on an area decked out with signage for the racy online video firm LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104). So far as I could tell, none of the company’s many rivals like Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) and iQiyi were at the show, and even global leader YouTube was absent. That’s not hard to understand, since the Mobile World Congress taking place in Barcelona is a telecoms show whose main attendees are telecoms equipment and smartphone makers. Read Full Post…
