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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
Two of China’s larger tech and media names are in the headlines today for new US investments, highlighting a recent trend that is seeing Chinese firms step up such investing as they search for western expertise and technology. The larger of the deals will see Huayi Bros (Shenzhen: 300027), one of China’s most successful independent film producers, invest $130 million in a US-based subsidiary as part of its international expansion. The other will see LCD maker BOE Technology (Shenzhen: 000725) invest a more modest $5 million in a US start-up that develops technology for wearable products. Read Full Post…
A couple of smaller deals are in the headlines today, with smartphone sensation Xiaomi dipping its toe into the financial services market and online news portal Phoenix New Media (NYSE: FENG) eying the news feed business. Both deals are relatively small in terms of size, but each provides some interesting insight on the thinking at these 2 different companies in the tech and new media space. The first deal has Xiaomi joining a group of investors betting on a peer-to-peer (P2P) online lending platform called Jimu Box. The second has Phoenix investing in Particle Inc, maker of an app that lets users design personalized feeds to receive news over their mobile phones. Read Full Post…
The year 2014 could well go down as the “Year of the Crackdown”, as evidenced by 2 more such crackdowns in the headlines as we head in autumn. The first and larger of the pair comes in the online video space, where media are reporting the broadcasting regulator is finalizing rules that would severely limit the amount of foreign content on online video sites. Meantime, a more mild crackdown is also coming in the e-commerce space, where separate reports are saying another regulator is rolling out rules that will punish companies that overstate their transaction volumes. Read Full Post…
Big privatization deals are never easy, as we’re seeing with signs that a buyout plan launched by the controlling shareholder of online game firm Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) is rapidly unraveling. Shanda Games’ parent, Shanda Interactive, launched the plan back in January, as part of a broader wave of similar privatizations for undervalued US-listed Chinese companies. Shanda Interactive is saying the buyout is still alive, though other shareholders are clearly growing skeptical, based on Shanda Games latest stock price. Read Full Post…
Worrisome signs of a crackdown are growing in the online video sector, where a field of young private firms rolling out a new generation of TV-like products are facing strong resistance from traditional television stations. The latest signs of turmoil are coming from PPTV, a former industry leader that is slowly getting carved up among investors as it is forced to scrap some of its most promising new products. The former high-flyer is showing up in 2 separate headlines today, including one that has seen it shelve its TV set-top box product. The other headline has the company selling 10 percent of itself to Phoenix Publishing & Media (Shanghai: 601928), marking its third major stake sale in the last year as it slowly gets carved up among a group of diverse investors. Read Full Post…
The latest headlines about an upcoming IPO for online game operator Linekong made me realize it’s been quite a while since we last saw any news of offshore listing plans by Chinese Internet and tech firms. Such listings were coming nonstop earlier this year, and saw a wide range of names including the Twitter-like Weibo (Nasdaq: WB), e-commerce giant JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) and real estate services site Leju (NYSE: LEJU) all make IPOs in New York. But the Internet IPO pipeline has gone largely silent since early August, when mobile game operator iDreamSky (Nasdaq: DSKY) made its trading debut. Read Full Post…
A new report on big investment plans in digital media by Hunan Satellite Television is shining a spotlight on this aggressive company in interior China, and its potential to become an important consolidator as Beijing looks to revamp the stodgy traditional media sector. According to that report, Hunan Satellite is planning to invest 1 billion yuan ($160 million) in its Mango TV service, which delivers video over the Internet and other digital platforms and competes directly with private sector firms like Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) and Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) iQiyi. Read Full Post…
Following last week’s flood of quarterly earnings announcements by many of China’s top tech names, this week many second-tier players are reporting results that are decidedly mixed. Real estate looked surprisingly strong in the earnings reports of E-House (NYSE: EJ) and its newly listed Leju (NYSE: LEJU) unit, while e-commerce and online video looked weaker in the results of LightInTheBox (NYSE: LITB) and newly listed Xunlei (Nasdaq: XNET). Whereas shares of the Internet giants showed little reaction to their results last week, most of these second-tier names showed much bigger movement this week, probably reflecting thinner trading of their stocks by more short-term buyers. Read Full Post…
A year after entering the ultra-competitive online gaming market, e-commerce leader Alibaba is boosting its drive into the space through a major new tie-up with Kabam, a fast-growing American designer of free online games. The move looks squarely aimed at archrival and leading Chinese game operator Tencent (HKEx: 700), which has just made its own major advance in the space with the launch of an officially licensed version of the wildly popular “Candy Crush” game in China. Read Full Post…
Beijing’s crackdown on excessive spending by officials has claimed one of its first victims in the media sector, with word that leading independent broadcaster Phoenix Satellite TV’s (HKEx: 2008) profits tumbled in the first half of the year due to flagging revenue from luxury goods advertisers. The news isn’t all that surprising, since Beijing’s crackdown has been going on for more than a year now. Now we’ll have wait and see how long the slowdown lasts, whether it intensifies, and who else is most vulnerable. Read Full Post…
Two more US-traded Chinese firms are on the cusp of de-listing, with online game operator Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA) and chipmaker RDA Microelectronics (NYSE: RDA) just announcing they have wrapped up buy-out deals that will pave the way for their imminent privatization. These 2 de-listing stories were announced months ago and are completely expected. But the bigger underlying story is the lack of major new privatization announcements in the last half year. In a similar development, major new IPOs by Chinese firms in New York have slowed considerably since a boom of offerings in April and May, indicating the broader deal-making market may be entering a new, more stable phase. Read Full Post…
