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Journalist China
Business news from China By Doug Young.
Doug Young, journalist, has lived and worked in China for 20 years, much of that as a journalist, writing about publicly listed Chinese companies.
He is based in Shanghai where, in addition to his role as editor of Young’s China Business Blog, he teaches financial journalism at Fudan University, one of China’s top journalism programs.
He contributes regularly to a wide range of publications in both China and the west, including Forbes, CNN, Seeking Alpha and Reuters, as well as Asia-based publications including the South China Morning Post, Global Times, Shanghai Daily and Shanghai Observer
Web portal Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) and social networking site Renren (NYSE: RENN) are both proving that any news can often be good news, especially during the summer months which are generally considered a slower time for news. In the case of Sohu, a steady stream of rumors that it might sell various assets have sparked a major rally for the company’s shares over the last 2 months. After a few weeks’ pause in those rumors, the news flow is resuming with the latest talk that Sohu may hold a news briefing to actually discuss its plans for its Sogou online search site. For Renren, the latest news is a large new share buyback that could be the prelude to an eventual privatization bid. Read Full Post…
China’s top bank got a boost from its second biggest shareholder last week when Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek boosted its stake in ICBC (HKEx: 1398; Shanghai: 601398), helping to support the lender’s share price as Chinese banks faced an unprecedented liquidity crisis. This kind of buying is exactly the kind of market-oriented support that China’s banks should be getting during this ongoing crisis, as the government tries to wean them from the free handouts they traditionally depended on during the socialist era. Read Full Post…
After its first attempt to develop the China e-commerce market failed miserably nearly a decade ago, US Internet giant eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) is making some smarter moves this time around by choosing better partners and also building up its business more gradually. In the company’s latest China development, media are reporting eBay has formed a new joint venture with Chinese Internet giant Tencent (HKEx: 700). At the same time, separate reports are saying that eBay may fail in its bid to become the first foreign licensee to offer electronic payment services in China. Read Full Post…
The inevitable price wars may finally be coming to China’s smartphone market, in an all-too-common pattern seen time and again for popular new products. Media have been so busy reporting about how China will become the world’s biggest smartphone market this year that no one has really stepped back to examine the phenomenon and why it’s happening. At least one media is finally doing that, and reporting that inventories are suddenly building up to dangerous levels at the homegrown smartphone makers that are the main force behind China’s recent smartphone boom. Read Full Post…
With this year’s gaokao college entrance exam now officially in the past, students and educators in China can return to the more serious business of learning at the thousands of Chinese universities that are churning out the country’s academics, entrepreneurs and business leaders of tomorrow. These centers of higher learning today are far different from the ones I encountered when I first came to China in 1987 to teach at a tiny institution called the Beijing Graduate School of Geology. Read Full Post…
A small brouhaha has broken out in the Chinese media these last few days over what looks like perhaps the clumsy beginning of a takeover attempt involving Zoomlion (HKEx: 1157; Shenzhen: 000157) and Sany Heavy (Shanghai: 600031), China’s 2 top construction equipment makers. I’m not quite convinced that this was a real takeover attempt, as the numbers involved are quite small. But whatever happened, the instance was a reminder that Chinese firms are still quite clumsy at unsolicited M&A, especially the hostile type. Read Full Post…
The China telecoms world is buzzing this week at a major trade show in Shanghai, with everyone giving their latest outlook on commercial 4G services that could launch later this year. Leading the headlines was a forecast of return to profits for embattled telecoms equipment maker ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063), as predicted by one company official. Meantime, leading telco China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) was giving new details about its massive 4G build-out planned for the rest of the year, and its 2 main rivals were also discussing which technology they will use for their networks. Read Full Post…
I’m not the biggest fan of software security specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) due to its sometimes dubious business practices that often result in lawsuits and other complaints against the company. But I do have to admire the creative ways it finds to secretly install its products on people’s computers, which I suspect is the main motivation for its newly announced wireless router that carries a very low price tag. Of course all this stealth activity is just slightly ironic for a company like Qihoo, whose core product is software that’s supposed to make users’ computers more secure. Read Full Post…
It appears that dominant wireless telco China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) has discovered a sudden love affair with Pakistan, with word that it’s weighing an acquisition bid to complement its existing operation in the South Asian market. If anyone detects just a tiny bit of sarcasm in my tone, it’s because I find it somewhat amusing that the world’s largest wireless telco is focusing so much energy on such a small market when there are so many more promising ones for its troubled global expansion. Read Full Post…
Security software has remained a relatively quiet product area in China despite its huge potential, largely due to the domination of the market by early entrant Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU). But that looks set to change soon, with the latest reports indicating that search leader Baidu and social networking giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) could be preparing to enter the market with their own rival products. Read Full Post…
The retail world is buzzing with the latest reports that global giant Carrefour (Paris: CARR) is considering a potential withdrawal from China, as it tries to figure out how to make money in a market with huge potential but also massive competition. A Carrefour source in China was quick to deny the possibility of a sale, but clearly big discussions are happening behind the scenes on what’s likely to be some major changes for the world’s second largest retailer. One of the company’s biggest handicaps is its failure to recognize the rapid rise of e-commerce in China, which has put it at a disadvantage over other traditional retailers like Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and Suning (Shenzhen: 002024). Read Full Post…
