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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
A day after we saw the latest sign that Lenovo (HKEx: 992) was pursuing a major purchase in the US, we’re getting news of another smaller deal by China’s leading PC maker with word of a new smartphone tie-up with faded Japanese brand NEC (HKEx: 6701). Whereas I quite like the US deal that would see Lenovo buy the low-end server business of IBM (HKEx: IBM), this smaller deal with NEC looks more like Lenovo’s older pattern of buying up dying global brands with little or no real value. Read Full Post…
After more than a year of antagonism, I’m happy to see that the voice of reason finally seems to be coming to the ongoing clash between China and the west in their prolonged dispute over Beijing’s state support for solar panel sector. Germany seems to be the driving force behind this welcome change in tone, following German Chancellor Angela Merckel’s remarks last week that she opposed anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese solar cells being proposed by the EU’s trade office. Merkel correctly realized that a trade war over solar panels wouldn’t benefit anyone, and could potentially deal a crippling blow to a sector that will be critical to the world’s future energy security. Read Full Post…
Just 2 weeks after reporting that web portal Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) had broken off talks to buy PPTV, a sudden flurry of new reports have appeared saying several other companies are bidding for the online video company, including leading e-commerce firms Alibaba and Suning (Shenzhen: 002024). Rather than reflecting PPTV’s attractiveness, I suspect this sudden flurry of talks is being driven by a impatience among its shareholders who have pumped big money into the money-losing company but have received little returns so far. If that’s the case, I would expect to see PPTV acquired most likely by the end of this month, though perhaps at a far lower price than the investors were originally seeking. Read Full Post…
I have to commend Alibaba founder Jack Ma for his ability to keep his company in the headlines with growing frequency lately, as he seeks to build hype in the run-up to the e-commerce leader’s massive IPO. At the same time, however, Ma runs the very real risk of media burnout if his company continues to flood the market with this steady stream of news bits, even if many of them are truly newsworthy. Read Full Post…
AIG aircraft leasing sale to China hits more turbulence
Media are buzzing with word that the blockbuster but controversial sale of the world’s top aircraft leasing firm to a Chinese buyer may be unraveling, after the Chinese group missed a payment in the deal process. Word of the missed payment is coming from the seller, AIG (NYSE: AIG), and may be the first sign that the US insurance giant either no longer wants to sell its ILFC unit or perhaps has found another, less controversial buyer willing to pay a similar price for the aircraft leasing company. Read Full Post…
China’s struggling solar panel makers must are slowly transforming into de facto state-owned enterprises as they take increasing loans from Beijing, with Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) becoming the latest to take a handout from the policy lender China Development Bank (CDB). If Beijing is trying to convince Europe and the US that it’s not unfairly supporting its solar sector, then this certainly isn’t the way to do it. But that said, I doubt that Canadian Solar or many of its peers could get financing to maintain their operations from any true private sector banks right now, as the future remains unclear for most due to their precarious financial positions. Read Full Post…
PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992) has announced plans for a major new bond issue, in the latest signal that it still hopes to revive stalled talks to buy IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) low-end server business. More broadly speaking, this announcement also marks a new chapter in Lenovo’s development as it adds bonds to its arsenal of to tools for financing global M&A. In the past, Lenovo typically gave stock to finance a big part of its global M&A, which was the case with its landmark purchase of IBM’s PC business in 2005 and its more recent formation of a joint venture with Japan’s NEC (Tokyo: 6701). Read Full Post…
Google’s new “good value” site shows continued China commitment
Six months after abruptly shuttering its China-based e-commerce search business, global Internet titan Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is reportedly rethinking that decision with plans to re-enter the market. The decision looks like the latest acknowledgement by Google that China is simply too big to ignore, following its high profile shuttering of its China-based general search business in 2010 after a spat with Beijing over censorship. If this latest story is true, the next logical question might be whether we could see Google return to the general China search market, where competition is suddenly starting to heat up after years of dominance by market leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). Read Full Post…
After months of complaining about new competition from the private sector, dominant mobile carrier China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) is finally developing its own rival products to combat the rapid rise of WeChat, a popular mobile messaging app run by Internet giant Tencent (HKEx: 700). This move is what China Mobile should have done from the start, and marks the carrier’s own important realization that it can’t depend on Beijing to protect its dominant market status the way it might have in the socialist era. Read Full Post…
The uneasy partnership formed more than half a year ago between US insurance giant AIG (NYSE: AIG) and China’s PICC Group (HKEx: 2328) has taken another tentative step forward with the finalization of a joint venture between the 2 companies. The move marks a symbolic one for AIG, reversing its global pullback of the last 5 years after it nearly collapsed at the height of the global financial crisis in 2008. Read Full Post…
A new survey on American views about China’s overseas investment is showing just how difficult the road will be for Chinese firms as they seek to gain acceptance in the west. Perhaps not coincidentally, results of the survey by a consulting arm of global advertising giant WPP (London: WPP) were released just a day after the announcement of China’s biggest M&A deal to date in the US. The deal that would see Chinese meat processor Shuanghui International buy leading pork products maker Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD) for $4.7 billion drew negative comments almost as soon as it was announced, with at least one US politician and a major trade union calling for a thorough regulatory review. (previous post) Read Full Post…
