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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
I’ve written too much recently about neglected web portal Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU), but the latest rumors of a potential tie-up between the company and PPTV, operator of one of China’s leading video websites, are just too irresistible for me to ignore. Those rumors say Sohu is in talks to combine its own online video business with PPTV to create one of the nation’s top 3 players. News of such talks comes just a couple of weeks after leading search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) purchased another top video site, PPS, for $370 million, and indicates a new wave of consolidation in China’s Internet space may be gaining momentum. Read Full Post…
I’ll openly admit that I’ve generally sided with Internet giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) in its ongoing dispute with China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) over Tencent’s popular WeChat mobile messaging service; but a new report today on the debate is also making me realize that China Mobile’s point has some validity, even if I disagree with its tactics to address the issue. The report I’m talking about cites an executive at Shanghai-based China Merchants Bank (HKEx: 3968; Shanghai: 600036), a leading regional lender, saying his bank is piloting a service on WeChat as it looks to migrate some of its mobile-based services to the platform. (English article)Read Full Post…
After making headlines late last year, a deal that would see a Chinese group buy AIG’s (NYSE: AIG) aircraft leasing unit for $5.5 billion has quietly popped back into the news with word that the US insurance giant has extended the deadline to close a deal by a month. There’s not much more in the reports, which simply cite a stock exchange filing by AIG saying a deadline for the deal has been pushed forward to June 14. (English article) While the deal clearly hasn’t moved ahead as quickly as both sides had anticipated, the fact that they’re extending the deadline by a month means they are still confident they can reach an agreement. Read Full Post…
More than a year after first announcing a potential buyout, telecoms software maker AsiaInfo-Linkage (Nasdaq: ASIA) has finally reached a deal with a group led by a unit of Chinese financial giant Citic that would see its shares de-listed. Investors were unimpressed by the final announcement, with AsiaInfo shares actually closing down by 0.7 percent at $11.60 after it announced a deal to sell itself for $12 per share to the group led by Citic Capital Partners which also includes Singapore’s Temasek sovereign wealth fund. (company announcement) Read Full Post…
After years of inactivity, China’s Internet sector has seen a sudden flurry of M&A deals with potential to consolidate the fragmented space and create some truly world class companies that could one day compete with the likes of Amazon and Google. While commercial factors are mostly behind this sudden M&A spring, Beijing could also play a limited role by encouraging more consolidation, helping to lay the foundation for a vibrant and sustainable Internet sector that could become a global leader. Read Full Post…
Embattled hoteliers and restaurant operators whose business has been hit by China’s H7N9 bird flu outbreak are finally getting some relief with Shanghai’s formal cancellation of its bird flu emergency after the city went 3 weeks without any new cases. (English article) But companies could continue to feel the fallout from the scare for at least the next few months, with by Yum’s (NYSE: YUM) KFC perhaps the most vulnerable to longer term damage. Read Full Post…
Not sure what to do with little Fido or Flurry after your beloved dog or cat moves on to the big Dog House or Cat Palace in the sky? Well now there’s an answer, at least there is in Shanghai, where the government has been hard at work on the problem of what to do with the thousands of pets that die in the city each year. And the answer is: cremation. That’s the official verdict from the city after consulting with animal experts over the last few months to draft a new set of guidelines on the issue. (Chinese article) Read Full Post…
A sudden flurry of activity has caught my attention at Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU), one of China’s oldest Internet portals, which has splashed into the headlines several times in the last couple of months after years of being ignored by investors. What has most caught my attention most this time around was a comment in one of the recent reports that Sohu founder and Chairman Charles Zhang was recently experiencing some kind of emotional fatigue, which leads me to wonder if the company may be headed for a breakup. Read Full Post…
I don’t often write about new products and services in China’s hyperactive e-commerce space, since such initiatives have become commonplace in an overheated sector where everyone is always looking for any competitive advantage. But the latest pilot program by Jingdong, China’s second largest e-commerce firm, looks like a potential game-changer since it could significantly challenge the entire industry by introducing ultra-fast deliveries. At the same time, newly released data is showing China’s e-commerce sales posted a major decline in the first quarter, hinting the sector may be headed for a rapid slowdown after several years of breakneck growth. Read Full Post…
SNS moves beyond idle chatter in after Ya’an quake
The Ya’an earthquake now already 2 weeks ago has cast an interesting new spotlight on China’s vibrant field of social networking services (SNS), showing a different side to these sites that are largely seen as little more than frivolous, time-wasting toys. As a frequent user of Chinese sites like Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo, Tencent (HKEx: 700) WeChat and Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), I can personally testify that I mostly use these sites to fill up idle time at home or on the subway, often when I’m trying to procrastinate or am just feeling bored. But these sites are suddenly earning new praise as a critical communication tool during the Ya’an earthquake, arguably the first major global disaster since SNS services began their meteoric rise less than a decade ago. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 11-13. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Alibaba To Invest $294 Mln In Mapping Firm AutoNavi (Nasdaq: AMAP) (English article)
Hyundai Motor (Seoul: 005380) Mulls 4th China Plant: Vice Chmn (English article)
CSRC Approves Citic Securities (HKEx: 6030) To Issue 20 Bln Yuan in Bonds (HKEx announcement)
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Building 4th Retail Store in Beijing – Source (English article)
Yum (NYSE: YUM) April Same-Store Sales Fall 29 Pct in China (English article)
