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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
Shanghai media have been buzzing these past few weeks about the dangers posed by advertising screens in the back seats of most city taxis, after a woman was critically injured when her head slammed into one such screen during a traffic accident. Local readers will instantly recognize the screens I’m talking about, as they’ve become an unpleasant fixture in 60 percent of Shanghai cabs, bombarding backseat passengers with nonstop advertisements from the moment they step in the taxi. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 23. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Sexy pictures of concept cars are filling the headlines this week as China’s biggest annual auto show revs up in Shanghai, but the bigger story at this year’s event is a sudden and dramatic slowdown in the nation’s luxury auto market. The newspapers have been brimming these last 2 days with reports from the show that opened on Sunday, including copious pictures of all the new car models that will soon hit the roads of the world’s largest car market. But interviews with executives from the big luxury brands were nearly identical in their conservative tone, with most executives saying they would be satisfied to see growth this year of just 10-15 percent. Read Full Post…
The coming months will be a pivotal time for Beijing to show its commitment to free trade, as China’s three telcoms operators get set to award billions of dollars in new contracts to build 4G mobile networks. The building spree will mark the first batch of big new contracts since both the US and Europe took moves last year that could severely limit or ban the import of Chinese networking equipment for reasons of national security and unfair competition. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 20-22. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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GM (NYSE: GM) Renews Cadillac Campaign In China (English article)
China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Launches 20 Bln Yuan Tender For TD-LTE (Chinese article)
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has remained faithful to Chinese car maker BYD (HKEx: 1211; Shenzhen: 002594), refusing to change his 10 percent holdings in the company despite a rapid tumble as its bet on electric vehicles (EVs) fails to take off. But soon the man known as the Oracle of Omaha may have no choice but to reduce his stake, since BYD has just announced a plan to issue more shares to raise desperately needed cash. Of course Buffett may choose to buy some of those new shares to maintain his stake at 10 percent; but I suspect his patience is probably running out with this company, with the result that his stake in BYD will get diluted with this planned share issue. Read Full Post…
It’s been at least a few weeks since the last major M&A rumor involving Lenovo (HKEx: 992), so it seems only appropriate that the acquisitive PC giant is back in the headlines with word of its latest bid for a major global asset. This time the target is the server business of global IT services giant IBM (NYSE: IBM). (English article) Such a move would certainly make sense for IBM, which continues its drive to exit the hardware manufacturing business after the landmark sale of its PC business to Lenovo back in 2005. I’m less certain about the wisdom of the move for Lenovo, although it’s certainly consistent with the company’s pattern of snapping up a steady stream of global hardware assets since the original IBM deal. Read Full Post…
The headlines are buzzing today with news that Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) will formally close its China-based email service, in the latest sign that the company may soon withdraw from China completely. Such a move wouldn’t come as a big surprise, since Yahoo’s recently named new CEO has been making some major changes in a bid to revive the struggling former Internet pioneer. One of those moves is likely to see Yahoo withdraw from many of its secondary markets to focus on its core operations in the US. Read Full Post…
My first reaction to reading the news that mobile carrier China Mobile (HKEx: 941) had formally scrapped a 4-year-old plan to buy a stake in Taiwanese peer Far EasTone (Taipei: 4904) was: What took them so long? In fact, I wasn’t even aware that China Mobile still even considered this tie-up alive, as the deal attracted controversy from the moment the 2 sides announced it in 2009. This formal scrapping of the deal does seem to represent a milestone of sorts, as it shows that we won’t see any M&A in the sensitive telecoms sectors across the Taiwan Strait anytime soon despite ever warming ties between China and Taiwan. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 19. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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IBM (NYSE: IBM) In Talks To Sell x86 Server Business To Lenovo (HKEx: 992) (English article)
Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) China To Halt Email Box Service On August 19 (Chinese article)
China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Ends Agreement With FarEastone (Taipei: 4904) (HKEx announcement)
A restructuring storm continues to blow through China’s battered solar sector, with word of a potential major asset sale by Suntech (NYSE: STP) and a debt default by LDK (NYSE: LDK). Of these 2 news bits, the Suntech one is easily the most interesting as it finally helps to make sense of reports last week that billionaire investor Warren Buffett might want to buy the former solar superstar that last month declared bankruptcy. But Suntech investors will be disappointed to learn the latest reports don’t seem to include a major cash infusion from Buffett, who isn’t really known for investing in such troubled assets. Read Full Post…
