The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 12. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Knocks HP (NYSE: HPQ) From Top of Global PC Market: Gartner (English article)
- Hasbro (Nasdaq: HAS) and Alpha Animation Announce Strategic Partnership for China (Businesswire)
- US Prepares to Launch 2nd Round of Investigations Into Huawei, ZTE (HKEx: 763) (Chinese article)
- Suntech (NYSE: STP) Responds to Final US Dept of Commerce Determination (PRNewswire)
- Ex-Central Banker Says Canada Should Approve CNOOC (HKEX: 883) Bid for Nexen (English article)
After an IPO earlier this year that was a major flop, discount e-commerce company Vipshop‘s (NYSE: VIPS) have quietly jumped in the last few months despite many obstacle it has faced this year. This otherwise low-key company, which has been out of the headlines since its disastrous IPO in March, caught my attention after I read a report saying its market cap has passed that of Dangdang (NYSE: DANG), previously China’s largest publicly listed e-commerce firm. (
Chinese Internet executives are providing steady entertainment in their recent counter-offensive against short sellers who have attacked their stocks repeatedly for more than a year, with industry elder statesman Lee Kai-Fu now preparing to sue one short-seller over defamation. When the history books are written, Lee, a former high-level executive at both Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), could well emerge as the white knight that ultimately rescued battered Chinese tech companies.
Less than 2 months after the latest flare-up in an ongoing battle for supremacy of China’s e-commerce market, we’re getting word that Tencent (HKEx: 700), a relative newcomer to the sector, may be preparing to turn up the heat again with yet another massive spending blitz. This potential new flare-up, which should come as a surprise to no one, could be particularly worrisome as it shows that the cash-rich Tencent is willing to spend big bucks and fight a long war to win a piece of an already overcrowded Chinese e-commerce market.
Struggling solar cell maker Suntech (NYSE: STP) has just issued a euphemistically upbeat plan on how it intends to “solidify market leadership,” as it tries to return to health amid a prolonged industry downturn that has seen prices plunge more than 70 percent over the last 2 years. But investors are clearly focused on the last part of the plan, specifically discussing how the company intends to deal with nearly $600 million in convertible bonds that will come due in March next year. The process of renegotiating that debt is likely to be a long one, and is hardly guaranteed success without major support from Beijing and other government entities.
A wide range of buzz is coming from the telecoms space, led by more reverberations from Washington’s controversial decision to lock out Huawei and ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) from the US telecoms equipment market. China’s 3 major telcos are also making the headlines for other reasons, as they continue to jostle for position in both the 3G wireless and also the fixed-line broadband spaces.
E-commerce leader Alibaba loves to talk about how the business model for its popular TMall online mall gives it an edge over most of its rivals by letting it focus on its role as a web mall operator while leaving the actual business of managing online stores to third-party merchants. But the company is much less talkative about some of the downsides to such a business model, most notably the issue of quality control for the products and service provided by thousands of merchants that sell their goods on TMall. A sharp and sudden price hike in store rentals fees by TMall last year provoked a sharp backlash from many smaller merchants, creating huge headaches and a publicity nightmare for Alibaba. Now, many of those same small- and medium-sized merchants, known in the industry as SMEs, are complaining once again about new policies that Alibaba says are designed to improve quality and customer service, even as the SMEs argue those policies discriminate against them and lack transparency. (
Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) is stepping up its challenge to Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) dominance in online search, with word that the security software specialist has formed a new alliance with leading online travel firm Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP). (
I don’t usually like to write about the same company or issue twice in the same week, but it’s hard to ignore a new report that has just come out of Washington saying US telcos shouldn’t do business with China’s top 2 telecoms equipment makers due to security concerns. Of course people who follow the industry will know that I’m referring to a new Congressional report taking aim at Huawei and ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063), 2 of the world’s leading telecoms equipment makers and also 2 of China’s high-tech exporting superstars. The report comes just a day after reports emerged that Huawei was considering an offshore IPO in an attempt to diffuse concerns that its equipment can be used for spying by Beijing (
China’s 2 main fixed-line broadband carriers, China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA) and China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU), are revving up for a big push into the television market, in what looks like a smart play for a product area that may finally be mature enough to find an audience. My main concern for both of these companies lies in execution, especially for Unicom, which has shown a poor record for implementing new businesses due to organizational dysfunction at the management level. But let’s come back to that issue later, and focus first on the bigger picture that has China Telecom and Unicom putting out tenders for a combined 6.2 million set-top boxes since August as part of their drive to install their IPTV service in millions of Chinese homes. (
