Second-quarter earnings season and the London Olympics won’t begin until next week, but we’re already seeing signs that an ad slowdown is hitting profits at many Chinese Internet companies as they get set to report their latest results. Specifically, media are reporting China’s top 4 portals have decided to skip expensive rights for live coverage of Olympic events, and instead are opting to provide less pricey video-on-demand (VOD) rights that allow Internet users to watch recordings of their favorite sports after the events. (English article)
Journalist China
ZTE: Yet Another Probe as Profit Tumbles 中兴通讯又遭调查
Embattled telecoms equipment maker ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) is probably starting to feel like an ailing hospital patient, following word that it’s coming under yet another investigation in what seems like a never-ending stream of probes by western governments. The recent investigations and other setbacks in both North America and Europe are taking a growing toll on ZTE’s bottom line, with the company warning that its profit dropped sharply in the second quarter and may have even disappeared completely.
Solar Uptick: Buyouts Near? 太阳能行业：并购接近？
A rare piece of upbeat news from mid-sized solar cell maker ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) has had a surprisingly mixed effect on shares from this struggling sector, hinting that investors are no longer looking at news but are rather trying to figure out what lies ahead for this group of companies with deeply depressed valuations. As the sector stabilizes and gets ready to grow again after a devastating downturn that has lasted more than a year, we may start to see both companies and investors taking advantage of extremely low valuations to launch takeover and privatization bids before share prices finally start to rise again.
Cable Consolidation Gets Subsidy Lift 中国政府为有线电视网络升级提供补贴
Beijing, determined to consolidate the nation’s fragmented cable TV industry by creating a single national operator, is promoting its plan with a new round of subsidies, a move that could ultimately not only benefit not only the new operator but also leading wireless telco China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL). The fact that China Mobile could benefit from this new subsidy plan seems somewhat ironic, since China Mobile is already one of China’s richest state-run companies, and thus it has little or no need for this kind of cash subsidies from Beijing.
Tom In Rumored Divorce With Skype TOM集团或失去Skype在华代理权
Five or 6 years can be an eternity in cyberspace, which is clearly the lesson that former Internet high-flyer Tom Group (HKEx: 2383) is learning as it moves one step closer to irrelevance with word that its long-time partnership with Skype is on the verge of breaking up. That divorce would represent the end of one of its last remaining tie-ups with major western media firms that helped propel the company to fame nearly a decade ago.
Growth Slows at the China Lodge 汉庭酒店增长放缓
China’s slowing economy is taking a toll on the nation’s hotel sector, where growth has dipped solidly into the single digit percentage range in the latest preliminary results for China Lodging Group (Nasdaq: HTHT), operator of the Hanting and Starway brands. Investors were clearly unhappy about these latest results, which are likely to be reflected throughout the industry when China Lodging and its 2 main listed rivals, Home Inns (Nasdaq: HMIN) and 7 Days (NYSE: SVN), report their results in the weeks ahead.
Crisis-Hit China Firms Gain Banking Ally 国开行贷款助中国概念股私有化
It seems that short sellers aren’t the only ones trying to make some quick money from the confidence crisis plaguing US-listed Chinese stocks, with word that state-owned lender China Development Bank (CDB) is also trying to capitalize on the situation by providing loans to help some companies privatize. If true, the reports would just mark the latest twist in a saga that started more than a year ago when short sellers began to expose a series of accounting scandals at US-listed Chinese firms, sparking a sell-off in their shares. CDB’s move may also auger the start of a bigger wave of privatizations that could see some big US- and Hong Kong-listed companies go private as well.
More Top Execs Leave NetEase, Jingdong 京东和网易高管离职
July is becoming the season for high-level resignations at Chinese Internet firms, with media reporting the new departures of top officials at Jingdong Mall, one of China’s top e-commerce sites, as well as the web portal unit of online game firm NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES). Those departures, if correct, would follow the similar resignation earlier this week of the chief operating officer at Tudou (Nasdaq: TUDO), China’s second largest video sharing site, which is currently merging with industry leader Youku (NYSE: YOKU). (previous post)
Ming Yang in Flurry of Headlines 明阳风电的一系列头条新闻
Wind power equipment maker Ming Yang (NYSE: MY) has become a tiny company over the past year as chilly sentiment towards new energy firms has caused its shares to plummet; but that hasn’t stopped it from making a steady stream of headlines these past 2 weeks for what look like relatively large deals. This series of deals seems a bit strange for a player of that size, and the only explanation I can see is that observers believe that Ming Yang, with access to funds via its Chinese government links, could become a potential consolidator and driver of new growth for the struggling global wind power industry.
Price Wars Shake Up Travel Sites 价格战或促在线旅游业洗牌
E-commerce leaders like Jingdong Mall, Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) and Alibaba are taking their bloody price wars to the travel arena, where a new round of cutthroat competition threatens to infect this more established industry dominated by the likes of Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) and eLong (Nasdaq: LONG). This new round of price wars could also potentially undermine up-and-comer Qunar, which just last year received a $300 million investment from search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) but could need even more cash if the sector gets plunged into the same prolonged cutthroat competition now gripping the e-commerce sector.
Huawei: Manufacturer or Telco? 华为要做电信运营商？
Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei is trying all kinds of tricks to jump-start its flagging growth in the face of a global slowdown and political obstacles in the West, but its latest move in the Middle East that will see it become a network operator looks a bit desperate to me, and also quite risky. The latest deal comes against a backdrop of slowing growth that has seen Huawei’s revenue increase less than 20 percent last year, ending years of much stronger gains.
