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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
Everyone is watching closely to see how Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) 2 new iPhones will perform in their upcoming first weekend on sale, and I have to say the early numbers coming from China look rather unimpressive. I should give a major caveat by saying the figures I’m about to cite are very partial, and the extrapolations I’ll make are mostly based on my own guess work. But based on the cool reception that the 2 new iPhones have received in China so far, I would say the 2 new models would be lucky to sell as well as their predecessor, the iPhone 5, which itself wasn’t too impressive due to its late launch in China. Read Full Post…
Banking services have suddenly become the flavor of the day for China’s Internet firms, with e-commerce leader Alibaba forming a new tie-up with a major bank, as Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) moves closer to its aim of getting a formal banking license. This relatively sudden move by Internet firms into financial services comes as a slight surprise, since I haven’t really seen anything similar in the west. But that said, the financial services sector in most western markets is already well served by mature, market-oriented firms — a sharp contrast to China where the sector is dominated by less efficient state-run companies. Read Full Post…
Thank goodness! That’s my first and main reaction to news that after months of tortured courtship, Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) has finally selected Tencent (HKEx: 700) as the winning suitor of its Sogou search engine, beating out rivals Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and Qihoo (NYSE: QIHU). I have to admit the selection of Tencent came as a bit of a surprise, since I had expected Qihoo to win the contest for one of China’s older and less appreciated search engines. Read Full Post…
A simmering feud between leading wireless carrier China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) and top Internet firm Tencent (HKEx: 700) was back in the headlines last week with new accusations by the former against the latter, drawing attention to the near monopoly status that many state-run firms often enjoy due to strong government protection. Beijing should be applauded for finally taking important steps over the last year to end that monopoly in the telecoms space, which has sapped the sector of innovation. Now it needs to extend that approach to other sectors to create firms that can truly compete on the global stage. Read Full Post…
Media are reporting that Internet giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) is following close behind rival Alibaba with plans to launch an investment product that is quite unrelated to any of its core online businesses. The move by China’s biggest publicly listed Internet firm comes as its market value reaches the psychologically important $100 billion mark, making it more than twice as big as China’s second largest telco, China Unicom (HKEx: 762), and more than 10 times larger than leading PC maker Lenovo (HKEx: 992). Its massive size and financial clout have emboldened the company to move outside its core areas into other businesses, some dominated by major state-run firms. Read Full Post…
I’ve been following the microblogs of some of China’s top tech executives for a while now, and am quickly becoming a fan of Li Dongsheng, the man behind leading TV maker TCL (Shenzhen: 000100). Unlike many other executives, who use their microblogs to hype their latest products, Li has shown a more refreshing tendency to also use his Sina Weibo account for some personal introspection. Read Full Post…
Blackstone, Temasek give thumbs down to Pactera, Youku
Two Chinese tech leaders are feeling the effects of fickle western institutional investors, with word that one big name has lowered its buyout offer for IT outsourcing firm Pactera (Nasdaq: PACT) , while another has dumped its sizable stake in video sharing site Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU). In the former case, it’s private equity giant Blackstone that’s lowered its offer for Pactera, while in the latter its Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek dumping its Youku Tudou stake. Both cases are due to company specific factors; but they also show that big-name investors may carry a certain level of prestige for companies that attract them, but they also bring a certain level of risk. Read Full Post…
Media have been buzzing about possible acquisition targets by Wanda Group, a top Chinese real estate firm, after the company’s talkative founder Wang Jianlin disclosed he has a massive warchest for global purchases. Some have speculated the new buying binge could focus on hotels or other service-oriented businesses, following Wanda’s big recent moves into the hospitality business and its landmark purchase last year of AMC Entertainment, the second largest US movie theater operator. But I would bet my money on real estate, as that’s what Wang knows best and it’s an area where Chinese firms in general have shown a strong interest in buying overseas assets. Read Full Post…
A new announcement from leading online travel services firm Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) is showing just how important a strong mobile strategy is to the future of Internet companies in China, where legions of consumers now surf the web over their cellphones. Ctrip’s announcement shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to anyone who follows the sector, since most major Internet firms have specifically designated mobile as a key priority area for future growth. Robin Li, founder of leading search company Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) early this year officially put himself in charge of the company’s mobile division (previous post); and e-commerce leader Alibaba has also embarked on a major acquisition spree this year with mobile technologies as one of its main focuses. Read Full Post…
Embattled telecoms equipment makers Huawei and ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) have scored a victory in the US with a new trade ruling in their favor, providing an important show that they can get fair treatment in the market. But that win is largely symbolic, since Washington has already informally banned the import of the technology at the heart of the trade dispute. Instead of US trade barriers, it seems the true enemy of both Huawei and ZTE could be slowing growth, with media quoting a Huawei executive saying the company only expects to post average growth of 10 percent over the next 5 years. Read Full Post…
An interesting transformation is taking place in China’s e-commerce world, as traditional retailer Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) becomes the latest major player to launch an open platform where independent merchants can sell their wares. Most of China’s top e-commerce firms started out mimicking a traditional retailing model, which saw them purchase goods from wholesalers and sell them directly to consumers via their online stores. The notable exception was industry leader Alibaba, which didn’t sell merchandise directly but instead operated online “malls” where third-party merchants could set up shops. But now a growing number of companies are moving to a hybrid model, offering goods both directly to consumers but also operating platforms where independent merchants can set up shops. Read Full Post…
