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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
Chinese milk makers must be quietly pleased about the country’s latest dairy scandal, since for once the news centers on a foreign and not a domestic firm. In this case the news has been flowing nonstop over the weekend, following a warning from New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra (New Zealand: FCZ) that some of its milk powder contains bacteria that can cause botulism, a rare but sometimes fatal illness. Fonterra discovered the bacteria in some of its powder that it sells to other dairy companies, including at least 5 Chinese companies. China has halted the import of all milk powder from New Zealand and Australia until the situation is resolved. (English article) Read Full Post…
Global auto giant General Motors’ (GM) (NYSE: GM) announcement of a major adjustment to its international corporate structure last week demonstrated its commitment to China, grabbing headlines and winning goodwill from Chinese consumers and Beijing. The move reflects a broader savvy policy of big investments and other corporate actions designed to highlight the importance of the market for GM, a strategy that others like Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) should follow to boost their prospects in China. Read Full Post…
When is the merger of search sites operated by 2 major media and a top telco not a very big news story? The answer: When all 3 of those companies are big state-run behemoths that have a poor track record for innovation in the fast-moving Internet world. That’s my personal assessment on reading news that Panguso and Jike, the respective online search sites of the Xinhua news agency and People’s Daily newspaper, have merged their operations to form a new company. (English article) In addition to its Xinhua backing, Panguso counts dominant mobile carrier China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) as its other major stakeholder. Read Full Post…
After watching leading online video site Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) search for most of its life for projects with profit potential, I’m happy to finally see a new Internet TV initiative by the company that looks like it could have strong prospects. We’ll need to see some more details about this initiative and whether it actually happens before I can comment too much on its actual potential. But this move into the more mainstream TV market could be just the kind of boost that Youku Tudou needs in its quest to find sustainable profits. Read Full Post…
A new wave of offshore Chinese Internet IPOs that I’ve been expecting for a while now never seems to materialize, with only 2 major new offerings in the last year. I’ve mostly given up trying to predict when that wave will come, though we’re seeing some signs of a possible year-end flurry of activity with word of 2 new listing plans. According to the latest media reports, classified ads website 58.com and lottery website 500.com are both aiming to make New York IPOs by the end of this year, aiming to raise a combined total of up to $250 million. Read Full Post…
I don’t usually have many positive things to say about Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU), China’s second largest mobile carrier that has been in a state of management gridlock for most of the last 4 years after its formation through the merger of 2 smaller telcos. But I commended the company earlier this year for its stance on WeChat, the popular mobile messaging service operated by Internet giant Tencent (HKEx: 700), and am praising it once again for its new market-oriented tie-up with WeChat. At the same time, we’re seeing other interesting news on the WeChat front with word that Alibaba has recently stopped offering its e-commerce services over the popular social networking (SNS) platform. Read Full Post…
I’m a big fan of M&A, especially in China’s overcrowded Internet space where consolidation has been desperately needed for the last 6 or 7 years. But even I am getting a bit overwhelmed by the accelerating wave of deals we’re seeing this year, with the latest headlines pointing to new activity by leading e-commerce firm Alibaba and top search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). This sudden frantic wave of deals was refreshing at first, but it’s starting to take on irrational overtones as purchases become less logical and activity becomes overheated. That leads me to my next prediction, namely that we could soon see some serious M&A hangover for many of these acquirers, as they try to figure out how to run all of their new assets once the current buying wave subsides. Read Full Post…
China’s auto industry is in desperate need of consolidation, and faded car maker Chery looks set to become one of the first victims despite its launch of a turnaround plan that looks like too little too late. Of course there’s always the possibility that local government stakeholders will come to the rescue of this colorful company, which is a big employer and economic engine in its home province of Anhui. But central leaders in Beijing seem increasingly determined to force consolidation in many of the nation’s overcrowded industries, and cars are one area where such downsizing is long overdue if China ever wants to produce some world-class auto makers. Read Full Post…
China’s big 4 state-owned banks are a relatively orderly group in their home market, largely respecting historical boundaries set by Beijing. But industry leader ICBC (HKEx: 1398) is quickly emerging as the most aggressive player on the global stage, with word that it’s in talks to buy a major London-based commodities and forex trading operation. These latest talks are just part of a recent global acquisition spree by ICBC, but they look particularly interesting as they present one of the most direct challenges yet to big 4 lending rival Bank of China (HKEx: 3988; Shanghai: 601398). Read Full Post…
After a false start earlier this year following their landmark equity tie-up, top web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) and e-commerce leader Alibaba are reportedly preparing for a second bid to combine online shopping with social networking. This second initiative involves the roll-out of a completely new platform that will try to bring Alibaba’s e-commerce services to the more than 500 million registered users of Sina’s popular Weibo microblogging service, often called the Twitter of China. We’ll have to see the actual product before drawing any major conclusions, but I do think this approach looks better than other initial clumsy efforts after the pair announced their tie-up back in April Read Full Post…
Apple’s Cook back in China to put out latest fires
The US may be one of the world’s most competitive markets, but tech giant Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) is quickly discovering that fast-growing China is far more complex for a wide range of reasons that are often more political than economic. CEO Tim Cook was in Beijing this week to address some of those issues, in what looks like a hastily arranged trip to put out a growing number of fires facing his firm in the world’s largest smartphone market. Read Full Post…
