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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
A year after its last major capital raising, smartphone maker Xiaomi is reportedly closing in on a new mega-funding round that would be one of the largest ever for a Chinese tech start-up, worth $2 billion or more. The massive new funding would come as the company rapidly ramps up its sales and product offerings in the second year after the launch of its inaugural smartphone. Equally interesting, some reports are saying a major investor in this new funding round could be Internet giant Tencent (HKEx: 700), which has been relatively quiet during a recent flurry of M&A happening in China’s online space. Read Full Post…
I’ve been reporting on China’s cellphone market long enough to know that change can come suddenly and without much warning, and that a superstar one day might be struggling for survival just a year or two later. Such transformations often come in waves, and it appears the newest shake-up could be coming as consumers start to shun prestigious high-end smartphones in favor of booming lower-end models that perform many of the same functions for a fraction of the price. China’s slowing economy could cause the trend to accelerate, since many consumers are now looking for ways to cut back their spending due to uncertainty about the future. Read Full Post…
A new announcement by online gaming and mobile app store operator NetDragon (HKEx: 777) is raising the possibility of further talks with leading search firm Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), just a week after the pair agreed to a major asset sale. This new announcement is headlined with a recent share buyback by NetDragon, whose stock plummeted 20 percent last week after it announced it would sell its controlling 57 percent stake in app store 91Wireless to Baidu for $1.1 billion. (previous post) But a closer reading of the announcement seems to contain some other implications, including closer tie-ups with Baidu and even a potential renegotiation of the 99Wireless deal. Read Full Post…
After a painful retrenchment over the last 2 years, China’s private education sector is showing early signs of a brighter future in the latest upbeat results of TAL Education (NYSE: XRS). The company not only posted growth that was solidly higher than its previous guidance, but also forecast an acceleration of that growth in the current quarter as it begins to reap the rewards of an overhaul that has produced a leaner, more focused company. The positive results prompted 2 major research houses to raise their price targets for the company, hinting that a new period of growth could be coming for long-neglected China education stocks. Read Full Post…
China’s top 2 telecoms equipment makers appear to be losing their patience with growing hostility from the west, with Huawei making unusually frank remarks about its frustrations as ZTE (HKEx: 763) announces a major new initiative in the friendlier India market. I’m not surprised at all by this latest turn of events, as both companies are probably realizing they won’t be making any major inroads into the US networking equipment market anytime soon. To make matters worse, both are facing growing resistance in the lucrative Western European markets as well, where Huawei had previously made strong progress. Read Full Post…
Shanghai’s new buses: Symbols of the future or past?
This week’s Street View takes us back to the roads of Shanghai once more, with news that the city is rolling out a new fleet of super-long buses to make more room for millions of residents who are tired of feeling like sardines on their commutes to and from work.
The city is billing these new buses as state-of-the-art technology that will put Shanghai on the global transport map, with plans to put 3,000 of them on the road starting next month. But to me they look suspiciously like a throwback to China’s simpler but inefficient past of clunky slow-moving buses staffed by snippity ticket sellers. Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between. Read Full Post…
Cultural Revolution elephant steps out into daylight
In America we have an expression called “the elephant in the room”, which refers to a topic that everyone knows about but no one wants to discuss because it’s too awkward. Many families have such elephants in their homes, and China also has several in its modern history, most of which are off limits for public discussion.
But at least one such elephant, the Cultural Revolution, seems to be quietly coming into the open these days through a growing number of documents and other materials making their way out of the attics and storerooms and into low-key public displays. Read Full Post…
Just days after making its first acquisition in China under a new CEO, faded US search giant Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) is reportedly in talks to re-acquire the Chinese rights to its brand from former China partner Alibaba. The reports, if true, would be the latest signal that Yahoo is gearing up for a major new attempt to become a player in China’s huge Internet market, following 2 failed previous attempts. If such a new foray really comes, Yahoo would join other major US Internet giants such as eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), which also look set to make big new pushes into China following earlier failures. Read Full Post…
China’s boom in online and mobile commerce is driving a new explosion in complementary financial services, with the latest offering coming through a tie-up between China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPD) (Shanghai: 600000). At the same time, media are reporting that leading web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) is getting ready to roll out its own new online banking product, seeking to tap demand from the more than 500 million registered users for its popular Weibo microblogging service, often called the Twitter of China. Read Full Post…
Consolidation in China’s crowded Internet is moving ahead full steam these days, with the latest reports indicating that online matchmaking site Jiayuan.com International (Nasdaq: DATE) may be the latest takeover target. If the reports are true, the talks would mark the latest tie-up that has seen cash-rich Internet giants including Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), Alibaba and Tencent (HKEx: 700) embark on a recent buying frenzy for undervalued and cash-starved smaller Internet firms. Jiayuan certainly seems to fit that description, as the company’s shares have languished since its IPO 2 years ago. Read Full Post…
Yahoo makes first China purchase with Ztelic under new CEO
If Yahoo’s (Nasdaq: YHOO) new chief executive Marissa Mayer wanted to confuse the market about her China strategy, she’s doing a good job with the company’s latest move in the market. Just 3 months after shuttering its China email service, in what looked like the prelude to a withdrawal from the market, Yahoo has announced its purchase of a Chinese R&D startup. (English article) In all fairness, Mayer has only been on the job for a year and these kinds of little strategic moves are relatively common for incoming executives. But this kind of mixed signal could also auger a confused strategy in China, similar to Yahoo’s previous strategy that ultimately led to its failure twice in the complex market. Read Full Post…
