A couple of items in the headlines this week are shining a spotlight on threats to some age-old Chinese traditions, and raising the question of whether they’re worth continuing and whether they should be modified. The first involves ancient Chinese literature, following the city’s decision to scrap previous mandatory study of classical poetry for first graders starting this year.
The second tradition involves moon cakes, which are already starting to flood into our local stores and also the news headlines as the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches. This year I’ll skip the usual stories about favorite flavors and the black market for moon cake coupons. Instead I’ll focus on a newer angle that has many companies ending the annual practice of giving moon cakes as gifts to their clients. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 3. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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US Business Lobby Says Concerned China Antitrust Probes Unfair (English article)
Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) To Buy Celebrity Century Shop From Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL) (PRNewswire)
Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) Acquires Majority Of Yunnan Metallurgical New Energy (PRNewswire)
KKR Sells Final Stake In China Modern Dairy (HKEx: 1117) For $80 Mln: Source (English article)
Tencent (HKEx: 700) Invests $70 Mln In Online Medical Portal DXY (English article)
Worrisome signs of a crackdown are growing in the online video sector, where a field of young private firms rolling out a new generation of TV-like products are facing strong resistance from traditional television stations. The latest signs of turmoil are coming from PPTV, a former industry leader that is slowly getting carved up among investors as it is forced to scrap some of its most promising new products. The former high-flyer is showing up in 2 separate headlines today, including one that has seen it shelve its TV set-top box product. The other headline has the company selling 10 percent of itself to Phoenix Publishing & Media (Shanghai: 601928), marking its third major stake sale in the last year as it slowly gets carved up among a group of diverse investors. Read Full Post…
Officials at the 2 main regulators probing foreign firms for anti-competitive behavior are turning up their public relations machine to defend their actions, even as they also turn up the pressure on Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) in one of the highest profile investigations. I remarked last week how unusual it was when the secretive State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) held a rare press conference to defend a series of probes that have targeted Microsoft, along with global smartphone chip giant Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) and many major auto makers. (previous post) Now the equally secretive National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the other antitrust regulator, is launching its own initiative by granting an unprecedented newspaper interview to discuss the matter. Read Full Post…
Despite disappointing progress in China’s plan to put hundreds of thousands of new energy vehicles on its roads by next year, American electric car maker Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) has made remarkable progress despite its late arrival to the market. The company has won its strong initial results though a smart combination of savvy marketing and initiatives to encourage building of necessary infrastructure to support its buyers.
The latest of those initiatives saw Tesla last week announce a partnership with Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU), China’s second largest mobile carrier, to install charging stations at hundreds of Unicom outlets nationwide. (English article) As a result of these and other efforts, Tesla has been the lone player so far to succeed in China’s broader consumer market, an area that will be critical to achieving Beijing’s goals. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 2. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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VNOs Enter Silent Period, Sign-Ups Total Just 300,000 After 3 Months (Chinese article)
SAIC Seeks Written Explanation In Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Probe Within 20 Days (Chinese article)
Huawei, Alipay Introduce First Domestic Fingerprint Payment Standard (Chinese article)
Phoenix Publishing & Media (Shanghai: 601928) To Acquire 10 Pct Of PPTV (English article)
China’s Li Ning (HKEx: 2331) Stumbles From Gold Medal Spot To No Man’s Land (English article)
The latest headlines about an upcoming IPO for online game operator Linekong made me realize it’s been quite a while since we last saw any news of offshore listing plans by Chinese Internet and tech firms. Such listings were coming nonstop earlier this year, and saw a wide range of names including the Twitter-like Weibo (Nasdaq: WB), e-commerce giant JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) and real estate services site Leju (NYSE: LEJU) all make IPOs in New York. But the Internet IPO pipeline has gone largely silent since early August, when mobile game operator iDreamSky (Nasdaq: DSKY) made its trading debut. Read Full Post…
Most of the recent flood of probes against foreign firms have been of the civil variety, resulting in stiff fines for anti-competitive behavior but few or no criminal charges and prison time. But that trend could be changing, with officials at car maker Volkswagen (Frankfurt: VOWG) and a former major meat supplier to McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) and KFC (NYSE: YUM) being probed or charged with crimes that could end with lengthy prison terms. It’s probably still too early to say if criminal charges against executives at major multinationals will become a trend. But if it does, it could certainly send a new chill into China’s rapidly worsening relationship with western businesses and governments. Read Full Post…
I’ve become a big fan lately of top Internet company Tencent (HKEx: 700), which has taken a more focused, measured approach to M&A in a recent string of major acquisitions and tie-ups by China’s top 3 web firms. But the company seems to be rapidly moving into M&A overdrive, following word of 3 major new deals this week alone, none of which looks too exciting or focused. Whereas nearly all of Tencent’s tie-ups to date have been with other online firms, the trio of rumored new deals all involve major players from traditional industries that have little or no experience on the Internet. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on August 30-September 1. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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6 Detained, Arrested In Husi Tainted Meat Scandal (Chinese article)
iPhone 6 May Cost More Than 6,000 Yuan As Telcos Trim Subsidies (Chinese article)
Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA), Unicom (HKEx: 763) To Build Charging Outlets Across China (English article)
China Construction Bank (HKEx: 939) Announces Interim Results (HKEx announcement)
Game Maker Linekong Files For HK IPO, Gets Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Funding (Chinese article)
We’ll have to wait a few weeks to see who wins the title for China’s most valuable Internet company, but the champion for wealthiest chief executive has just been declared with Alibaba founder Jack Ma beating out Tencent (HKEx: 700) chief Pony Ma for the title. That declaration, based on estimates by Bloomberg, comes after release of the latest public filing from Alibaba in the run-up to its highly anticipated IPO that could come in less than 3 weeks. That filing also showed that profits from China’s leading e-commerce company rose 60 percent in the second quarter, an impressive feat for a company of its size. Read Full Post…
