The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 19. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Vacation Rental Site Tujia Completes $100 Mln Series C Funding (English article)
ZTE (HKEx: 763) Files Antitrust Complaint With European Commission Against Vringo (Businesswire)
Guangzhou Daily Withdraws Lawsuit Against Today’s Headlines App (Chinese article)
Huawei Expands In Russian Tech Services After Putin’s China Deal (English article)
Billionaire JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) Founder Lines Up Next Challenge: Beating Alibaba (English article)
Two of China’s leading filmmakers are in the headlines today, with Huayi Bros (Shenzhen: 300027) and Enlight Media (Shenzhen: 300251) both making mid-sized acquisitions to diversify their operations in the rapidly changing media space. Both companies are taking steps outside their core businesses, reflecting the latest in a series of uneasy marriages between traditional content makers and newer companies involved in an array of content making and media-related services.
In the first case, Huayi is buying a controlling stake in Shenzhen Huayuxun Tech Co, operator of the maizuo.com Internet ticketing platform. The second deal will see Enlight buy a similar controlling stake in game developer and operator Refeng Network Technology. Read Full Post…
An unprecedented veto by China’s anti monopoly regulator is shining a spotlight on the nation’s growing clout in global corporate deals, and is also providing clues about how Beijing could use regulatory powers to protect major state-owned firms. This particular deal has implications for both the trade and corporate sectors, as Beijing has formally blocked a deal that would have seen 3 of Europe’s top shipping companies form a global alliance. That alliance might have benefited the entire industry with lower prices and reduced costs, but it almost certainly would have posed a challenge to China’s major state-owned shippers. Read Full Post…
Following the recent completion of this year’s national college entrance exam, or gaokao, and the coming end of the academic year, I thought I’d take a look this week at the concept of cheating and its place in the academic worlds of both China and the US. I was drawn to the subject after reading about the extraordinary measures that test centers took in Shanghai to prevent high-tech cheating during this year’s recent gaokao.
As a university teacher myself, I also have strong views and experience with the matter, though nothing surprises me much these days after 4 nearly years teaching both undergraduates and graduate students. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 18. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Search Engines Halt P2P Platform Promotion (Chinese article)
Volvo’s China Export Plans Mark New Phase In Geely (HKEx: 175) Strategy (English article)
Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE) Reports Q1 Results (PRNewswire)
LightInTheBox (NYSE: LITB) Announces Resignations Of President, Senior VP (PRNewswire)
Citic Adds Investors Including Tencent (HKEx: 700), Och-Ziff to Share Sale (English article)
Legend Holdings is trying to show it’s more than just a technology company in the run-up to an IPO as early as this year, with word that it’s investing in one of China’s largest dental clinic operators. The move looks like a smart one for several reasons, and should certainly help convince investors that Legend is different from its biggest individual holding, PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992). That kind of differentiation will be critical to the success of an IPO, which could offer a chance for investors to buy into one of China’s oldest entrepreneurial firms. Read Full Post…
Shares of US-listed Chinese real estate websites have been on a roller coaster ride these last few days, raising the question of what the next few years may hold for industry stalwarts SouFun (NYSE: SFUN) and E-House (NYSE: EJ), and newly listed Leju (Nasdaq: LEJU). For anyone who doesn’t live in China and is reading this, the issue that’s weighing on investors’ minds is the fate of a Chinese real estate market that’s showing early signs of a needed correction after years of hyper growth. Such a correction would undoubtedly put a chill on transaction volumes and other service-related activities, which form the mainstay of these New York-listed firms. Read Full Post…
Semiconductor chipmaker Montage Technology (Nasdaq: MONT) could soon become the latest Chinese firm to de-list from New York, after it accepted a buyout offer last week not long after its shares were hammered by a short seller attack. Like many of its US-listed Chinese peers that have also recently privatized, Montage learned the hard way that publicly traded firms are often helpless in the face of short sellers that prey on weak and poorly governed listed companies. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 17. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Just a month after word emerged that Japanese mobile messaging giant Line had found a China partner, new reports are saying the company is preparing to formally enter the market in the next few months. The company will certainly have a steep hill to climb in China, where it will have to challenge industry juggernaut WeChat, owned by Tencent (HKEx: 700). But that said, I do think that Line could quickly gain a major audience in China if it positions itself as an alternative for globally-minded business professionals. It should move as quickly as possible, as I fully expect global leader WhatsApp to make a similar major push into China within the next year. Read Full Post…
Last month’s launch of China’s first new mobile services in a decade is showing early signs of shaking up the market, with competition likely to intensify as more licenses are awarded to a new generation of privately owned virtual network operators (VNOs). According to the latest headlines, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is getting ready to issue its third round of VNO licenses, which allow private companies to sell telecoms services under their own brands by leasing network capacity from the nation’s 3 existing state-run telcos. Read Full Post…
