Chinese tech firms making IPOs in New York are calling on some wealthy friends to help them succeed as mainstream investors rapidly lose interest in the group. That’s my conclusion following the modestly successful pricing and debut for security software maker Cheetah Mobile (NYSE: CMCM), which comes as a small positive sign for the market. Cheetah relied on some big-name friends to help its listing succeed, including controlling shareholder Kingsoft (HKEx: 3888), as well as smartphone sensation Xiaomi and leading Chinese search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). Read Full Post…
News Digest: May 9, 2014
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 9. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Cheetah Mobile (NYSE: CMCM) Gains in Trading Debut After $168 Million IPO (English article)
- AgBank (HKEx: 1288) Plans to Raise $12.8 Bln In Capital (English article)
- Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Says In Talks For Phone Recycling Program In China (Chinese article)
- TCL (HKEx: 2618) Says Smartphone Sales Tripled To 8.83 Mln Units In Jan-April (Chinese article)
- Yingli (NYSE: YGE) To Supply 30 MW PV Modules to Turkey’s Tekno Ray Solar (PRNewswire)
- Latest calendar for Q1 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
Ctrip, Soufun Sputter, Canadian Solar Picks Up In Q1
Three industry leaders have just announced their latest quarterly results, and the numbers look downbeat for online travel giant Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) and Internet real estate services firm Soufun (NYSE: SFUN). Meantime, some limited results from solar panel maker Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) look more positive, showing that both sales and prices are picking up more quickly than expected amid a spotty sector recovery from a 2 year downturn. Read Full Post…
Food Heats Up, Wine Cools With New Deals
A couple of restaurant deals are in the news this week, reflecting the big potential of China’s dining-out market as consumer tastes broaden beyond fast-food. One deal has an investment arm of luxury goods giant Louis Vuitton buying a Singaporean restaurant chain with a big China presence, while the other has leading restaurant ratings site Dianping buying an online take-out dining platform. But China’s growing taste for wine could be starting to slow, with word of another major deal involving the struggling Dynasty Fine Wines (HKEx: 828), one of the country’s leading domestic producers. Read Full Post…
Weibo: Vivo Chases Xiaomi, Autohome, Qihoo Execs At Play
It’s been a quiet week in the microblogging realm, due to the 3 day May Day holiday that saw much of China closed down for the latter part of the week to enjoy the arrival of spring. The vacation didn’t see any slowdown in the ongoing smartphone price wars in China, which are forcing local players to look overseas to escape the overheated domestic market. Mid-sized player Vivo became the latest player to look outside China, starting down a path that looks similar to that being blazed by smartphone sensation Xiaomi.
Meantime, top executives from car website Autohome (NYSE: ATHM) and software security maker Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) were having a bit more fun on their holidays. The vacation saw Autohome founder Li Xiang, and Qihoo’s controversial CEO Zhou Hongyi both take a break from their usual business thoughts to make some entertaining posts on their microblogs, showing how they like to spend their non-working time. Read Full Post…
News Digest: May 8, 2014
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 8. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) Reports Unaudited Q1 Financial Results (PRNewswire)
- Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) Announces Selective Preliminary Q1 Results (PRNewswire)
- Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) To Simultaneously Release New Season Of “24” (Chinese article)
- Alibaba, ShopRunner Plan To Launch Joint China Service (English article)
- Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) Search Traffic Share Up Slightly in April – CNZZ (English article)
- Latest calendar for Q1 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
Autohome Hit, Jumei Unfazed By Sputtering Market
The big IPO news of the day is Alibaba’s debut public filing for its long-awaited New York listing, but a flurry of other news in the space is continuing the recent stream of downbeat signals from the sputtering market. Leading the headlines are the latest terms for an offering by online cosmetics seller Jumei.com and a debut public filing for online recruitment firm Zhaopin.com, neither of which look too positive. The signals were equally negative from recently listed car information website Autohome (NYSE: ATHM), whose shares dived after it filed a fairly respectable first-quarter earnings report. Read Full Post…
Alibaba Files For IPO, As Yu’ebao Pauses
The IPO story of the year has finally begun, with word that leading Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba has finally made its first public filing for a listing in New York. But anyone hoping for a blockbuster deal that would have been the biggest tech IPO since Facebook’s (Nasdaq: FB) 2012 offering will be disappointed to learn that Alibaba is seeking to raise a relatively modest $1 billion in the deal. Alibaba made the filing as a separate media report said the company’s high-flying Yu’ebao, its financial product that competes with traditional bank savings accounts, is about to have its wings clipped with new reserve requirement regulations from the central bank. Read Full Post…
China Change: If I Could Change China
My 50th birthday is just 2 weeks away, so I thought I would give myself an early gift by making a few wishes for some of the things I would change about daily life in China if I could. When I first came to this country for the first time in 1986, I had no idea I would someday spend my 50th birthday here 28 years later.
Of course the China of today is completely different from the place I first visited all those years ago. But the point of my birthday wish list wasn’t to talk about all the changes from the last quarter century, but rather propose a few small ideas that could improve life for everyone. Read Full Post…
News Digest: May 7, 2014
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 7. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Alibaba Files Prospectus For New York IPO (Chinese article)
- Central Bank To Make Deposit Reserve Requirement For Yu’ebao – Source (Chinese article)
- Weibo (Nasdaq: WB) Begins Independent Blogger Revenue Sharing (English article)
- Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Video License Loss Puts NBA Live Broadcasts In Limbo (Chinese article)
- Autohome (NYSE: ATHM) Announces Unaudited Q1 Results (PRNewswire)
- Latest calendar for Q1 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
Tencent Travels With NavInfo Stake Buy
The buying binge by China’s 3 leading Internet companies continues this week, with news that social networking (SNS) giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) is purchasing 11.3 percent of mobile mapping firm NavInfo (Shenzhen: 002405) for 1.17 billion yuan ($183 million). Anyone who thinks I may be mistakenly recycling an old report with this news isn’t too far from the truth, as this particular deal looks quite similar to a different recent investment by e-commerce leader Alibaba in online mapping firm AutoNavi (Nasdaq: AMAP). Read Full Post…
