Rising e-commerce giant JD.com has been all over the blogosphere this past week, trumpeting some major adjustments in its core e-commerce unit as it also prepares to become one of the first companies to challenge China’s 3 major telcos under a new plan to open up that sector. Of course all of this comes against the backdrop of JD.com’s own upcoming New York IPO, which could raise up to $1.5 billion.
If I was being cynical, I might say that much of this buzz is aimed at keeping JD in the headlines as it prepares to list, especially since last week saw early signs that the red-hot New York market for Chinese IPOs may be starting to cool. But in this case, I do think that much of the buzz coming from JD seems genuine and isn’t just hype, as the company tries to position itself to pose a major challenge to e-commerce leader Alibaba. Read Full Post…
Fast rising search operators Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) and Sogou may be challenging sector heavyweight Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) in terms of market share, but they’re having far more difficulty finding an audience among advertisers that are the sector’s main revenue source. That’s my main conclusion after seeing the latest data for all 3 companies, which show Qihoo and Sogou making steady gains in terms of search traffic but failing to translate those gains into meaningful revenue. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 10. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Goldman (NYSE: GS), Warburg Advance In China Huarong Sale: Sources (English article)
MIIT To Begin Private Sector Broadband Network Trials in H2 (English article)
Big-screen theater technology company Imax (NYSE: IMAX) is in the headlines today for a savvy move that will make it look more Chinese as it attempts to grab a major slice of the nation’s booming film market. The newly announced deal has Canada-based Imax selling 20 percent of its China unit to 2 local partners, including one with strong ties in China’s commercial capital of Shanghai. Equally interesting, Imax is saying it aims to list its China unit on one of China’s stock exchanges in the next 5 years, in what would become a rare instance of a domestic IPO by a majority foreign-owned company. Read Full Post…
China’s is steadily improving its review process for major M&A, with the country’s anti-monopoly regulator giving the nod to major acquisitions by software leader Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) on the same day this week. The bigger of the 2 deals saw the Commerce Ministry approve Microsoft’s purchase of Nokia’s (Helsinki: NOK1V) cellphone assets; while the latter saw InBev get approval for its purchase of Siping Ginsber, a mid-sized Chinese brewer. Read Full Post…
The booming market for Chinese IPOs in New York got some worrisome signals last week after investors shunned 2 new listing candidates, raising the very real possibility that the current wave of enthusiasm is quickly ebbing. That could mean a new period of stagnation or even a downturn is looming for the sector, which suffered for 2 years before rebounding sharply in the second half of 2013. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 9. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Jack Ma, Shi Yuzhu Invest 6.5 Bln Yuan In Wasu Media (Shenzhen: 000156) (Chinese article)
China Approves InBev (NYSE: BUD) Purchase Of Siping Ginsber (Chinese article)
Imax (NYSE: IMAX) Sells 20 Pct Of China Business To 2 Partners (Chinese article)
China Mobile (HKEx: 941) VNO Partners Start To Apply For Licenses (Chinese article)
iKang Healthcare (Nasdaq: KANG) Prices IPO At $14, The High End Of Range (English article)
The news has been flying thick and fast these past 2 few for Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP), including the latest word that China’s oldest and largest online travel agent could be headed for a merger with fast-rising rival Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR). I actually predicted this potential merger last fall in the run-up to Qunar’s IPO, even though nothing happened at that time. Now the latest reports are saying such a deal is in late-stage talks as Ctrip prepares to sell a controlling stake of itself to leading search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), which also happens to be Qunar’s controlling stakeholder. Read Full Post…
Shanghai is finally taking more action to combat the growing problem of attacks on health care workers, urging hospitals to take better measures to improve security to prevent such clashes. The campaign is certainly a good first step, though much more needs to be done to tackle a growing problem that looks quite bizarre to a westerner who never heard of such attacks before coming to China.
Obviously there are many reasons for this problem, which in extreme cases has even seen doctors killed by angry patients who believed they or their relatives received inferior health. While lack of civility is partly to blame, health care professionals themselves are bear some responsibility for this strange and unacceptable behavior that has no place in modern society. Read Full Post…
It’s probably too early to declare the death of an ambitious plan to liven up China’s stodgy telecoms services sector through the injection of new private sector competition. But the latest reports that these new competitors, called virtual network operators (VNOs), are facing difficulties due to high prices being charged by their suppliers is just the latest sign that the plan from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is running into trouble. I’ve been predicting such trouble all along, and these latest reports are raising serious concerns that the new VNOs will never get a serious chance to succeed. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 5-8. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Baidu Near Deal To Control Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP), Integrate With Qunar (Chinese article)
Weibo IPO Could Value Company At About $1.66 Bln (English article)
Xunlei Lands $310 Mln In New Funding Led By Xiaomi – Source (English article)
GlaxoSmithKline (London: GSK) Sacks Some China Staff For Malpractice: Source (English article)
Tuniu Files To Raise Up To $120 Mln In New York IPO (Chinese article)
