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New numbers from the Education Ministry show a rising number of Chinese are returning home after study abroad, reflecting the growing attraction of living and working in their native country. As someone who has lived and worked in China for much of the last quarter century, this turnaround is quite remarkable and reflects the fact that the China of today is in many ways a completely different country from the one that I remember in the 1980s. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 25. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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After a 4 year cycle that saw China’s group buying sector first boom and then crash spectacularly, we could finally see an IPO soon from Meituan, which has emerged as the industry’s leader and a true survivor. Media are reporting that Meituan is close to getting $100 million in new funding — an admirable feat in the current climate that has seen investors largely shun the group of former high flyers. That investment would come just weeks after leading Internet firm Tencent (HKEx: 700) purchased 20 percent of Dianping, another strong player that has emerged in the group buying space. (previous post) Read Full Post…
Perhaps I was a bit hasty a couple of weeks ago in declaring that a new IPO plan by online real estate company E-House (NYSE: EJ) for its Leju unit looked like the recycling of an old listing that flopped and was eventually privatized. Since that initial announcement, E-House has followed with a couple of new plans for Leju, both involving collaboration with Tencent (HKEx: 700), China’s biggest Internet company. In the latest of those, E-House has just announced that Tencent will become a strategic investor in Leju, paying $180 million for 15 percent of the unit. (company announcement) Read Full Post…
Telecoms giants Huawei and ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) are in the headlines today for their newer product initiatives, as each tries to offset slowing growth in their core telecoms equipment business. Of the pair, Huawei’s news looks the most bullish, with the company targeting a sharp rise in smartphone sales as it sets its sights on overtaking Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) as the world’s second largest seller. Meantime, ZTE has formally rolled out its new gaming console, the FunBox, which looks a bit more exciting that I’d originally imagined and carries an extremely low price tag. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 22-24. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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A growing love affair between Hollywood and Shanghai has taken a major step forward, with the formal ground-breaking for a $2.4 billion entertainment complex being co-developed by US giant DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA) and the city’s leading broadcaster. As a longtime industry watcher, I’m most encouraged that this project is actually moving forward, even if the latest price tag is a bit lower than the figure given when the deal was first announced nearly 2 years ago. Over the years I’ve seen too many cases where big new Sino-foreign projects have been announced with big fanfare, only to later die quiet deaths due to failure to get necessary approvals and financing. Read Full Post…
I don’t usually offer direct investment advice in this space, but today I can’t resist opining that perhaps investors are being a bit hasty in dumping shares of China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) after the nation’s dominant wireless carrier reported its first annual profit decline in more than a decade. The decline shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, since China Mobile reported an 8.8 percent profit decline in the third quarter. Obviously falling profits are never something investors want to see. But in this case it’s also worth noting that China Mobile has responded to the challenge with a number of new initiatives that show it is finally waking up to a new reality where it faces growing competition from the private sector. Read Full Post…
China and the European Union have reached a new settlement that should formally end their ongoing dispute over solar panels, contrasting sharply from a more confrontational tack taken by the US in a similar spat. Meantime in other solar news, a looming new bond default by a mid-sized panel maker has become the latest sign that Beijing is prepared to let more of these smaller companies miss their debt payments. That approach will force these smaller firms to either leave the industry or sell their money-losing operations to larger peers, in a much-needed industry consolidation. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 21. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Two of China’s leading Internet companies are taking their first baby steps outside their home market, with word that online game maker NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES) is moving into the US and fast-rising discount e-commerce firm Vipshop (NYSE: VIPS) is tying up with a Russian partner. The pair are joining China’s “big 3” Internet firms, Alibaba, Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and Tencent (HKEx: 700), in making recent moves outside their home market, as each looks for new growth opportunities. All of these companies also want to convince the world that they can compete in the real world outside their own highly protected and heavily restricted home market. Read Full Post…
