All my previous predictions that e-commerce leader Alibaba would ultimately make its mega IPO in Hong Kong were wrong, with word that the company is now firmly fixed on New York for its highly anticipated share sale. In my defense, I should say that a huge surge in positive sentiment over the last 5 months towards China Internet stocks on Wall Street undoubtedly helped to change Alibaba’s mind. The company had previously stated on numerous occasions that Hong Kong was the preferred venue for its blockbuster IPO, which reports are now saying could raise up to $15 billion, making it the world’s biggest Internet offering since Facebook (Nasdaq; FB) raised $16 billion in 2012. Read Full Post…
Word that Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) CEO Dick Costolo is making a trip to China just 4 months after his company’s IPO will almost certainly set to world tweeting about whether the social networking giant could be considering a play for the world’s largest Internet market. Such a move seems just a tad unlikely in the very near future, since Costolo has previously said that China isn’t a place where Twitter can operate due to the country’s tough self-censorship laws. But much has happened in the last 4 months that could be causing him to re-think his position, including the recent entry to China by corporate networking giant LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) and the upcoming $500 million New York IPO for Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo, often called the Twitter of China. Read Full Post…
I have a lot of respect for Tencent (HKEx: 700), China’s largest Internet company and now one of the world’s most valuable web firms based on the meteoric rise in its stock over the last few years. But that said, I’m starting to have some concerns about the company’s future due to its sudden move into many unfamiliar areas, including the latest which reportedly has it looking to buy a cellphone maker. In a somewhat ironic twist, Tencent’s cellular foray would come just a couple of months after Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), the world’s largest Internet company, admitted failure with its own cellphone adventure by selling its Motorola Mobility unit at a major loss.
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 15-17. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo Files For $500 Mln US IPO (English article)
Central Bank Halts Virtual Credit Cards Of Alibaba, Tencent (HKEx: 700) (English article)
Alibaba To Submit IPO Application As Early As April – Sources (Chinese article)
Mobile E-commerce Site Maimaibao Gets $200 Mln Funding – Sources (English article)
Tencent (HKEx: 700) Shuts Group Of WeChat Public Accounts For Violations (Chinese article)
Sales and marketing executives at China’s leading brands are almost certainly losing sleeping these last few nights, as they prepare for the Consumer Rights Day annual assault by state media each year on March 15. To their credit, Chinese media are usually relatively unbiased in choosing the subjects for their attacks, focusing on anyone with a big, recognizable brand name. But that often means the big multinational consumer brands are some of the easiest targets, since many are well known and highly respected by Chinese consumers. China executives from many of those companies will probably be spending this Saturdays in front of their TVs waiting to see if they’ve been targeted under a new attack this year. Read Full Post…
The list of traditional retailers suffering from the e-commerce challenge has gained a new member, with domestic giant Wumart (HKEx: 1025) reporting its profit for 2013 fell for the first time in 5 years. It’s noteworthy to point out the last time Wumart’s profit fell was at the height of the global financial crisis in 2008, when the reasons for the downturn were sudden and severe but also relatively short-term. This time the reasons are much more gradual and signal a longer term decline for traditional retailers like Wumart, which are facing an unprecedented challenge from big e-commerce names like Alibaba, JD.com and Amazon China (Nasdaq: AMZN). Read Full Post…
Barely a week goes by these days without a new “flavor of the day” for China’s acquisitive Internet titans, who are moving their focus to video content makers with 2 big new acquisitions by Alibaba and LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104). These deals are somewhat logical, as most of China’s biggest Internet names now own Internet video and TV products and these content providers can help to supply exclusive material for those operations. But if history is any indicator, this kind of in-house production is almost certain to fail because it strips these content makers of the flexibility they need to survive by selling into a competitive marketplace. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 14. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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The latest developments in an ongoing strike at an IBM (NYSE: IBM) plant in Shenzhen are highlighting the big gap that still exists between Chinese companies and their western peers in terms of attractiveness as employers. In the latest twist to the story, half of the workers at the south China plant have decided to accept severance packages and quit their jobs rather than go to work for Chinese PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992), which is set to take over the plant as part of its purchase of IBM’s low-end server business for $2.3 billion. (Chinese article) Read Full Post…
I have to credit telecoms equipment maker ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) for chasing an interesting new idea, following reports that it’s preparing to launch a gaming console later this month. Such a plan plays to ZTE’s telecoms strength, since such consoles are almost inevitably connected to the Internet these days and are rapidly merging with a similar group of Internet TV set-top boxes. But that said, I have some serious doubts about the chances of success for this new foray, due to the company’s late arrival to the space, and also because I question its choice of venture partner, faded online game operator The9 (Nasdaq: NCTY). Read Full Post…
Many of China’s biggest tech leaders were chattering in cyberspace last week from Beijing, where they were gathered for this year’s National People’s Congress and the related Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), collectively known as the lianghui. Lei Jun, CEO of handset sensation Xioami, was uncharacteristically low-key in talking about his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as was Li Dongsheng, the soft-spoken CEO of leading TV maker TCL (HKEx: 1070; Shenzhen: 000100). But the marketing savvy Xiaomi was still up to its usual publicity tricks, helping to spread a series of photos showing Robin Li, founder of search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), using a Xiaomi handset in one of the sessions. Read Full Post…
