The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 24. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Tencent (HKEx: 700) Invests in Xiaomi via Russia’s Digital Sky – Sources (English article)
US Citizen Detained As China Pharma Probe Spreads (English article)
China’s top 2 telecoms equipment makers appear to be losing their patience with growing hostility from the west, with Huawei making unusually frank remarks about its frustrations as ZTE (HKEx: 763) announces a major new initiative in the friendlier India market. I’m not surprised at all by this latest turn of events, as both companies are probably realizing they won’t be making any major inroads into the US networking equipment market anytime soon. To make matters worse, both are facing growing resistance in the lucrative Western European markets as well, where Huawei had previously made strong progress. Read Full Post…
Shanghai’s new buses: Symbols of the future or past?
This week’s Street View takes us back to the roads of Shanghai once more, with news that the city is rolling out a new fleet of super-long buses to make more room for millions of residents who are tired of feeling like sardines on their commutes to and from work.
The city is billing these new buses as state-of-the-art technology that will put Shanghai on the global transport map, with plans to put 3,000 of them on the road starting next month. But to me they look suspiciously like a throwback to China’s simpler but inefficient past of clunky slow-moving buses staffed by snippity ticket sellers. Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between. Read Full Post…
Cultural Revolution elephant steps out into daylight
In America we have an expression called “the elephant in the room”, which refers to a topic that everyone knows about but no one wants to discuss because it’s too awkward. Many families have such elephants in their homes, and China also has several in its modern history, most of which are off limits for public discussion.
But at least one such elephant, the Cultural Revolution, seems to be quietly coming into the open these days through a growing number of documents and other materials making their way out of the attics and storerooms and into low-key public displays. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 23. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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KFC (NYSE: YUM) Ice Cubes Found Dirtier Than Toilet Water (English article)
Glaxo (London: GSK) Says Executives Appear To Have Broken Chinese Law (English article)
TAL Education (NYSE: XRS) Announces Unaudited Fiscal Q1 Results (PRNewswire)
Just days after making its first acquisition in China under a new CEO, faded US search giant Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) is reportedly in talks to re-acquire the Chinese rights to its brand from former China partner Alibaba. The reports, if true, would be the latest signal that Yahoo is gearing up for a major new attempt to become a player in China’s huge Internet market, following 2 failed previous attempts. If such a new foray really comes, Yahoo would join other major US Internet giants such as eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), which also look set to make big new pushes into China following earlier failures. Read Full Post…
China’s boom in online and mobile commerce is driving a new explosion in complementary financial services, with the latest offering coming through a tie-up between China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPD) (Shanghai: 600000). At the same time, media are reporting that leading web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) is getting ready to roll out its own new online banking product, seeking to tap demand from the more than 500 million registered users for its popular Weibo microblogging service, often called the Twitter of China. Read Full Post…
Consolidation in China’s crowded Internet is moving ahead full steam these days, with the latest reports indicating that online matchmaking site Jiayuan.com International (Nasdaq: DATE) may be the latest takeover target. If the reports are true, the talks would mark the latest tie-up that has seen cash-rich Internet giants including Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), Alibaba and Tencent (HKEx: 700) embark on a recent buying frenzy for undervalued and cash-starved smaller Internet firms. Jiayuan certainly seems to fit that description, as the company’s shares have languished since its IPO 2 years ago. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 20-22. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) To Reacquire China Yahoo From Alibaba – Source (English article)
SPD (Shanghai: 600000), China Mobile (HKEx: 941) In E-Payments Tie-Up (Chinese article)
Yahoo makes first China purchase with Ztelic under new CEO
If Yahoo’s (Nasdaq: YHOO) new chief executive Marissa Mayer wanted to confuse the market about her China strategy, she’s doing a good job with the company’s latest move in the market. Just 3 months after shuttering its China email service, in what looked like the prelude to a withdrawal from the market, Yahoo has announced its purchase of a Chinese R&D startup. (English article) In all fairness, Mayer has only been on the job for a year and these kinds of little strategic moves are relatively common for incoming executives. But this kind of mixed signal could also auger a confused strategy in China, similar to Yahoo’s previous strategy that ultimately led to its failure twice in the complex market. Read Full Post…
I’ve often criticized PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992) for its overly aggressive policies towards M&A and expansion, so I’m quite happy to offer some praise for the company’s sudden ability to say “no” in 2 recent moves that looked problematic. In the last 2 weeks, the company that formerly couldn’t walk away from any expansion deal has suddenly scrapped 2 potential new initiatives, one in smartphones and the other in online gaming consoles. The former instance has seen Lenovo walk away from a plan to take over the struggling cellphone business of Japan’s NEC (Tokyo: 6701), while the latter has seen the company get rid of its game console business called Eedoo. Read Full Post…
