The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 3. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China Investigates Danone, Nestle on Milk-Powder Pricing (English article)
Japanese Car Sales in China Decline for Fourth Quarter (English article)
Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) To Redeem Outstanding Notes Due 2013 (PRNewswire)
Spreadtrum (Nasdaq: SPRD) Board Selects Advisor On Tsinghua Offer (PRNewswire)
Qihoo (NYSE: QIHU) a Winner in China Mobile Wars, Citigroup Says (English article)
After its first attempt to develop the China e-commerce market failed miserably nearly a decade ago, US Internet giant eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) is making some smarter moves this time around by choosing better partners and also building up its business more gradually. In the company’s latest China development, media are reporting eBay has formed a new joint venture with Chinese Internet giant Tencent (HKEx: 700). At the same time, separate reports are saying that eBay may fail in its bid to become the first foreign licensee to offer electronic payment services in China. Read Full Post…
Local chicken lovers are clucking with a collective sigh of relief these days, after Shanghai formally ended its 2-month ban on live poultry sales in the city’s dozens of wet markets. I have to commend the city for its rational, even-handed approach to the situation, which forced it to find a middle road in balancing local tastes for live birds with the health threat raised by the outbreak of H7N9 in April. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 2. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Sohu’s (Nasdaq: SOHU) Sogou May Announce M&A Details in July – Report (English article)
China Formally Launches EU Wine Probe In Latest Trade Spat (English article)
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) to Raise Minimum China App Price To 8 Yuan (English article)
Peugeot (Paris: PEUP) Opens 3rd China Plant As Europe Sales Slide (English article)
Former Top Nokia Exec Becomes Huawei VP For End User Products (Chinese article)
The inevitable price wars may finally be coming to China’s smartphone market, in an all-too-common pattern seen time and again for popular new products. Media have been so busy reporting about how China will become the world’s biggest smartphone market this year that no one has really stepped back to examine the phenomenon and why it’s happening. At least one media is finally doing that, and reporting that inventories are suddenly building up to dangerous levels at the homegrown smartphone makers that are the main force behind China’s recent smartphone boom. Read Full Post…
With this year’s gaokao college entrance exam now officially in the past, students and educators in China can return to the more serious business of learning at the thousands of Chinese universities that are churning out the country’s academics, entrepreneurs and business leaders of tomorrow. These centers of higher learning today are far different from the ones I encountered when I first came to China in 1987 to teach at a tiny institution called the Beijing Graduate School of Geology. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 29-July 1. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Tencent (HKEx: 700), eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) To Launch JV Site – Source (English article)
Temasek Increases Stake In China’s ICBC (HKEx: 1398) (English article)
A small brouhaha has broken out in the Chinese media these last few days over what looks like perhaps the clumsy beginning of a takeover attempt involving Zoomlion (HKEx: 1157; Shenzhen: 000157) and Sany Heavy (Shanghai: 600031), China’s 2 top construction equipment makers. I’m not quite convinced that this was a real takeover attempt, as the numbers involved are quite small. But whatever happened, the instance was a reminder that Chinese firms are still quite clumsy at unsolicited M&A, especially the hostile type. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 28. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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BMW (Frankfurt: BMWG): Breakneck Growth in China Is Over (English article)
US Lawmakers To Examine Smithfield (NYSE: SFD)-Shuanghui Deal (English article)
High inventories At Leading Smartphone Vendors May Cause Price War (English article)
Datang Telecom (Shanghai: 600198) To Acquire Gaming Firm Yaowan (English article)
Suning.com (Shenzhen: 002024) To Test Electronic Receipts in August (English article)
The China telecoms world is buzzing this week at a major trade show in Shanghai, with everyone giving their latest outlook on commercial 4G services that could launch later this year. Leading the headlines was a forecast of return to profits for embattled telecoms equipment maker ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063), as predicted by one company official. Meantime, leading telco China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) was giving new details about its massive 4G build-out planned for the rest of the year, and its 2 main rivals were also discussing which technology they will use for their networks. Read Full Post…
I’m not the biggest fan of software security specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) due to its sometimes dubious business practices that often result in lawsuits and other complaints against the company. But I do have to admire the creative ways it finds to secretly install its products on people’s computers, which I suspect is the main motivation for its newly announced wireless router that carries a very low price tag. Of course all this stealth activity is just slightly ironic for a company like Qihoo, whose core product is software that’s supposed to make users’ computers more secure. Read Full Post…
