The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 15-17. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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EU Free-Trade States Urge Quick Resolution Of Chinese Solar Dispute (English article)
Beijing Warns Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) Over Recall Double Standards (English article)
Bristol-Myers, Simcere (NYSE: SCR) To Co-Develop Orencia In China (PRNewswire)
Ming Yang (NYSE: MY) Announces Change Of CFO (PRNewswire)
Smithfield (NYSE: SFD) Profit Plunges After China Blocks Imports (English article)
China was on holiday much of this week for the annual Dragon Boat Festival, but there was no respite for the building trade hostilities between Beijing and the EU that are quickly souring bilateral relations. Last week Beijing launched a probe into unfair state support against EU wines and hinted at another similar probe into luxury cars, targeting 2 product areas where European names have successfully tapped the China market. (previous post) Now this week Europe is firing back with a complaint against punitive steel tariffs launched by Beijing, while Britain is making its own worrisome noises about the safety of telecoms equipment from Huawei Technologies. Read Full Post…
The latest earnings and outlook are breathing new life into low-cost smarphone chip maker Spreadtrum (Nasdaq: SPRD), but also showing why the market remains difficult for homegrown IT services firms like Camelot Information Systems (NYSE: CIS). Spreadtrum’s newly announced upside surprise could bode well for the broader field of companies that specialize in low-cost smartphones and their components, as China prepares to launch 4G mobile services later this year. Meantime, Camelot’s weak earnings are likely to continue for the foreseeable future, though at least it won’t have to publicly discuss those embarrassing numbers if its current bid to privatize succeeds. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 14. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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EU Files WTO Complaint Over Chinese Stainless Steel Duty (English article)
Mindray (NYSE: MR) To Acquire Zonare Medical Systems (PRNewswire)
China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Recruits TD-LTE Trial Customers (English article)
Renault (Paris: RENA) May Make Electric Cars in China (English article)
Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) Chairman: No Prediction On Return To Profit (Chinese article)
China uses domestic market as weapon in western trade wars
After years of relying on exports, China’s new focus on stronger domestic consumption to fuel economic growth is not only helping to diversify its economy but is also becoming a valuable new tool in its trade disputes with the West. Its major trading partners, most notably the US and Europe, may need to pay closer attention to China’s fast-growing domestic market when lodging new trade grievances in the future, or risk seeing their own exporters cut off from millions of increasingly wealthy Chinese consumers. Read Full Post…
Sina’s (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo microblogging platform is moving in many different directions these days, this time adding a major video component through a new tie-up with online video leader Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU). This new tie-up looks smart in some ways, as it pairs 2 leaders in online entertainment spaces that look complementary. But at the same time, Sina needs to be careful in its zealous campaign to commercialize Weibo, or risk alienating its millions of users and eventually driving them away to a growing array of rival products entering the market. Read Full Post…
Poultry plant tragedy casts spotlight on Shuanghui’s Smithfield buy
A major poultry plant disaster in northeaster Jilin province is casting an awkward spotlight on pork processor Shuanghui as it tries to convince wary US consumers and politicians of the benefits of its pending $7 billion purchase of US rival Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD). Not surprisingly, a US trade union representing many Smithfield workers has used the Chinese tragedy to issue a carefully worded statement implying that similar disasters could happen in the US if the Shuanghui-Smithfield merger proceeds. While this looks partly like politics, I personally believe the concerns aren’t completely groundless since China’s food industry doesn’t exactly have a strong track record for good business practices. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 11-13. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China Eyes EU Luxury Cars As Trade Dispute Rages (English article)
Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iOS 7 Will Play Nice With Tencent, Sina Weibo (English article)
Censorship Lawsuit Against Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), China Gets New Life In US (English article)
China Pulls ‘The Croods’ From Cinemas 2 Weeks Early (English article)
Camelot Information Systems (NYSE: CIS) Announces Unaudited Q1 Results (PRNewswire)
Two recent encounters with high-level westerners from very different backgrounds has made me realize just how much China has changed as a career choice for foreigners in the last two decades. At the same time, it’s also made me realize that the older generation of “China hands” represented by one of those westerners who came to Asia in the 1980s and ‘90s are a dying species, perhaps destined for extinction in the not-too-distant future.
Some may say this transformation of China to a routine work location for foreign executives from its former status as an exotic and often difficult destination is a good thing, reflecting a rapid economic advance that has vastly improved the lives of the country’s 1.3 billion people. I mostly agree with this view, since the China of today is certainly a better place to live in most ways than the one of just a decade or two earlier. But the looming relegation of these China hands to the history books also seems like a reason for reflection and just a touch of melancholy, since many of these people were instrumental in helping China to transform to its current state of prosperity. Read Full Post…
After disappearing from the headlines for a few months, venture-funded smartphone maker Xiaomi is popping back into the news with mixed signals about its plans for a new low-end model. I’ve often said that Xiaomi’s marketing-savvy co-founder Lei Jun sees his company as China’s version of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), since many of the company’s product development and sales tactics look similar to the US tech giant’s. This latest plan for a new low-cost smartphone called Hongmi, or “Red Rice”, seems to follow that pattern, since buzz has been building for a while that Apple may also be preparing to launch a more affordable version of its premium iPhone. Read Full Post…
Funding may be drying up for Internet companies in mainstream sectors like e-commerce, but 2 new deals for online firms in the education and information space show there’s still money out there chasing some of these less developed niche areas. More broadly speaking, these 2 newest deals are also relatively small, reflecting the fact that we’re unlikely to see many blockbuster new financing rounds of $100 million or more anytime soon in China’s overheated tech space. That said, some of these newer deals in emerging spaces could represent important interesting investment opportunities that could ultimately be purchased by bigger rivals or make offshore IPOs. Read Full Post…
