The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 27. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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◙ Xiaomi Wins $216 Million in Third-Round Funding (English article)
◙ US Home Builder Lennar (NYSE: LEN) Said to Discuss $1 Bln China Loan (English article)
◙ Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) Replaces Deloitte With KPMG as Independent Auditor (PRNewswire)
◙ LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) Reports Financial Results for Q1 of Fiscal 2012 (PRNewswire)
◙ China Rejects EU Accusations on Huawei, ZTE (HKEx: 763) Subsidies (English article)
Telecoms equipment giant Huawei, facing hostility on nearly ever major front in the West, is turning to India as it looks for a friendly face, with the announcement that it will spend some $2 billion on a new global product development center in this neighboring BRICS country. As a longtime Huawei watcher, I find this latest move somewhat ironic, as India was actually one of the first countries to launch an investigation due to security concerns into Huawei and crosstown rival ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063).
French publishing giant Publicis (Paris: PUBP) has become the latest media firm to warn of an advertising slowdown in China, setting the stage for some ugly numbers when new media companies start reporting their second-quarter results next month. The slowdown has already started to hit second-tier players like Phoenix New Media (NYSE: FENG) and social networking site Renren (NYSE: RENN), and has even shown signs of starting to affect top tier players like leading web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA). (
Wireless giant China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) is sending out some interesting new signals that look like positive developments in its stalled iPhone deal with Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), as well as its drive to develop its e-commerce business. Let’s look at the iPhone development first, as it’s the one with the most potential to give a much-needed boost to China Mobile and its poorly performing 3G network, which has suffered from technical problems and also lackluster promotion by China Mobile itself.
It’s summertime and that means the short selling sharks have come out in search of new prey, making fresh attacks on PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992) and real estate braggart Evergrande (HKEx: 3333) in a bid to capitalize on lingering investor doubts about Chinese companies’ accounting practices. Both companies saw their shares tumble late last week after negative reports came out, with Lenovo shares shedding 11 percent while Evergrande fell as much as 18 percent.
Telecoms equipment giant Huawei may be a familiar name to industry insiders, but as a consumer brand it has a long way to go as it tries to develop its consumer-oriented smartphone business. In pursuit of that aim, the company is gearing up for a massive marketing blitz that looks set to target the lucrative European market first, to be followed perhaps by an eventual try at the more difficult US market. The choice of Europe for its first global smartphone offensive looks smart, mirroring a similar path for the rise to prominence of Huawei’s core networking equipment business staring in the mid 2000s.
A day after leading group buying site LaShou formally scrapped its New York IPO (
China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL), the nation’s largest mobile carrier, is forging ahead with a couple of new initiatives in the broadband and 4G spaces, even as it neglects its 3G mobile business that continues to lose market share. I’m happy to see that the company seems determined to move ahead with broadband, which could become an important new revenue source. But I worry that the telecoms regulator will soon clamp down on China Mobile’s aggressive 4G drive that is increasingly looking like an unlicensed commercial service.
