I’m not a big fan of “events” like the upcoming November 11 Singles’ Day, which are often created by companies in an attempt to boost sales. But in this case the latest reports on the upcoming date are providing a bit of controversy and entertainment, with word that e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is taking steps to protect trademark rights to a shopping event that it single-handedly created. In this case, media are reporting that Alibaba is saying that it owns the rights to the “Double Eleven” trademark, and is telling media to reject related advertisements from rivals like JD.com (Nasdaq: JD). Read Full Post…
There’s a bit of buzz in the travel space today, with word of major new initiatives in the hotel and airline sectors for global hotelier Hilton Worldwide (NYSE: HLT) and domestic real estate titan Wanda Group. The former will see Hilton roll out the welcome mat for one of its main low-cost brands in China, taking aim at names like Home Inns (Nasdaq: HMIN) and China Lodging Group (Nasdaq: HTHT). The latter move has Wanda’s talkative founder Wang Jianlin discussing a potential new airline launch, as his company also makes a big push into the travel and leisure sector. Read Full Post…
There was never really much doubt that Chinese PC leader Lenovo (HKEx: 992) would ultimately close its purchase of Motorola Mobility, the former cellphone giant that has rapidly become irrelevant in a sector where change occurs at lightning speed these days. Lenovo has just announced that it closed the purchase of Motorola Mobility from Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), some 9 months after first announcing the deal. Now the real work will begin for Lenovo as it tries to figure out what exactly to do with Motorola, including the small possibility that it could retire the company’s storied name. Read Full Post…
Chinese tech executives have been buzzing for much of the past week over Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) founder Mark Zuckerberg, who was working hard to charm many of China’s high-tech elite on a semi-official visit to Beijing. Zuckerberg was in town to attend an event at the prestigious Tsinghua University, often called the MIT of China. But he also found time to visit smartphone sensation Xiaomi, where he received abundant praise from company officials led by the increasingly influential and high-profile CEO Lei Jun.
Separately, 2 homegrown Chinese tech legends also received widespread praise and admiration, as Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) veteran Chen Tong and Zhang Xiangdong, president of recently listed mobile game maker Sungy Mobile (Nasdaq: GOMO), both announced they would leave their longtime employers. The departures of this pair also drew a certain degree of reflection and nostalgia, as many noted the passing of the Internet from an earlier generation of technology enthusiasts to a new, younger group of more marketing-savvy, seasoned business people. Read Full Post…
The headlines are buzzing today with news about newly listed Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), led by word that the e-commerce giant may explore an electronic payments tie-up with global gadget leader Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). I’ll be quite frank and say that such a tie-up would seem destined for disaster, based on the previous experience between Alibaba and Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO), its only other major partner in a similar past tie-up.
Meantime, Alibaba has also announced a spin-off of its fledgling online travel business, posing the interesting possibility of some major acquisitions as it tries to quickly expand the unit and also presenting a challenge to sector leaders Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) and Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR). Lastly there’s the largely technical news bit that Alibaba’s stock broke through the $100 mark for the first time in the latest trading session, putting it nearly 50 percent above its IPO price, as investors eagerly await the company’s maiden earnings report set for next Tuesday. (earnings calendar) Read Full Post…
More signs of turbulence are coming from the troubled online game space, with word that the CEO of Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) has resigned and Perfect World (Nasdaq: PWRD) has overhauled its R&D division to breathe new life into the company. There’s quite a lot of back story to these latest news bits, including a strategic equity alliance announced by the 2 companies at the start of the year that later fell apart for unexplained reasons. The bigger story is the fierce competition in China’s online game market, which has left companies like Shanda and Perfect World struggling to grow and has dampened investor enthusiasm for new gaming IPOs. Read Full Post…
Separate news items this week got me thinking about 2 major headaches for many ordinary Shanghai citizens, and my own creative solutions for the problems. One issue involves the all-too-familiar problem of unwanted noises in our bustling city, while the other involves the bothersome security checks at our subway stations.
There are many sources of unwanted noise in our city, but one of the most common is the loud music that often comes from karaoke singers and dancers who hold their activities in large public spaces. The issue of subway security is also a controversial one, as the city walks a fine line between trying to keep our subway system safe while avoiding bottlenecks and too much passenger inconvenience. Read Full Post…
Smartphone sensation Xiaomi is rapidly becoming an expert at shuffling its user data from country to country, with word that it will store data for its users in India on western-based servers rather than shipping such information back to computers in its home China market. This particular move looks largely preemptive, aimed at preventing a new brouhaha similar to one it faced in Taiwan related to concerns over national security and protection of user privacy. The move looks like a relatively smart one in the current climate of global concerns about cyber-security. But it does pose a larger challenge of added costs for China-based companies like Xiaomi with global aspirations. Read Full Post…
The near-monopoly held by Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) WeChat in China’s mobile messaging space could soon get a fresh shot of competition, with word that e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) was in talks for an alliance to revive China Mobile’s (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) fast-fading Fetion text messaging service. Such a powerful tie-up could take direct aim at the current stranglehold on the market held by WeChat, which now has more than 400 million active users and has become an indispensable communications tool for many. Read Full Post…
Ripples from Hewlett-Packard’s (NYSE: HPQ) decision to break itself into 2 companies are being felt in China, with word that HP is looking for someone to buy a majority stake in its China-based router division. I can immediately think of 2 Chinese firms that would be interested in the stake, namely homegrown networking equipment giant Huawei and also leading PC maker Lenovo (HKEx: 992).
China’s second largest networking equipment maker ZTE (HKEx: 763; NYSE: 000063) could also be interested, even though it doesn’t have a past record for major acquisitions. There’s also the chance that one of Europe’s major networking equipment makers might be interested, with Ericsson (Stockholm: ERICb) or Nokia (Helsinki: NOK1V) as the most likely choices. Read Full Post…
LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104) could become the first major victim of a rapid downturn sweeping through the online video sector, with speculation running rife about reasons behind a prolonged trip abroad by the company’s chairman and CEO. The growing speculation that Jia Yueting may be wanted for some kind of wrongdoing prompted LeTV to start the new week by halting trading in shares of its Shenzhen-listed stock, following a slide of more than 10 percent over the last 2 weeks.
LeTV’s stock decline is even more dramatic since the beginning of the year, with the company’s shares down nearly 40 percent from a peak in March when the world was still quite bullish about Chinese online video companies. Much has changed since then, as China’s regulator launched a crackdown on the sector starting this spring. That drive widened steadily over the summer months and has shown no sign of slowing. Read Full Post…
