The national string of investigations against executives at major Chinese firms appears to be going local, with word that a man associated with some of Shanghai’s biggest companies is being probed for corruption. In this case the person under investigation is Wang Zongnan, whose name is tied to such Shanghai giants as the Lianhua (HKEx: 980) supermarket chain, as well as food products giant Bright Food. This latest case has several major potential implications, showing local investigators may be joining Beijing’s anti-corruption campaign that began a year ago. At the same time, the investigation could also ultimately cast doubt on several major recent cross-border acquisitions by Bright Food. Read Full Post…
Investors have taken some of the shine off of recently listed online cosmetics seller Jumei International (NYSE: JMEI), following reports that some third-party merchants on its site were engaged in the sale of fake goods. In an interesting twist, the news had little or no effect on another recently listed e-commerce firm, JD.com (Nasdaq: JD), which was also mentioned in the same reports. To some extent the mixed reaction shows that investors are still less familiar with Jumei, which is a younger firm and was far less known to Wall Street before the company’s recent listing. Still, this kind of selling of knock-off goods is always a risk for any e-commerce firm that allows third-party vendors to sell products on its sites. Read Full Post…
The following is Part 3 in a multi-part series about the rise of WeChat, the popular mobile instant messaging service owned by Tencent.
WeChat thrives on self-made media
By Lanie Nie
While many popular WeChat subscription accounts are still affiliated with established organizations, the social media upstart has also given rise to a new generation of “self-media”. This new group of publishers comes as a welcome development in the Chinese media space, comprising independent professionals from sectors like tech, finance, fashion, media and education who have seized the opportunity to broadcast their know-how and build online audience networks of their own.
Without some expert “gatekeepers” from traditional hierarchical publication systems standing in their way, this new group of voices on WeChat have become a celebration of grass-root content creators. Articles from these new publishers can be easily found online, and members of this group are gaining personal influence among readers, listeners and viewers on WeChat who want to hear their latest views.
The latest food safety scandal involving one of our city’s largest meat suppliers has been consuming headlines for the last week, as the story unfolds about unsavory things that happened at Shanghai Husi Food. It turns out the list of companies that were buying meat from Husi reads like a who’s-who of major foreign restaurant operators in China, including such big names as KFC, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s and Starbucks, just to name a few.
But from the perspective of a veteran journalist like myself, one of the more interesting and untold stories beyond the bigger news is the way this latest scandal was exposed. The news wasn’t broken by any of the usual suspects, including city food inspectors or investigative reporters from deep-pocketed giants like CCTV or Caijing magazine. Instead, the revelations came from an investigative reporting team here in our very own Shanghai, based out of local TV giant SMG. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 29. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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SAIC Visits 4 Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Offices In New Investigation (Chinese article)
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Taps Tencent And JD.com For Xbox Sales In China (English article)
Earlier reports of e-commerce leader Alibaba’s strong political ties appear to be overstated, following word that archrival Tencent (HKEx: 700) has become the first of China’s major Internet firms to win a highly sought banking license. Both companies had been aggressively expanding into financial services over the past year, though each was reliant on partnerships with other companies that already had licenses to offer services in the highly regulated sector dominated by big state-run companies. But now Tencent will be able to offer many of those services on its own, following this ground-breaking award of a license from the nation’s banking regulator. Read Full Post…
PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992) has never been a company to sit still for very long, which is both a positive and negative trait, as it announces yet another new foray into the smart devices sector. The company’s inability to be satisfied with the status quo has helped propel it to the world’s top PC maker through a series of acquisitions over the last few years, making it one of China’s best known global brands. But that same inability to focus also means Lenovo is constantly venturing into new areas, both for products and geographies. Some of those look good, but many often lead to headaches and disappointment. Read Full Post…
The following is Part 2 in a multi-part series about the rise of WeChat, the popular mobile instant messaging service owned by Tencent.
By Lanie Nie
Wechat finds tipping point with new functions
If WeChat’s story can be divided into two parts, the big dividing point would be the launch of its 5.0 version on August 5, 2013. Before that, users of the popular mobile chatting app were mainly focused on fancy gimmicks like “shake“, “people nearby” and “drift bottle” that help users make contact with a few strangers. The hyperactive “moments” feature is also very popular, allowing users to share photos, status updates, links and locations with friends; and so were “official accounts” that enabled business owners, media outlets and even individuals to push out messages and articles to their followers.
But after the launch of WeChat 5.0, people began to wonder if the real ambition of this chatty app might go beyond its dominant role as a center for Chinese socializing on mobile. With a newly introduced mobile payment solution and an enhanced “scan” function that is no longer restricted to QR codes but also applicable to bar codes, book covers, street views and even basic English to Chinese translation, WeChat showed a strong interest in bringing out the next generation of shoppers in its post-5.0 era. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 26-28. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Tencent (HKEx: 700) Among Chinese Companies Approved to Set Up 3 Lenders (English article)
Shenyin & Wanguo (HKEx: 218) Buys Hong Yuan (Shanghai 000562) For $6.4 Bln (English article)
Shanghai Disneyland (NYSE: DIS) Eyes Opening At End 2015 (Chinese article)
After an embarrassing recent gaffe that saw him ridiculed by fellow smartphone executives, Xiaomi founder Lei Jun was back in the spotlight this week with the launch of his company’s fourth-generation phone aimed at mid-end users. The company managed to get the usual widespread media coverage for the launch of its Mi 4, which it hopes will give it a sales boost necessary to meet an aggressive growth target for this year. But that said, I do sense that media and consumers are starting to tire of the company’s relentless hype and marketing. That could ultimately hurt its growth prospects, especially as China’s mid-range smartphone market becomes flooded with similar products from other domestic manufacturers. Read Full Post…
Note: Today marks the start of a series of guest posts on the rise of WeChat, China’s wildly popular mobile messaging giant that now boasts more than 600 million users. The series by freelance writer Lanie Nie will run on alternating days over the next 2 weeks.
By Lanie Nie
Chronicling WeChat’s rapid rise
If you recently traveled by bus or subway in a big Chinese city, you probably noticed one thing immediately — nearly everyone was fixated on the small screens of their smartphone handsets, no matter how crowded the place or how long the journey. At the center of that obsession is the mobile messaging app called WeChat or Weixin in Chinese, which is owned by Chinese Internet giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) and is similar to services like WhatsApp, Kakao Talk and Line.
WeChat might share the same starting point with these popular services, but it has already been telling another story in its home market. With a claimed domestic user-base of more than 600 million, the native mobile app for average Chinese smartphone owners has become a village square of friend updates and subscription feeds, an online storefront for money market fund products as well as a portal into a taxi ride, a group-buying deal and a movie ticket reservation. It’s also an urban guide and offers business review services and a catalog of top smartphone games, which makes it fair to say the world is your WeChat. Read Full Post…
