US electric car maker Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) is setting some tough goals for itself during its first year in China, aiming to take advantage of government incentives and its high-end brand image to quickly take a big share of the market. I did a little math based on the company’s latest remarks, and its ambitious target for this year would represent around three-quarters of all electric vehicles sold in China in 2012. If it really can meet the new target, I suspect the company’s biggest strength will be its position as a luxury brand, since most people who buy EVs in China will probably do so more for the snob factor than due to any incentives from Beijing or desire to save the environment. Read Full Post…
A welcome development looks set to shake up China’s fixed-line broadband sector this year, with word that leading wireless carrier China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) is offering aggressive pricing after receiving a license to offer fixed-line service late last year. Of course I’m speaking from the consumer’s perspective, since China’s 1.3 billion consumers and millions of businesses have had little or no choice for the last decade when choosing a fixed-line broadband supplier. The development looks less positive for the existing duopoly of China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA) and China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU, which may actually have to lower prices and improve their products to continue attracting new customers and keep existing ones from defecting. Read Full Post…
I was a bit surprised to read that the US securities regulator is taking drastic action against the 4 main auditors for New York-listed Chinese firms, in its bid to get them to hand over records for companies suspected of financial fraud. Investors were also probably surprised by the move, which sparked a sell-off in shares of many of the US-listed Chinese firms that could suddenly lose their auditors if the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) executes its decision. That decision had the SEC say it will impose a 6-month suspension on the China arms of the “Big 4” US accounting firms from doing audits on any US-listed companies. Read Full Post…
Just days after China finalized anti-dumping tariffs on US makers of polysilicon, the main ingredient used to make solar panels, the US has announced it is opening a new anti-dumping investigation into solar panels imported from China. The close timing of this latest round of developments in a solar trade dispute between the US and China may look worrisome on the surface, especially if they had come a year ago. But in this case the solar signals seem less confrontational to me, as both Washington and Beijing finally realize the sector is too important for the world’s energy security to jeopardize with more trade wars. Read Full Post…
While reading reports about Lenovo’s (HKEx: 992) new blockbuster deal to buy IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) low-end server business for $2.3 billion, I felt a strange and unusual lack of enthusiasm from Lenovo’s usually upbeat Chairman Yang Yuanqing. Yang never met a reporter he didn’t like, and he loves to talk about Lenovo’s big hopes and dreams at every opportunity he can get. Yet in the reports I read, this talkative chief executive was decidedly low-key and not extremely bullish on this new mega-deal, his company’s largest and the biggest ever tech acquisition by a Chinese firm. Perhaps that’s because he senses trouble ahead as his company tries to integrate and promote a business whose slowing growth was the main reason IBM desperately wanted to sell the unit. Read Full Post…
I don’t usually pay too much attention to the domestic Chinese IPO market, largely because most companies that list on the main boards in Shanghai and Shenzhen are stodgy state-run firms that aren’t open to foreign investment anyhow. But new reports that fast-rising real estate and entertainment star Wanda Group is planning 2 new offerings this year actually got me just slightly excited, especially as word buzzes that one of those will be for the company’s rapidly expanding China-based theater chain. While such an offering would almost inevitably come on one of the mainland-based stock exchanges, it would also probably attract huge attention from global investors if Wanda’s billionaire founder Wang Jianlin were to consider a dual listing in Hong Kong. Read Full Post…
When does an 87 percent rise in your share price in just 3 months make you a laggard? The answer: When your name is online travel agent Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR), and the 87 percent rise makes you the worst performer among a quartet of Chinese Internet companies to make New York IPOs at the end of last year. The sudden surge in investor interest towards these companies will almost certainly lead many Chinese Internet firms to speed up their New York listing plans in the first quarter of this year, starting off with word that Tuniu, another online travel services firm, is accelerating its plans for a listing in the next few months. Read Full Post…
Does the world really need another cool and trendy smartphone maker from China? At least one entrepreneur seems to think the answer is yes, with the launch of a new brand called OnePlus at an event last week in Beijing. Normally I wouldn’t give too much attention to this kind of launch, since everyone in China is rushing these days to try and copy the trend Xiaomi, which itself is trying to copy the success of global tech giant Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). But the fact that such a new company like OnePlus could attract so much attention for its event, including a blogosphere plug from global chip giant Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM), is making me hedge my bets that perhaps this could be a company to watch. Read Full Post…
We’re in that brief window of time each year between the western and Chinese new years, so perhaps it’s appropriate that we’re getting reports of new looks at fast-rising food maker Shuanghui International and online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). Shuanghui has just released an announcement saying it will officially change its name to WH Group as part of a new globalization campaign. Meantime, separate media reports are saying that Baidu is experimenting with adjustments to its signature home page, in a revamp that would be its first in 7 years. Read Full Post…
Normally the sudden resignation of a quarter of a company’s board would ring alarm bells for many investors, but just the opposite seems to be the case for controversial software security specialist and rising online search star Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU). The company’s shares jumped nearly 6 percent during the latest trading session in New York, and then managed to maintain most of those gains even after it announced the resignation of 2 of its 9 directors after the market closed. But that kind of performance seems normal for Qihoo these days, as investors buy heavily into the bullish growth story for its search business and ignore a number of potential warning signs, including these latest resignations. Read Full Post…
Online professional networking leader LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) took a big step towards entering the lucrative but tricky China market last week when it created a new China chief position and filled it with an industry veteran as it explores a formal service launch. The move was just the latest in the company’s slow and careful approach to China, and could boost its chances of success in a market that has proven difficult for other global giants like Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) and eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY). Read Full Post…
