The list of companies looking to invest in Sina’s (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo microblogging platform continues to grow with word that online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) has become the latest suitor to woo the popular social networking site (SNS). Word of Baidu’s interest comes weeks after e-commerce leader Alibaba was also reportedly seeking a similar tie-up with Sina, though that deal was said to have reached an impasse after the companies failed to agree on a price. (previous post) Frankly speaking, all 3 of these leading Internet companies seems to be a bit hyperactive at the moment with unrelated internal activities, prompting me to wonder if each potentially has too many distractions to craft a deal that will ultimately be good for anyone.
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Apple Invests in China — Finally 苹果终于在华投资
For a company of its size, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has been surprisingly conservative about its investments in China, opening just a few of its trademark stores in a country that is already one of its top global markets but otherwise making few major investments. But that could soon change with talk that the world’s biggest tech company is aiming to open a research and development center in China, which has become an unspoken prerequisite for any company that hopes to successfully do big business in the country. Apple clearly needs to think about such high-profile, big investments in China if it ever wants to streamline some of the bureaucracy that has kept some of its most popular products out of the market for months after their global launches.
Ma Yields For New Alibaba Top Manager 马云宣布将卸任阿里巴巴CEO
It seems like nothing happens at e-commerce giant Alibaba these days that isn’t interpreted in terms of its implications for the company’s upcoming mega-IPO, and the latest announcement that founder Jack Ma will step down from his CEO position isn’t any different. From my perspective, this kind of move was almost inevitable, and should be a good one for Alibaba in the run-up to what is likely to be China’s biggest-ever IPO for an Internet company sometime between this year and 2015. After all, Ma has always been a very strong salesman and a “big picture” guy, and it’s become increasingly clear that he wants to focus on the strategic direction for his company rather than day-to-day managerial issues that have become increasingly important as Alibaba grows in size and complexity.
Baidu Sniffs Kingsoft, Xioami Next? 百度与金山软件洽商合作 接下来与小米联姻？
The headlines have been buzzing this week with word that Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) could soon form a tie-up with software maker Kingsoft (HKEx: 3888), with many speculating the move by China’s leading search engine would be a direct assault on recent Baidu nemesis Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU). But a far more interesting possibility in this potential new tie-up would be a future related deal that would bring together Baidu with the up-and-coming young smartphone maker Xiaomi, whose co-founder Lei Jun has strong ties with Kingsoft.
Solar Shares Shine, JA Shuffles 光伏企业股价回光返照 行业尚待重组
After more than a year of coming under constant assault, shares of solar panel makers have suddenly received an unexpected boost from investors who are suddenly showing renewed interest in the battered sector. Many are attributing the sudden surge in solar stocks to growing signs that China will soon embark on a massive building spree of new solar power plants, which should theoretically provide a major new business opportunity for solar panel makers who have been posting massive losses for more than a year now.
Baidu’s Li Puts Personal Bets on Mobile 李彦宏亲自挂帅百度移动部门
Less than 2 months after Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) founder Robin Li called on his employees to rekindle their “wolf spirit” that made his company great, media are reporting that Li has personally stepped in to take charge of Baidu’s mobile division in a bid to reverse its sinking fortunes. Baidu was once the envy of China’s Internet world, defeating global giant Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) to take the crown as the dominant player in China’s online search market. While it still controls the big majority of China’s online search market, many observers believe the company has become complacent in the last year due to its near-monopoly status in the market.
Citic Telecom Enters VNO Race 中信国际电讯加入虚拟运营商牌照争夺战
As China prepares to open its telecoms market to virtual network operators (VNOs) later this year, investors will inevitably be following the market closely to try to figure out who might become the first firms to enter the lucrative area. Many have speculated that Internet titan Tencent (HKEx: 700) could be one of the first 6 companies to enter the arena (previous post), and now the telecoms arm of investment giant Citic Group also looks like it may be jockeying for a position to enter the field with its purchase of a Macau wireless carrier.
Shanghai Street View: Resident Expats 沪经动向：外国居民
If the number of foreigners living in a city is the best measure of how international it is, then Shanghai is rapidly overtaking Beijing as China’s most global city. For years Beijing held the title as home to China’s biggest expatriate population, drawing on its big diplomatic, business and international student communities to easily take the crown in most of the 3 decades of the Reform Era. But then Shanghai began its own rapid development in the 1990s, nearly a decade after Beijing, and started quietly building up its own expat community centered much more in the white collar business crowd.
Tencent-China Mobile: Virtual Network Buddies? 腾讯有望成虚拟运营商 与中移动合作
A rapidly evolving pilot program that should see at least 6 virtual network operators (VNOs) enter China’s telecoms space this year has everyone chattering about who the first operators might be, with Internet leader Tencent (HKEx: 700) mentioned as one of the most likely candidates. Tencent hasn’t really commented on its intent, though it’s certainly an intriguing possibility, especially against the backdrop of the company’s recent high-profile spat with leading mobile carrier China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL). I’ll take a look more closely at this element shortly, but first let’s take a step back and check out the latest big-picture news involving the biggest opening in years for China’s sensitive telecoms sector.
Group Buy Site 24Quan Quits 团购网站24券关门
After taking a temporary “excursion” offline due to a dispute with its investors in October, mid-sized group buying site 24Quan has decided to make the trip permanent by closing down, in the latest wrinkle of a painful restructuring in the overcrowded space. This latest development shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, following the site’s suspension of service 3 months ago despite its promises to reopen once it resolved its problems. (previous post) Now it seems the company’s managers couldn’t resolve those differences with investors, prompting 24Quan’s CEO to confirm that his company has officially closed its doors permanently.
Alibaba Reorganizes, Jingdong Delays IPO 阿里巴巴重组，京东推迟上市
E-commerce leader Alibaba is quickly discovering that being big has its benefits, but it also comes with many challenges — a fact that’s reflected in a recent series of major reorganizations aimed at making the company more efficient. Meantime, Alibaba’s top rival Jingdong Mall is also grappling with its own issues, most notably its inability to earn a profit, which may be the reason behind its latest proclamation that it won’t make an initial public offering until 2015 at the earliest. Alibaba’s latest major restructure and Jingdong’s delay of its IPO plans are largely unrelated; but both developments do reflect the fact that each company has become quite large and diverse and needs some organizational makeover to maximize its appeal to investors before planned IPOs.
