I’ve become a big fan lately of top Internet company Tencent (HKEx: 700), which has taken a more focused, measured approach to M&A in a recent string of major acquisitions and tie-ups by China’s top 3 web firms. But the company seems to be rapidly moving into M&A overdrive, following word of 3 major new deals this week alone, none of which looks too exciting or focused. Whereas nearly all of Tencent’s tie-ups to date have been with other online firms, the trio of rumored new deals all involve major players from traditional industries that have little or no experience on the Internet. Read Full Post…
We’ll have to wait a few weeks to see who wins the title for China’s most valuable Internet company, but the champion for wealthiest chief executive has just been declared with Alibaba founder Jack Ma beating out Tencent (HKEx: 700) chief Pony Ma for the title. That declaration, based on estimates by Bloomberg, comes after release of the latest public filing from Alibaba in the run-up to its highly anticipated IPO that could come in less than 3 weeks. That filing also showed that profits from China’s leading e-commerce company rose 60 percent in the second quarter, an impressive feat for a company of its size. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on August 29. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) CEO Nadella To Visit China Amid Antitrust Probe – Source (English article)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on August 28. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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A new report on big investment plans in digital media by Hunan Satellite Television is shining a spotlight on this aggressive company in interior China, and its potential to become an important consolidator as Beijing looks to revamp the stodgy traditional media sector. According to that report, Hunan Satellite is planning to invest 1 billion yuan ($160 million) in its Mango TV service, which delivers video over the Internet and other digital platforms and competes directly with private sector firms like Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) and Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) iQiyi. Read Full Post…
Two of the world’s biggest retailers are in the e-commerce headlines, led by a move into Shanghai’s new pilot free trade zone by global giant Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN). At the same time, Wal-Mart-controlled (NYSE: WMT) Yhd has become China’s first e-commerce firm licensed to operate online drugstores, giving it a potential edge over other rivals also eying the space. Both of these stories highlight how the big international names are trying to use their clout and global connections to carve out a space in China’s fast growing but highly competitive e-commerce space, which is now dominated by the domestic pair of Alibaba and JD.com (Nasdaq: JD). Read Full Post…
An exciting trend is building momentum on China’s private equity scene, with a new generation of more entrepreneurial firms taking shape to compete on the global stage with traditional giants like Carlyle (Nasdaq: CG), KKR and TPG. One of the most active of those firms is the privately owned Fosun, which has become a regular headline maker due to its recent string of global acquisitions. Now the company is in the news once more, with word that it may soon become one of only a handful of companies in China to get a license to operate a private bank. In other private equity news, the highly anticipated launch of a major new player with strong ties to Shanghai’s financial community has finally come with the formal debut of China Minsheng Investment Corp (CMIC). Read Full Post…
E-commerce leader Alibaba is supposedly in a quiet period in the run-up to its upcoming multibillion-dollar IPO, but you would never know that based on the steady stream of headlines that keep emerging about the company. In all fairness, many of the IPO-related headlines are probably coming from investment banking sources who are trying to hype the offer that could be the world’s biggest ever by a tech firm. But I suspect many of those reports are probably coming from company sources, including the latest reports that Alibaba is preparing to launch a used car e-commerce platform and move into South Korea. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on August 19. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Alibaba, China Grand Auto To Set Up Used Car E-commerce Platform – Source (Chinese article)
Anti-Trust Probe Ends For 12 Automakers, Fines To Total More Than 1 Bln Yuan (Chinese article)
The microblogging realm was filled with words of sympathy this past week at the woes for some of China’s longest-serving foreign tech firms whose names have become household words over the last 20 years. Leading the list were a flood of comments on Nokia, whose name was once synonymous with cellphones in China but later fell on hard times and last week laid off a big part of its Chinese workforce. Meantime, other tech executives looked on in wonder at the recent plight of Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Mercedes-Benz, which have joined a growing list of western firms being investigated by Chinese anti-trust regulators.
Chinese firms haven’t been the only ones feel the pain these past few weeks, as the nation’s Internet regulator has also cracked down on social media sites with its eye squarely on industry titan Tencent (HKEx: 700). As that happened, the operator of the popular WeChat and QQ instant messaging platforms got some rare sympathy from rival Weibo (Nasdaq: WB), the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, which itself came under a similar crackdown 2 years ago. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on August 14. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Audi May Be Fined 250 Mln Yuan In First Anti-Trust Penalty Against Car Makers (Chinese article)
