After years of hovering at the edge of China’s gadget and app markets, Japanese mobile instant messaging giant Line and Microsoft’s (Nasdaq: MSFT) Xbox gaming console are both reportedly preparing to enter the market. Line’s plan looks the most exciting to me, as the product has quickly gained a major following in Asia and could find a receptive audience in China with its new partnership. Meantime, I’m less optimistic about Xbox, as its China entry comes after its consoles have been available on the local gray market for years, and it will face competition from a new group of homegrown products. Its choice of the struggling Shanghai Media Group (SMG) as its partner also doesn’t look too exciting to me. Read Full Post…
Tag Archives: Alibaba
Google Tests Out China Hardware Market
Four years after its high-profile withdrawal from China’s online search market over censorship issues, global Internet giant Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is showing growing signs that it’s gearing up for a new play at the country’s lucrative and less controversial hardware market. Media are reporting the world’s largest online search company has formed a new tie-up that will see it exhibit its cutting-edge glasses product, Google Glass, in partnership with Suning (Shenzhen: 002024), one of China’s leading electronics retailers. Read Full Post…
Youku Tudou Finds Benefactor In Alibaba
Just a day after getting some extremely worrisome news that could see many of its most popular offerings censored, leading online video site Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) has announced a more positive development in the form of a $1.22 billion investment led by e-commerce leader Alibaba. The move is part of Alibaba’s recent buying binge, which has already included a handful of investments of this size, as it tries to get into every area of the Internet imaginable. The tie-up does have some positive elements that could help Youku Tudou, and comes as a slight surprise since media were reporting just a month ago that the company was preparing to sell a similar stake to Alibaba rival Tencent (HKEx: 700). Read Full Post…
New York IPO Scorecard: Still Some Life
Two weeks after this year’s first Chinese IPO in New York, there’s still a bit of life left in the market despite recent signs of slowing momentum. That’s my quick assessment after looking at the performance of the 4 companies to list so far this year, starting with education services firm Tarena (Nasdaq: TEDU), followed by clinic operator iKang (Nasdaq: KANG) and finally online real estate services firm Leju (NYSE: LEJU) and microblogging giant Weibo (Nasdaq: WB). Meantime, media are reporting that this year’s most highly anticipated IPO from Alibaba is getting delayed, after reports emerged last week that the e-commerce giant could make its first regulatory filing for a New York offering this week. Read Full Post…
News Digest: April 22, 2014
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 22. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Alibaba Delays Initial F-1 IPO Filing – Source (Chinese article)
- Perfect World (Nasdaq: PWRD) To Buy Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) Stake (PRNewswire)
- China Shoe Strike Spreads, Enters Second Week (English article)
- Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA), JA Solar (Nasdaq: JASO) To Build Charging Stations In Pudong (Chinese article)
- Fosun Pharma Boosts Offer for Chindex (Nasdaq: CHDX) After Rival Bid (English article)
- Latest calendar for Q1 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
JD.com Adds WeChat To Arsenal In Alibaba Assault
Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s worries about the rapid rise of mobile instant messaging service WeChat appear to be well founded, with word that Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) wildly popular platform will create an exclusive shopping channel for Alibaba’s chief rival JD.com. This kind of deal must certainly be Ma’s biggest nightmare, as it will instantly link JD, China’s second largest e-commerce company, with the hundreds of millions of young Chinese who regularly use WeChat to communicate. What’s more, WeChat has shown itself quite capable of converting its users into shoppers who could easily become JD customers. Read Full Post…
Youku Tudou, Huawei Join Internet TV Crowd
In a move that seemed almost inevitable, leading online video site Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) and top telecoms equipment maker Huawei have joined hands to create a set-top box for Internet TV, with plans to launch the product later this month. I’m calling the move inevitable, because Youku Tudou was one of China’s only major online video sharing services that had yet to launch an Internet TV initiative, and Huawei was one of the few remaining hardware makers without such a plan. This alliance looks potentially interesting as it combines 2 leaders in their respective areas, though their relatively late arrival to the game could put them at a slight disadvantage. Read Full Post…
Weibo Debut Clouds Outlook For Tech IPOs
Everyone’s buzzing today about the trading debut of Weibo (Nasdaq: WB), following a performance by the Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) microblogging unit that was filled with mixed signals. Potential investors in the company will inevitably have many questions about Weibo’s future, as it seeks to carve out a secure and profitable place for itself in China’s competitive social networking (SNS) space. But from the bigger perspective, this mixed performance is the latest sign that the window of positive sentiment towards Chinese Internet IPOs is closing fast in New York, though it could remain open for perhaps another few weeks.
LeTV Plans Global Steps Into HK, US
Hong Kong is quickly emerging as the preferred starting point for China’s tech companies eager to move outside their home market, with word that video sharing operator LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104) is planning a service launch in the former British colony later this year. Such a move would make LeTV the first of China’s online video and Internet TV firms to test out an overseas market. If the reports are true, LeTV could discover the outside world offers some interesting opportunities, but also major challenges as it goes head-to-head with local players and also global giants like YouTube and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). Read Full Post…
News Digest: April 17, 2014
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 17. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Citic Pacific (HKEx: 267) In $36.5 Bln Deal To Buy Parent’s Main Business (English article)
- China Cellphone Shipments Drop 24.7 Pct In Q1 – MIIT (Chinese article)
- Alibaba Could File Prospectus For US IPO Next Week – Sources (Chinese article)
- Yingli (NYSE: YGE), Sailing Capital Form 1 Bln Yuan Renewable Energy Fund (PRNewswire)
- Taxi App Didi Dache Lands $700 Mln in New Funding – Market Talk (English article)
- Latest calendar for Q1 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
JD Shuffles Boardroom, Alibaba Profit Soars
There’s a flurry of news out today on China’s 2 leading e-commerce firms, led by a new IPO filing and major boardroom adjustment at JD.com as the nation’s second largest player prepares to raise up to $1.5 billion through a New York listing. Meantime, industry leader Alibaba has reported impressive earnings for the fourth quarter of 2013, as it also heads towards a major New York listing as soon as later this year. JD’s boardroom change looks most interesting to me, as it’s a bit unusual to see such major movement in a company’s top ranks so close to an IPO. That leads me to wonder if this is the first in a series of moves leading to the eventual marginalization of JD founder and CEO Liu Qiangdong. Read Full Post…
