I don’t know if anyone else has noticed this, but a lot of Chinese Internet firms suddenly seem to be engaged in a series of major reorganizations. I came to this conclusion after reading this morning that Suning.com (Shenzhen: 002024), one of China’s top e-commerce firms, has just undergone a major structural reorganization as part of what the company says is a regular exercise. (Chinese article) News of this latest reorganization comes the same week that headlines have been buzzing with news of another major reorganization at Tencent (HKEx: 700), China’s leading Internet company. (Chinese article)
Tag Archives: Alibaba
Suning Stumbles in E-Commerce 苏宁易购未实现去年营收目标
I’ve been writing for most of the past year about China’s bloody e-commerce battles, and now we’re getting some figures that finally show how bad the situation is with news that up-and-comer Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) has missed its 2012 online sales target by a relatively large margin. This bad stumble reflects the fact that China’s e-commerce market may have big potential, but the overall space is still limited in size. What’s more, with so many big names fighting for a piece of the pie, everyone is having to sell their products at very low prices that ultimately result in lower overall revenues and operating losses.
Baidu Becomes Latest Sina Weibo Suitor 百度有意投资新浪微博
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.
News Digest: January 17 报摘：2013年1月17日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on January 17. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Alibaba Group Said to Hire Credit Suisse, Goldman (NYSE: GS) for IPO (English article)
- Tencent (HKEx: 700 Apologizes For Blocking Sensitive Content On WeChat (Chinese article)
- China Mobile (HKEx: 941) President In Taiwan, Promotes TD 3G/4G Integration (Chinese article)
- China MediaExpress a Fraud, Hong Kong Arbitration Rules (English article)
- Chrysler Announces Deal To Build Jeeps In China (English article)
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.
News Digest: January 16 报摘：2013年1月16日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on January 16. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Alibaba’s Jack Ma To Stand Down As CEO, Move To Chairman Role (English article)
- Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Hopes To Set Up Beijing R&D Center (Chinese article)
- Trina (NYSE: TSL) Obtains Rights to Develop 50 MW Solar Project in Gansu (PRNewswire)
- Wi-Fi + Cellular Models of iPad Mini & 4th Generation iPad Available in China On Friday (Businesswire)
- BYD (HKEx: 1211) Delivers 500 Electric e6 Police Cars to Shenzhen PSB (Businesswire)
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.
News Digest: January 11 报摘：2013年1月11日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on January 11. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Alibaba Group Reorganizes into 25 Business Units (English article)
- Founder of Group Buying Site 24Quan Confirms Company Has Closed (Chinese article)
- Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) Tim Cook Meets With China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Chmn (English article)
- Tencent (HKEx: 700) to Fully Open Cloud Service (English article)
- Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) Buys 7.1 Pct of Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) (Chinese article)
Dangdang, Vancl in Overhauls 当当网转型 凡客诚品瘦身
Media are reporting that online retailers Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) is launching a major overhaul and Vancl is facing issues from its own big retrenchment, as each searches for elusive profits that have become increasingly hard to find in the current cutthroat e-commerce space. In Dangdang’s case, the company is attempting to focus on several key product groups, giving up its previous aim of becoming a general merchandise giant like Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN). Meantime, online clothing retailer Vancl’s own ongoing slimming exercise has left it so lean that it is reportedly running into logistical problems that are resulting in delayed shipments to some of its customers. All of this reflects just how difficult China’s e-commerce environment has become, with most companies resorting to desperate measures in their bids to conserve cash and become profitable in the ultra-competitive space.
Alibaba IPO: Waiting for a Window 阿里巴巴上市：等待时间窗口
The headlines have been flooded almost daily these last 2 weeks with the latest rumors regarding the much talked-about IPO for leading e-commerce firm Alibaba. The latest rumors from the last couple of days have cited a leaked internal company memo saying Alibaba plans to begin IPO preparations in the second half of next year, and could make a listing as soon as the end of 2013. (English article) Those rumors follows similar talk over the last week that the company is in the process of a major restructuring to organize Alibaba into 4 or 5 units around each of its key business areas. After rumors of the IPO came out, US media quoted still other sources saying that terms in the ongoing divorce between Alibaba and major stakeholder Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) give Alibaba incentives to make its IPO closer to 2015. (English article)
News Digest: December 28 报摘： 2012年12月28日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 28. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Alibaba Group to IPO in 2013 – Source (English article)
- Taiwan’s Fubon (Taipei: 2881) Says To Buy China Bank Stake For $1 Bln (English article)
- LDK (NYSE: LDK) Ordered to Pay 297 Mln Yuan in Arbitration Ruling (PRNewswire)
- 8 Authors Win 400,000 Yuan in Copyright Case Against Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) (Chinese article)
- Diodes (Nasdaq: DIOD) to Acquire BCD Semiconductor (Nasdaq: BCDS) (Businesswire)
