Financial markets have given their verdict on the future growth prospects for e-commerce leader Alibaba, and frankly speaking the long-awaited assessment doesn’t look too exciting or promising. I said last week when word first emerged that Alibaba was near a deal to buy back 20 percent of its shares held by Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) that the most interesting elements would be the valuation Alibaba got from the transaction, as well as the name list of investors. (previous post) For starters, the valuation that Alibaba got from the deal is a bit disappointing for a company whose value rocketed from just $2.5 billion when Yahoo first purchased its stake in 2005 to more than $30 billion last year on the explosion of China’s e-commerce market.
Tag Archives: Alibaba
Passive Baidu Limits Liability for Piracy 百度被判定对盗版侵权承担有限责任
A new court decision in a piracy case against search titan Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) is throwing a spotlight on a painful reality that has seen China’s fledgling music and publishing industries undermined by poor organization and a lack of support from Beijing. The reality is this: While big Western publishers and music labels have home governments and their own powerful industry groups lobbying on their behalf, Chinese authors, musicians and other makers of copyrighted products lack such groups or support from Beijing to promote their cause. Thus the Chinese content producers are virtually powerless to stop the piracy of their material on big-name sites like Baidu, which facilitate trade of illegally copied material through file swapping services.
Alibaba-Google: China’s Android Addiciton 阿里巴巴—谷歌：中国的“安卓瘾”
Despite its high profile exit from the mainland search market in 2010, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has quietly regained its position as a powerful force in China these last two years through the rapid rise of its Android mobile operating system (OS) that powers many of the nation’s smartphones. Its new rise was on display last week, as the US Internet giant threw a major wrench into the smartphone plans of Alibaba, China’s leading e-commerce company. With most Asian cellphone makers increasingly dependent on Android, Chinese firms that will depend on the mobile Internet for future growth need to think about creating their own new mobile platforms to rival Android. Otherwise they will risk becoming hostage to the world’s biggest Internet company, which could use its clout to ensure its own products always take precedence over its Chinese rivals’.
Alibaba Catches Baidu, Trails Tencent 阿里巴巴追上百度，落后于腾讯
The headlines have been buzzing this week with word that e-commerce giant Alibaba will soon announce the sale of 20 percent of its shares held by Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) to a new investor group for $7.6 billion, in the first step of a slow-motion divorce between these 2 Internet giants. (English article; Chinese article) From my perspective, the most interesting elements of the announcement will be the latest valuation Alibaba gets as a result of the deal, and also the names of the new investors in this massive new stake sale. Both will hint at what the future holds for Alibaba in terms of growth as it moves towards an IPO as soon as 2014.
Tencent Wechat Wows Mobile IM 腾讯微信主导移动即时通讯
The fight for dominance in of China’s mobile Internet is producing some interesting global shifts, with big names like Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and Alibaba facing aggressive, younger competitors as they try to translate their dominance of the older desktop Internet to the mobile space that will become a key growth driver in the next decade. But one company that seems on track to maintain its dominance is Tecent (HKEx: 700), China’s largest Internet company by market value, which rose to prominence a decade ago with its highly popular QQ instant messaging product. Now it seems that Tencent’s mobile instant messaging product Wechat, better known by its Chinese name of weixin, is facing little or no opposition in its rapid rise to become China’s dominant mobile IM product. (previous post)
News Digest: September 13, 2012 报摘： 2012年9月13日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 13. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Alibaba to Announce Completion of $8 Bln in New Fund Raising Next Week – HK Media (Chinese article)
- Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) Streamlines its Operations (PRNewswire)
- 4 Regional Managers Leave LaShou – Source (Chinese article)
- Samsung (Seoul: 005930 Breaks Ground for Memory Manufacturing Complex in China (Businesswire)
- China’s 3SBio (Nasdaq: SSRX) Gets Buyout Offer From CEO (English article)
Qihoo Adds “Like” to Search Offensive 360推“拇指计划” 继续向搜索业务发力
Security software specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) is continuing its Internet search offensive by adding a new ratings feature to its product, leading me once again to applaud its innovative approach for this new initiative despite my broader doubts about this company. Media are reporting that Qihoo has added the equivalent of a “like” function to its search results similar to the one now on Facebook, which lets web surfers rate whether or not they find particular sites useful. (English article; Chinese article)
Alibaba in Anti-Piracy PR Blitz 阿里巴巴进行反盗版公关
E-commerce leader Alibaba has been on a quiet PR offensive for much of the last year, seeking to convince the US that its Taobao marketplaces aren’t havens for pirates whose sales of knock-off products cost legitimate brands billions of dollars in lost sales each year. That drive has reached a crescendo with the company’s highly trumpeted announcement of a new deal with Hollywood to fight the sale of pirated movies online. The deal will see Taobao and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) work together to identify merchants that sell pirated movies over Taobao’s various e-commerce platforms and remove the pirated merchandise. (English article)
News Digest: September 8-10, 2012 报摘： 2012年9月8-10日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 8-10. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Insigma (Shanghai: 600797), Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) Establish Cloud JV, Plan Overseas IPO (English article)
- Suntech (NYSE: STP) Announces Departure of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) (PRNewswire)
- Alibaba’s Taobao E-commerce Site Signs Deal With US Film Rep to Curb Piracy (English article)
- FedEx (NYSE: FDX), UPS (NYSE: UPS) Win Domestic Parcel Delivery Licenses (Chinese article)
- Xiaomi Sells Out Second Batch of 200,000 Mid-Range 1S Smartphones (English article)
News Digest: August 30, 2012 报摘： 2012年8月30日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on August 30. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- India to Restrict Chinese Telecom Equipment Imports (English article)
- China’s Fraud-Hit Suntech (NYSE: STP) Strikes More Trouble in Italy (English article)
- Agricultural Bank of China (HKEx: 1288) Announces H1 Results (HKEx announcement)
- Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) Chairman Says Next Target Is Alibaba’s TMall (Chinese article)
- Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Aims to Hold 30 Pct Japan’s PC Market Share (English article)
Online Price Wars: Smoke and Mirrors? 电商价格战：烟雾弹还是真刀实枪
The recent round of online price wars took an interesting turn over the weekend, with data that looks suspiciously like it was provided by e-commerce leader Alibaba showing that a big part of the so-called wars may have been mostly talk and potentially just a publicity stunt by Jingdong Mall’s talkative CEO Liu Qiangdong. (English article) Following that latest development in this colorful story, we’re now seeing reports that Jingdong Mall, which also goes by the name of 360Buy, has blocked all of its prices from searches by Alibaba’s Etao online pricing search engine, which was the source of the original reports that raised the publicity stunt allegations. (Chinese article)
