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Bottom line: Sohu’s lack of upbeat news in its latest earnings report kicks off an earnings season that will be filled with signs of a looming Internet advertising slowdown.
Related postings 相关文章:
◙ Tudou-Sina Tie-Up: More to Come？ 土豆网联手新浪
◙ Regulator Eyes Online Video in Ad Crackdown 广电总局或限制视频网站广告
◙ Baidu, Sohu Highlight China Shell Games 百度搜狐拆分业务让金融骗局再度受关注
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on February 2. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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◙ Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo, Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) Form Strategic Partnership (English article)
◙ DuPont, Suntech (NYSE: STP) Sign Strategic Agreement (PRNewswire)
◙ Samsung Selects Spreadtrum (Nasdaq: SPRD) Baseband for Galaxy Note GT-I9228 (PRNewswire)
◙ CNOOC (HKEx: 883) to Invest $300 Million in Isofoton Venture for Solar Energy in China (English article)
◙ Baidu (Nasdaq: BIIDU) to Report Q4 2011 Results on February 16 (PRNewswire)
◙ Latest calendar for Q1 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on January 28-30. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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◙ Solar CEOs See Boom in China Will Ease Glut in 2012: Energy (English article)
◙ Obama Officials Back Bill to Hit China Subsidies (English article)
◙ Facebook IPO Talk Lifts China SNS, Including Sina (Nasdaq: SINA), Renren (NYSE: RENN) (Chinese article)
◙ Sany (Shanghai: 600031) Will Buy German Cement-Pump Maker Putzmeister (English article)
◙ Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) to Report Q4 Results on Jan 30, Revenue Seen Up 88 Pct (Chinese article)
◙ Latest calendar for Q1 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on January 21-25. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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◙ Baidu, Google, Sogou Lead China’s Search Engine Market in Q4 – Analysys (Chinese article)
◙ Chinese Websites Concerned about Real-Name System (English article)
◙ AsiaInfo-Linkage (Nasdaq: ASIA) Announces Receipt of “Going Private” Proposal (PRNewswire)
◙ US to Probe Imports of China, Vietnam Wind Towers (English article)
◙ Ericsson (Stockholm: ERICb) Says ZTE (HKEx: 763) Patent Lawsuit Already Settled (Chinese article)
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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◙ China to Ease Controls on HK Listings: Regulator (English article)
◙ Vancl 2011 Revenue Increases 150% YoY (English article)
◙ Baidu-Invested (Nasdaq: BIDU) Qunar Considers US IPO (Chinese article)
◙ China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA) to Launch iPhone 4S by March – Source (English article)
◙ Huawei Aims To Become One of World’s Top 3 Cellphone Brand in 3 Years (Chinese article)
Apple is fast discovering that China may be a land of huge potential, but that it will also come with its own set of challenges, as evidenced by several new developments with both positive and negative overtones. In the former category, the company is close to a deal to offer its latest iPhone 4S via China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA), China’s third largest carrier, which would follow close on the heels of a similar deal with China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU), the second largest carrier which will begin selling the iPhone 4S on Friday. (Chinese article) On the negative front, meantime, a group of local writers are preparing to sue Apple for copyright infringement related to the unauthorized use of their material for some apps from Apple’s iPhone store. (Chinese article) Let’s look at the positive news first, which has Chinese media reporting trials have successfully concluded for a version of the iPhone 4S that will work on China Telecom’s 3G network that uses a technology called CDMA EVDO. That deal would mark the latest China inroad for Apple, which could find a better Chinese partner in China Telecom, which is more aggressive and better organized than Unicom, Apple’s oldest China partner. At the same time Chinese media are also reporting that China’s biggest carrier, China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL), may also be close to an iPhone deal for its 3G network. (Chinese article) But the reports only cite market talk, and such chatter has become so common that I wouldn’t put too much credibility behind this latest rumor. Meantime, Chinese media are also reporting about a looming copyright lawsuit against Apple from a group of 9 Chinese authors, who will seek damages of around 12 million yuan, or about $2 million. This kind of lawsuit is insignificant from to Apple from a financial perspective, even if it loses. But similar lawsuits against big names like Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) have brought widespread negative publicity, which could ultimately hurt Apple’s image in China and therefore undermine sales. This lawsuit comes just a month after another legal setback for Apple in China, in this case after a Chinese court ruled another company owned the rights to the iPad name despite objections from Apple. (previous post) Stay tuned for more clashes like these as China becomes an increasingly important market for Apple.
Bottom line: An imminent iPhone 4S deal with China Telecom marks the latest Chinese advance for Apple, while a copyright lawsuit against it is the latest in a growing series of challenges.
Related postings 相关文章:
◙ Apple Suffers Setback in China Lawsuit Loss 苹果在华商标侵权案初尝苦果
◙ Unicom, China Telecom in iPhone 4S Race 中国电信有望领先推出iPhone 4S
It seems quite appropriate that 2011 is ending with news that Internet search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), which for years symbolized rampant disregard for copyrights on China’s unruly Internet, has been removed from a US list of “notorious markets” for piracy, capping a year that saw great progress in intellectual property protection. (English article) Baidu’s achievement after it signed a series of landmark licensing agreements with major music labels like Universal, Warner (NYSE: WMG) and Sony Music (Tokyo: 6758) in July as it launched a service selling legal copies of their music. (previous post) Baidu’s removal from the list was just the latest major advance in copyright protection, as China’s crowded field of online music and video sites all took new steps to secure exclusive content to set themselves apart from rivals in the competitive sector. The nation’s top 3 video sharing sites, Youku (NYSE: YOKU), Sohu video (Nasdaq: SOHU) and Tudou (NYSE: TUDO) all signed their first big licensing deals during the year to offer TV shows and films from the likes of Warner Brothers (NYSE: TWX) and Disney (NYSE: DIS). (previous post) Some domestic names like Huayi Brothers (Shenzhen: 300027) signed similar deals, as early signs emerged of a coming renaissance for domestic content makers, an increasing number of which are looking to domestic IPOs to fuel their growth. (previous post) In another interesting development just last week, Youku and Tudou filed a series of copyright infringement lawsuits against each other, showing that these companies themselves could emerge as a potent force to help police against future copyright violations. (previous post) Last but not least, many of the sites themselves are increasingly producing their own exclusive content, with Phoenix New Media (NYSE: FENG) and PPLive announcing such initiatives during the year, which should also help the programming industry’s development. (previous post) Of course, there is still much work to be done. Despite its launch of a legal music service, Baidu continues to operate its popular older music service where swapping of pirated songs is rampant. And while Baidu was removed from the “notorious” list, Alibaba’s Taobao, China’s e-commerce leader, remains on the list for the widespread sale of knock-off products on its site. Still, in all my years covering China tech and media, 2011 certainly looks like a year of major breakthroughs in copyright protection as Chinese firms finally wake up to the reality that piracy isn’t a very good long-term business model.
Bottom line: Baidu’s removal from a US piracy list reflects big progress in the anti-piracy battle in China in 2011, with the campaign likely to maintain momentum into 2012.
Related postings 相关文章:
◙ After Years, Baidu Does the Right Thing 百度多年来的一个正确之举
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 22. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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◙ 7 Web Sites in Guangzhou, Shenzhen To Test Real Name Registration From Dec 22 (Chinese article)
◙ Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Removed From U.S. Piracy List of ‘Notorious Markets’ (English article)
◙ Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) Launches E-book Platform in China (PRNewswire)
◙ ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) Provides Further Details on Bohai Bay Funds (Businesswire)
◙ China Tops US, Japan To Become Top Patent Filer (English article)
While most of the China Internet world has been fixated on the meteoric rise of Sina’s (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo microblogging service, a rival offering from Tencent (HKEx: 700) called Weixin, which literally means “tiny letter”, has quietly gained momentum and could pose a serious challenge in the near term. The looming Weibo vs Weixin rivalry also casts an interesting spotlight on the broader issue of PC vs mobile Internet, as Weibo is the clear leader in desktop web surfing while Weixin has a number of features that make it more suitable for mobile Internet use. Domestic media are reporting that Weixin had 50 million registered users, 20 million of those active, at the end of November. (English article) Of course those number still pale with Weibo’s 200 million registered users that Sina reported at the middle of this year. But considering Weixin was just launched early this year while Weibo has been in business for over 2 years now, Weixin clearly looks like an interesting bet. Others have tried to take on Weibo, including search titan Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), which shuttered its struggling microblogging service in May (previous post), and Renren (NYSE: RENN), which just recently joined the fray. (previous post) But Tencent has taken an interesting approach by developing Weixin as a product maximized for mobile microblogging, with features that, for example, allowing one’s phone to make a sound each time a new post is received and also allowing audio posts. Given that more and more of the Internet is going mobile, this initiative from Tencent, which has a strong track record of entering new business areas popularized by others, could have a good chance of success and pose the first strong challenge to Weibo. Meantime in the China Internet world, the cleanup of weaker US listed companies continues, with China CGame (Nasdaq: CCGM), a company whose market cap is just $4 million, reportedly being notified of its imminent de-listing from the Nasdaq — reports the company denies (Chinese article). Frankly speaking, I’m surprised this company hasn’t been delisted already, as it has traded below the $1 threshold required for continued listing since August. Such small companies have no business being listed on a big board anyhow, and the sooner this kind of company is purged from the big US exchanges the sooner investor confidence will return to this group of battered companies.
Bottom line: Tencent’s Weixin could soon pose a serious challenge to Sina’s Weibo microblogging service, drawing on its strong features aimed at mobile Internet users.
Related postings 相关文章:
◙ Sina’s Weibo: Growth Engine or Growing Burden? 新浪微博：动力or负担？
◙ Govt’s Microblog Shift Looks Good for Weibo 政府口风转变或有利於新浪微博
E-commerce leader Alibaba, scrambling to find financing to buy back a 40 percent stake in itself held by Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO), is in a sudden scramble to tell the world why it’s worth $32 billion — a number it helped to float into the market back in September and one which, in my view, seems ridiculously high. In separate news bits from the last day or so, media are reporting the company’s Etao e-commerce search engine has launched a historical pricing search feature (English article), while its popular Taobao consumer-oriented sites have launched social networking functions. (English article) First Etao, which Alibaba hopes to build up as an e-commerce search specialist to one day take on industry titan Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). This historical price search function seems like a good idea, as it would make it easier for cost-conscious consumers to track previous prices for items they want to buy. The only problem is that historical prices could soon be the only thing that Etao can show, as several major online retailers, including 360Buy and Dangdang (NYSE: DANG), have blocked their items from being indexed in Etao search results. (previous post) Meantime, the social networking functions being built into Taobao seem like a direct attempt to take on existing SNS sites like Renren (NYSE: RENN) and Sina’s (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo. While this strategy of building on its industry-leading C2C and B2C platforms to build up SNS sounds interesting, the two areas are relatively unrelated and few if any Chinese web firms have successfully executed similar strategies despite many efforts to leverage popular existing services to build up a new, unrelated ones. This flurry of initiatives seems designed, at least in part, to show the world why Alibaba thinks it may be worth $32 billion. Its only listed unit, Alibaba.com (HKEx: 1688) has a market cap of about $5 billion. That means that its other big assets, which mostly consist of a very successful Taobao Mall and more modestly successful Etao and its Alipay e-payment service, would have to be worth $27 billion collectively, which seems unlikely. Ironically, Alibaba’s high estimation of its own value could ultimately come back to hurt it, as Yahoo apparently seems to want to sell its 40 percent of Alibaba based on that overinflated value. The true amount will come out when a sale finally occurs, but I suspect the final valuation will be closer to $20 billion.
Bottom line: Alibaba is trying to convince the market it is worth $32 billion, but a sale of 40 percent of the company held by Yahoo will probably show a much lower valuation.
Related postings 相关文章:
◙ Alibaba Tests Waters for Yahoo Buyout – Again 阿里巴巴再试水竞购雅虎股权
◙ Alibaba’s Incredible Shrinking Profit Growth 阿里巴巴盈利呈加速放缓趋势
◙ Albaba Faces New Assaults From Merchants, 360Buy 阿里巴巴受到中小商户和京东商城的双重夹攻
When was the last time you saw Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) or Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) spin off one of its units into a separately listed company or inject assets from its parent company into a listed unit? The answer of course is that they never engage in any of these common practices of big China state-run companies, but that hasn’t stopped the country’s booming private Internet sector from becoming increasing masters at such games. The latest machinations in these games have seen Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) sell its online game information site, 17173.com, to its separately listed online game unit, Changyou (Nasdaq: CYOU) for a nifty $162 million (English article; Chinese article), while search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) is spinning off its struggling e-commerce site YouA into an independent company complete with its own venture funding. (English article) Of course, the granddaddy of this kind of shell game is Shanda Interactive (Nasdaq: SNDA), which listed on the Nasdaq many years ago, then spun off its core online game business into a separately listed company, Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME), and is now in the process of trying to spin off its online literature unit into yet another public company, Cloudary, even as Shanda Interactive itself attempts to de-list as its share price languishes. (previous post) Leading web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) has also engaged in this kind of financial shell game. This situation has evolved in part because many of China’s Internet companies often stray from their core business into completely unrelated areas — a practice seldom seen at major Western firms. But from an investor perspective, this kind of game results in a lack of transparency, as parent companies can often manipulate situations to make results of these spun-off companies appear on their own balance sheets if the results are positive, and then magically disappear if the business is performing poorly. Shares of Chinese web firms are currently mostly the playthings of speculative short-term investors; but if these companies ever want to be taken seriously by longer-term institutional buyers, this kind of game playing is one of the first things that needs to stop.
Bottom line: The latest spin-offs by Baidu and Sohu cast a spotlight on China web firms’ fondness for financial shell games, which will continue to scare off long-term institutional investors.
Related postings 相关文章:
◙ Shanda Moves Ahead With Privatization 投资者对盛大私有化仍持保留态度
◙ Shanda Plays Games With Big Dividend 盛大游戏寄望高额分红计划提振股价
◙ Sina’s Weibo: Growth Engine or Growing Burden? 新浪微博：动力or负担？
