In the absence of big company news so far this week, I’ve decided tolook at the scorecard for the flood of technology IPOs over the last 12 months and what it might say about what’s ahead into next year. The record so far looks quite good in general, especially for companies that made a flurry of New York offerings at the end of last year and whose shares have mostly doubled or more since then.
But one notable exception to the trend is mobile games, as 2 of the 3 major players to make recent listings are now squarely in negative territory. That doesn’t bode well for a 3 upcoming similar listings, 1 in New York and 2 in Hong Kong, which appear to be stalling due to the cool investor sentiment. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 4. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China To Limit Foreign Content To No More Than 30 Pct For Online Video Sites (Chinese article)
Boeing (NYSE: BA) Raises China Plane Forecast 8 Pct As Overseas Travel Grows (English article)
Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) In Content Deal With 9 Domestic Art Organizations (English article)
Gome (HKEx: 493) Opens E-Commerce Platform, No Commissions For 1st Year (Chinese article)
Another US-traded Chinese online game firm could be headed for de-listing, after shares of China Mobile Games (Nasdaq: CMGE) tanked on reports of a major bribery scandal. China Mobile Games’ woes are just the latest in a growing list for US-traded online game makers, which have earned the official title of “no respect” from Wall Street investors. Two of the sector’s biggest players, Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) and Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA), are in the process of privatizing, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a buyout offer emerge for China Mobile Games following this new scandal. Read Full Post…
Techies have been buzzing about the huge potential of the mobile Internet for much of the last 2 years, but the latest headlines from social networking (SNS) giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) and recently listed mobile game developer Sungy Mobile (Nasdaq: GOMO) show the space is still rife with growing pains. Tencent is discovering that its wildly popular WeChat mobile messaging service is attracting not only hundreds of millions of legitimate users, but also masses of spamsters and scam artists and is trying to clean up the platform. Meantime, Sungy has just announced quarterly results that might look good for a company in any other space, but were clearly a disappointment for investors who were looking for meteoric growth. Read Full Post…
E-commerce giant JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) has formally ended its IPO process with a solid trading debut, capping a surprisingly strong performance despite signs that investors were rapidly losing interest in Chinese Internet stocks. But in a much lower profile move, smaller IPO candidate Chunkong Technology has quietly delayed its own New York offering plan, becoming the first formal casualty of fading sentiment. Chukong’s decision looks particularly significant because the company operates in the mobile gaming space, which is supposed to be one of the fastest-growth areas in China’s tech world. Read Full Post…
The online game industry has just gotten a small hint of potential consolidation, with word that mid-sized player Perfect World (Nasdaq: PWRD) is buying a stake of rival Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME), which is in the process of privatizing. The tie-up that will see Perfect World buy about 6 percent of Shanda Games’ shares comes as both companies confront sagging profits, and could kick off a period of consolidation for the highly fragmented industry. I’ve incorrectly predicted such consolidation before, but a recent wave of M&A in China’s Internet and other recent trends could mean that such an overhaul could finally be coming to online games. Read Full Post…
Mobile game operator Chukong is back in the headlines with its latest filing for a New York IPO, while recently listed 58.com (NYSE: WUBA) is also making news with word that it’s eying strategic acquisitions to complement its popular online classified advertising site. Chukong’s newly released financials reveal that it’s growing at lighting speed in the attractive mobile games space, even as its losses also mount. Meantime, 58.com’s M&A plan looks quite attractive to me, as it attempts to build a diversified classified advertising site that we haven’t seen emerge in China so far. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 19-21. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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McDonalds (NYSE: MCD) To Double Franchised Restaurant Ratio In China By 2015 (Chinese article)
Signs of weakening sentiment haven’t stopped the flood of Chinese tech firms lining up for new listings in New York, and now we can add mobile game maker Chukong Technologies to the list of new IPO candidates. If anything, recent signs of weakening sentiment may make companies that have already done much of the preparatory work for IPOs accelerate their plans, meaning we could see quite a few new listing applications in May. That’s what Chukong is planning, according to media reports saying the firm has made its first non-public filing for an IPO with the US securities regulator. (Chinese article) Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 15. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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