It’s been relatively quiet in China these last few days due to the Dragon Boat holiday, so I thought I’d start the new week with a look at Rupert Murdoch’s ongoing divorce with Wendi Deng and what it might mean for his flagship New Corp (Nasdaq: NWSA) in China. Many believe that Deng, a China native, was one of the main forces behind Murdoch’s previous bullishness on China, leading News Corp aggressively try to develop the market in the decade from 2000 to 2010. But the company has sharply reversed its China approach over the last 3 years, perhaps reflecting the deteriorating marriage between Murdoch and Deng. Read Full Post…
Just a year after leading global toy maker Mattel (NYSE: MAT) decided it didn’t want to play in China, the second largest US toy company Hasbro (Nasdaq: HAS) is taking a shot at the market with a new joint venture that could stand a better chance of success. Unlike Mattel, which shuttered its flashy House of Barbie in March last year, Hasbro is taking a more behind-the-scenes approach to the market by developing toys for the China market rather than making any major retail initiatives. While there’s certainly no guarantee of success in this tough market, this kind of back-end approach seems a bit more suitable for a less-developed market like China where consumer tastes and spending patterns are a bit different from those in more mature markets like the US and Europe.
China’s 2 main fixed-line broadband carriers, China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA) and China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU), are revving up for a big push into the television market, in what looks like a smart play for a product area that may finally be mature enough to find an audience. My main concern for both of these companies lies in execution, especially for Unicom, which has shown a poor record for implementing new businesses due to organizational dysfunction at the management level. But let’s come back to that issue later, and focus first on the bigger picture that has China Telecom and Unicom putting out tenders for a combined 6.2 million set-top boxes since August as part of their drive to install their IPTV service in millions of Chinese homes. (
I’ve been writing about China’s media industry long enough now to know that a blossoming love affair with Hollywood might be too much too quickly, and new comments from the TV and film regulator appear to hint that a crackdown or at least a slowdown could be looming for this fast emerging relationship. If it comes, such a crackdown would hardly be a new thing, as China has twice before signaled it was preparing to open its media to foreign investment, only to quickly slam on the brakes after the big foreign players got too aggressive.
It’s Friday and almost the weekend, so I thought I’d take a break from all the e-commerce price wars and woes at solar panel maker Suntech (NYSE: STP) that have dominated headlines this week to take a look at something a little more fun, namely toys. Specifically, leading US toy store operator Toys R Us has announced its first big China expansion since buying out a majority stake from the partner in its Asia operations about a year ago. (
Hollywood’s growing love affair with China continues to steam ahead with word that James Cameron, director the blockbusters “Titanic” and “Avatar”, is setting up a joint venture in the city of Tianjin. Unlike the growing number of Hollywood companies that have flocked to China this year, Cameron’s venture won’t offer any mass-market products to consumers and instead will focus on supplying technology to Chinese filmmakers to help them make more 3D moves.
The huge potential of China’s box office is back in the spotlight again today, with word that US technology company RealD (NYSE: RLD) will install its 3D technology on a major new theater chain with up to 500 screens being set up by a unit of HNA Group, one of China’s more entrepreneurial business groups. (
There are several interesting developments today on big-name Chinese firms moving into the US, highlighting both the opportunities but also the risks for increasingly assertive Chinese names looking to expand into a market that is at once the world’s largest but also highly suspicious of China. Leading the news is dominant wireless carrier China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL), whose US expansion aspirations are reportedly running into trouble over familiar security concerns. (
The new love affair between China and Hollywood seems to be growing day by day, even as signs of some minor alarm bells emerge in Washington at the rapid development of this budding romance. The latest twist in the China-Hollywood saga has Digital Domain (NYSE: DDMG), a leading visual effects company, teaming with Chinese partner Galloping Horse Film in a joint venture production house that will initially use Digital Domain’s technology to convert traditional films into 3D. (
