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Tag Archives: JD.com
Jingdong (jd.com) latest Business & Financial news from Doug Young, the Expert on Chinese High Tech Market, (former Journalist and Chief editor at Reuters)
Bottom line: Suning’s plan to invest 1 billion yuan into PPTV’s smart TV foray is coming a bit late, but could stand a good chance of success by drawing on Suning’s position as one of China’s top TV retailers.
PPTV, Suning in smart TV partnership
Many of us were a bit surprised 2 years ago when electronics retailer Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) emerged as one of the winning bidders for PPTV, which was one of China’s leading online video sites at the time. The pair didn’t really seem like a great match, since Suning’s main business was its traditional retail stores that originally specialized in home electronics but later added more general merchandise. Suning’s newer e-commerce business didn’t seem like a great fit either, since retailing and online video entertainment don’t have too much in common.
Fast forward to the present, when Suning has finally developed a strategy for the asset with plans to pump 1 billion yuan ($160 million) into PPTV as part of PPTV’s own new drive into Internet TVs. This particular combination actually seems intriguing, since Suning is in a good position to promote such Internet TVs due to its position as one of China’s biggest home electronics retailers. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Alibaba’s massive online grocery promotion looks aimed at countering potential new challenges from Walmart, as the US retailing giant overhauls its China e-commerce operations.
Alibaba launches major grocery promotion
Just days after Walmart (NYSE: WMT) made a major shift in its China e-commerce strategy, local market leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is firing back with a massive 1 billion yuan ($160 million) promotion that looks squarely aimed at the US retailing giant. This particular promotion comes in the grocery space, which also happens to be a core strength of Yihaodian, the major plank in Walmart’s China e-commerce operation. Alibaba’s announcement also comes just days after Walmart announced it was buying out its partners in Yahaodian to take full control of the site and better integrate it with its existing China operations. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Walmart’s Yihaodian could sharply boost its share of China’s e-commerce market in the next 2-3 years, following a buyout that will give the site better access to its parent’s experience, offline stores and global connections.
Walmart buys out Yihaodian partners
Just a week after sacking the 2 founders and top executives of its China e-commerce site, global retailing giant Walmart (NYSE: WMT) has taken the next step and bought out its partners in their Yihaodian joint venture. The buyout completes a takeover that began with Walmart’s purchase of a controlling 51 percent of Yihaodian 3 years ago. It also signals that Walmart is preparing to pump major new investment into the site, as it tries to become a major player in a market dominated by local giants Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and JD.com (Nasdaq: JD).
I have to applaud Walmart for finally taking control and tossing out Yihaodian’s founders, who weren’t doing much to challenge any of the nation’s top e-commerce sites. But that said, foreign companies have a very poor track record competing with homegrown Chinese Internet firms, and its far from clear if Walmart can succeed where other big names like Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO), Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE) and eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) have failed in the past. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Mecox Lane’s privatization plan should succeed, but the company is likely to continue its decline even if it re-lists in China under its current lackluster management.
Mecox Lane gets buyout offer
The current privatization wave is giving me a chance to revisit some companies that I haven’t written about in quite a while such as former e-commerce superstar Mecox Lane (Nasdaq: MCOX), which has just become the latest name to receive a buyout offer. In a slightly surprising twist, Mecox Lane’s shares tanked after it made the announcement, losing more than 8 percent to close around 20 percent below the buyout offer price.
Mecox’s announcement is one of the smallest so far in terms of deal value, since the company only has a market value of about $40 million. That’s even less than the $63 million education specialist New Oriental (NYSE: EDU) will need to pay an unusual special dividend announced just a day earlier, in a move I interpreted as a signal that the company had no plans to join the exodus of Chinese companies from New York. (previous post) Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 21. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Micron (Nasdaq: MU) Does Not Believe Deal With Tsinghua Is Possible – Sources (English article)
Huawei’s H1 Revenue Up 30 Pct Year-on-Year at $28 Bln (English article)
Travel Site Tongcheng Launches 100 Bln Yuan Promotion, Links With Wanda (Chinese article)
Uniqlo Leaves JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) After 3-Month Trial (English article)
Bottom line: Walmart’s dismissal of Yihaodian’s 2 top executives marks a major shake-up due to the unit’s disappointing performance, and could be followed by closer integration with Walmart’s own China operations.
Yihaodian in management shake-up
A major shake-up has just occurred at Walmart’s (NYSE: WMT) China e-commerce unit, reflecting its disappointing progress 3 years after the US retailing giant took control of local upstart Yihaodian. The shake-up has seen the sudden resignation of Yihaodian’s 2 founders, Yu Gang and Liu Junjun, who were also the chairman and CEO, respectively. Yihaodian confirmed the departures, and said they were announced after a high-level Walmart official came to visit the company. (Chinese article)
The reports say Walmart issued a nicely worded statement on the matter, saying “A company’s founders will naturally leave after a certain stage of development, and we wish them well”. But the fact of the matter is that Yihaodian has been quite a disappointment for Walmart, which took control of the company in 2012 and has made it the central focus of its e-commerce strategy in China. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: New buyout bids for Dangdang and YY look opportunistic due to a recent sell-off in their shares, while Baixing.com could lead a new wave of domestic IPOs for Chinese Internet firms next year.
Dangdang gets buyout offer
A few lingering buyout offers for US-listed Chinese firms are trickling in after Thursday’s market rally in China, with e-commerce stalwart Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) and the newer social networking site YY (Nasdaq: YY) both announcing new privatization plans. These 2 announcements look quite opportunistic, as they come after a sell-off that has seen Dangdang and YY’s shares plunge over the last 2 weeks, but right after a major one-day China rally that spilled over into the US.
At the same time, online classifieds site Baixing.com is charting a path for the future, with word that it’s scrapping its variable interest entity (VIE) structure that is typically used for Chinese firms looking to list in New York. The company is reportedly making the move as it eyes a domestic Chinese listing instead, and also as it receives new funding from online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 8. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China Stock Slump Spreads as Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) to JD.com Whipsaw Investors (English article)
Weibo (Nasdaq: WB) Enters E-commerce Business (Chinese article)
Wanda Cinema (Shenzhen: 002739) Line H1 Revenues Up 41 Pct to 3.48 Bln Yuan (English article)
Uber’s China Rival Didi Kuaidi Said to Raise Funds From Ping An, Capital Int’l (English article)
Alipay In 130,000 Offline Stores, as Ant Financial Gets $45 Bln Valuation (Chinese article)
Bottom line: China needs to let traditional banks behave more independently and encourage them to take risks, or risk seeing them overtaken by private, entrepreneurial financial companies.
Alibaba bank goes online
China’s 2 leading e-commerce companies were in the headlines last week with major new moves in the financial services sector, continuing a trend that has seen private firms pose the first serious challenge in decades to China’s banking establishment. One move saw Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) launch its online bank, MYbank, as part of a Beijing pilot program to allow private companies into the sector. The other saw JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) form a credit scoring joint venture, aiming to tap its huge volumes of transaction data to help rate the creditworthiness of individuals. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 27-29. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Guotai Junan (Shanghai: 601211) Soars in Debut As China’s Biggest IPO Since 2010 (English article)
Bottom line: Suning’s Japanese expansion and receipt of a new license to build and operate a private broadband network are both positive developments, but also reflect a lack of quick progress in transforming its core China-based retail business.
Suning in Japanese expansion
A couple of new reports involving Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) made me realize it’s been quite a while since I’ve written about this company that is trying to transform from a traditional retailer to a major e-commerce player. Both reports are interesting and noteworthy, though neither is related to its e-commerce drive, which doesn’t appear to be going anywhere quickly.
One of the deals involves Suning’s purchase of a money-losing Japanese electronics seller 5 years ago, and will see it now plow several billion yuan into a major expansion of the Laox chain of home appliance stores. The second deal has Suning named as one of 4 companies to receive licenses to build broadband networks to offer services under a newly announced pilot program to open the sector to private money. Read Full Post…
