The list of traditional retailers suffering from the e-commerce challenge has gained a new member, with domestic giant Wumart (HKEx: 1025) reporting its profit for 2013 fell for the first time in 5 years. It’s noteworthy to point out the last time Wumart’s profit fell was at the height of the global financial crisis in 2008, when the reasons for the downturn were sudden and severe but also relatively short-term. This time the reasons are much more gradual and signal a longer term decline for traditional retailers like Wumart, which are facing an unprecedented challenge from big e-commerce names like Alibaba, JD.com and Amazon China (Nasdaq: AMZN). Read Full Post…
Tag Archives: JD.com
Weibo: Baidu, Xiaomi, TCL Leaders On Display At NPC
Many of China’s biggest tech leaders were chattering in cyberspace last week from Beijing, where they were gathered for this year’s National People’s Congress and the related Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), collectively known as the lianghui. Lei Jun, CEO of handset sensation Xioami, was uncharacteristically low-key in talking about his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as was Li Dongsheng, the soft-spoken CEO of leading TV maker TCL (HKEx: 1070; Shenzhen: 000100). But the marketing savvy Xiaomi was still up to its usual publicity tricks, helping to spread a series of photos showing Robin Li, founder of search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), using a Xiaomi handset in one of the sessions. Read Full Post…
Vipshop Eyes Big M&A With New Mega Fund-Raising
I don’t usually like to toot my own horn, but my prediction last month that we could soon see a major fund-raising exercise by high-flying e-commerce firm Vipshop (NYSE: VIPS) has come to pass, with word that the firm is preparing to sell stock and bonds worth more than $600 million. Investors weren’t extremely excited about the plan, with Vipshares falling slightly after the announcement came out. But considering that the company’s shares have risen about 8-fold over the last year alone, the reception wasn’t all that bad either. From the strategic perspective, this new massive fund raising hints that Vipshop wants to take advantage of the recent wave of M&A sweeping China’s e-commerce space, and I expect we could see some big deal announcements later this year. Read Full Post…
News Digest: March 11, 2014
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 11. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- JD.com Rolls Out Financial Product Similar To Yu’ebao To Boost IPO (Chinese article)
- E-House (NYSE: EJ) Announces Leju’s Plan For Proposed IPO (PRNewswire)
- Home Inns (Nasdaq: HMIN) to Acquire Yunshang Siji Hotel Management Co (PRNewswire)
- ZTE (HKEx: 763), The9 (Nasdaq: NCTY) to Release Game Console – Source (English article)
- Ackman To Renew Attack On Herbalife (NYSE: HLF) With Aim On China Business (English article)
- Latest calendar for Q4 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
Tencent-JD Tie-Up Takes Aim At Alibaba
The new week is just beginning, but it could well go down as a pivotal moment in Chinese Internet history with Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) new announcement of an e-commerce alliance with JD.com that could threaten the dominance of sector leader Alibaba. The tie-up, which was first rumored last month, will see Tencent pay $215 million for 15 percent of JD.com, which will also receive some of Tencent’s e-commerce assets including a minority stake of its flagship Yixun.com B2C service. (company announcement) The companies will merge their e-commerce businesses, creating a new player with nearly a quarter of China’s B2C e-commerce market. Read Full Post…
News Digest: March 8-10, 2014
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 8-10. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Tencent (HKEx: 700) Clinches JD.com Investment, Pair To Merge E-Commerce (Chinese article)
- Alibaba May Invest $1 Bln In Online Video Site Wasu (Shenzhen: 000156) (Chinese article)
- Disney (NYSE: DIS), Shanghai Media Group To Develop Disney-Branded Movies (English article)
- City of Dalian Order 1,200 BYD (HKEx: 1211) Electric Buses (Businesswire)
- Shanghai Jin Jiang Hotels (Hong Kong: 2006) Scraps Bond Issue (English article)
- Latest calendar for Q4 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
Dangdang Disappoints With New Yhd Tie-Up
If I was a shareholder in e-commerce firm Dangdang (NYSE: DANG), I would definitely sell my stock after hearing about the company’s latest announcement of a tie-up with Walmart-backed (NYSE: WMT) Yhd.com. I personally wasn’t surprised by the nature of the tie-up, which will see the pair cross-promote each others’ services, even though I was a bit disappointed that there was no equity exchange. Dangdang had previously confirmed it would announce a tie-up after rumors of an alliance first appeared a few weeks ago. This kind of hype followed by disappointment is quite typical of Dangdang’s co-founder and CEO Li Guoqing, whose fierce independence could ultimately lead to the marginalization or even death of his company. Read Full Post…
Internet Consolidation To Test Anti-Monopoly Regulator
After years of fragmentation, China’s Internet has undergone a sudden and radical overhaul over the past year, with 3 major firms emerging as major consolidators. The frenzy of new tie-ups and acquisitions has been a welcome development, helping to cool overheated competition in a wide array of sectors where most companies were losing money.
But with the emergence of Alibaba, Tencent (HKEx: 700) and Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) as the 3 major consolidators, China’s anti-monopoly regulator should start to give closer scrutiny to future deals to avoid too much reduction in the competition necessary to ensure future innovation and consumer choice. Such scrutiny could and should ultimately lead to the veto of some future deals, especially larger ones, by regulators who need to become more assertive in the space.
Read Full Post…
News Digest: March 5, 2014
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 5. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- JD.com Invites Tencent, Baidu, Qihoo 360 Investment – Reports (English article)
- YY (NYSE: YY) Reports Q4 And Full Year Financial Results (Globe Newswire)
- PBOC Chmn Says Won’t Ban Alibaba’s Yu’ebao, But Will Perfect Regulation (Chinese article)
- Unicom (HKEx: 762), China Telecom Urge Quick FDD 4G License Issue (Chinese article)
- Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) VP Says China Leads World In Weekly Orders (Chinese article)
- Latest calendar for Q4 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
IPOs: Legend Eyes HK, Xunlei New York
The recent window of positive sentiment towards Chinese tech firms continues to fuel a wave of offshore IPO plans, with video sharing site Xunlei and Lenovo (HKEx: 992) parent Legend Holdings the latest subjects of new listing rumors. All these reports come as a top New York Stock Exchange executive predicts 15-20 Chinese firms will list in New York this year. (English article) That forecast by David Ethridge, a senior vice president at NYSE Euronext, certainly looks quite bullish, especially compared with only 6 companies that listed in New York last year and just 2 in 2012. But it’s also worth noting the figure is a bit more conservative than another forecast earlier this month from an unnamed investment banking source for as many as 30 New York listings this year. (previous post) Read Full Post…
News Digest: March 1-3, 2014
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 1-3. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU), Tencent (HKEx: 700) Plan Video Business Merger – Source (English article)
- JD.com Suffers Data Breach, Says Scale Not Large (Chinese article)
- Gap’s (NYSE: GPS) Old Navy Chain Opens First Store in Mainland China (Businesswire)
- SMIC (HKEx: 981) Sets Up 500 Mln Yuan Investment Fund (HKEx announcement)
- An Independent Suntech (OTC: STPFQ) Sets its Sights On The UK Solar Market (PRNewswire)
- Latest calendar for Q4 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
