The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 28. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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EU Duties On Chinese Solar Panels Losing Member State Support (English article)
Lashou in Acquisition Talk with Renren’s (NYSE: RENN) Nuomi – Source (English article)
Japan’s Line Aims For No.2 in China’s Mobile IM Market (English article)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 14. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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AsiaInfo-Linkage (Nasdaq: ASIA) To be Acquired CITIC Capital Consortium (PRNewswire)
Jingdong Expects Profitability in Next 7-12 Months (English article)
Renren (NYSE: RENN) Shuts Down Mobile Projects – Source (English article)
Home Inns (Nasdaq: HMIN) Reports Q1 Financial Results (PRNewswire)
SNS moves beyond idle chatter in after Ya’an quake
The Ya’an earthquake now already 2 weeks ago has cast an interesting new spotlight on China’s vibrant field of social networking services (SNS), showing a different side to these sites that are largely seen as little more than frivolous, time-wasting toys. As a frequent user of Chinese sites like Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo, Tencent (HKEx: 700) WeChat and Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), I can personally testify that I mostly use these sites to fill up idle time at home or on the subway, often when I’m trying to procrastinate or am just feeling bored. But these sites are suddenly earning new praise as a critical communication tool during the Ya’an earthquake, arguably the first major global disaster since SNS services began their meteoric rise less than a decade ago. Read Full Post…
After a dismal first quarter, we’re seeing the latest signs of new life in the moribund market for offshore Chinese IPOs with the planned launch of 2 major new offerings later this week in Hong Kong. The pair of IPOs, one for brokerage Galaxy Securities and the other for a unit of oil major Sinopec (HKEx: 386; Shanghai: 600028; NYSE: SNP), could raise up to $3.5 billion combined, following a dismal first quarter for new listings. The IPOs would also come as online retailer LightInTheBox seeks to launch the year’s first public offering for a Chinese company in New York later this month. Read Full Post…
Note: Since originally writing this post, Sina and Alibaba have formally announced their tie-up. (company announcement) Under the deal, Alibaba has purchased 18 percent of Sina Weibo for $586 million, valuing Weibo at about $3.3 billion. The pair said they expect the alliance to generate $380 million in revenue for Weibo over the next 3 years. Sina shares jumped nearly 10 percent after the news came out.
Weibo, Alibaba in new tie-up
It looks like I may have been premature in declaring last month that talks for a tie-up between leading web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) and e-commerce leader Alibaba were dead. According to the latest reports, the pair have resuscitated their negotiations that began late last year and later collapsed due to disagreement over a valuation for Sina’s popular Weibo microblogging platform. Now media are reporting the talks have quietly resumed in recent weeks, and a deal could be announced very soon. (English article; Chinese article) Read Full Post…
A new media report is underscoring the importance of games for the future of China’s mobile app developers, who are desperately looking for ways to monetize the big sums of money they spend developing such applications. Social networking sites Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo, Tencent (HKEx: 700) and Renren (NYSE: RENN) are all good examples of companies that have quickly built up communities of tens and even hundreds of millions of users by developing popular desktop and mobile apps. But earning money from those huge communities has proven much more difficult, as all of these companies are quickly discovering. In that environment, games have emerged as one of the few things that users of these popular apps are actually willing to pay for. Read Full Post…
Internet companies Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) and Renren (NYSE: RENN) are playing new games to try and boost their struggling prospects, with the former announcing a major executive appointment and the latter a major new product development campaign. In Shanda Games’ case, the move looks potentially interesting because it’s most likely coming from the parent company’s recently named new president who was brought in to make the group’s various parts work better together. (previous post) In Renren’s case, the move also looks like a potentially good one as the company chases its ultimate goal of becoming profitable. Read Full Post…
Everyone is giving their view on China’s new Internet rule announced late last week and what it means for both web surfers and service providers, so I too feel a need to provide my own interpretation on this latest development in the country’s wild and often unruly social media space. In a nutshell, the new rule seems designed to formally put into law many of the practices already performed by major companies and individuals, and in that sense it doesn’t represent a huge change in Beijing’s stance toward the Internet and new media in general.
Beleaguered social networking site (SNS) Renren (NYSE: RENN) is resorting to the feeble tactic of buying back its shares to boost its anemic stock, even as it faces little or no prospect of major new growth in the current chilly advertising climate. What the company really needs right now is a major jolt to excite investors, perhaps through a privatization or a mega-merger with leading rival Kaixin. Both of those could be possibilities in the new year, with the merger option as the most exciting that could breathe new life into a company that was once considered the Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) of China.
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 27. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Denies Alibaba to Invest in Weibo Rumor (Chinese article)
NDRC to Probe Authenticity of E-Commerce Promotions During Chinese New Year (Chinese article)
Leading Chinese media company CCTV has been trumpeting the results of its annual advertising auction for 2013 held over the weekend, which saw spending increase by 11.4 percent despite the recent slowdown that has hit the sector. But from my perspective, these results look very gloomy indeed for reasons I’ll explain shortly, meaning advertising-dependent Internet leaders like search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) and video sharing site Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOUKU) won’t have much to cheer about in 2013.
Everyone is giving their view on China’s new Internet rule announced late last week and what it means for both web surfers and service providers, so I too feel a need to provide my own interpretation on this latest development in the country’s wild and often unruly social media space. In a nutshell, the new rule seems designed to formally put into law many of the practices already performed by major companies and individuals, and in that sense it doesn’t represent a huge change in Beijing’s stance toward the Internet and new media in general.
Beleaguered social networking site (SNS) Renren (NYSE: RENN) is resorting to the feeble tactic of buying back its shares to boost its anemic stock, even as it faces little or no prospect of major new growth in the current chilly advertising climate. What the company really needs right now is a major jolt to excite investors, perhaps through a privatization or a mega-merger with leading rival Kaixin. Both of those could be possibilities in the new year, with the merger option as the most exciting that could breathe new life into a company that was once considered the Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) of China.
Leading Chinese media company CCTV has been trumpeting the results of its annual advertising auction for 2013 held over the weekend, which saw spending increase by 11.4 percent despite the recent slowdown that has hit the sector. But from my perspective, these results look very gloomy indeed for reasons I’ll explain shortly, meaning advertising-dependent Internet leaders like search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) and video sharing site Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOUKU) won’t have much to cheer about in 2013.
