The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on July 7. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Drops to Fifth in China’s Mobile Market as Locals Rise (English article)
Huawei Files US Patent Lawsuit Against T-Mobile (Nasdaq: TMUS) (Chinese article)
SAIC, Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) to Mark Chinese Foray Into Connected Cars With SUV (English article)
Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) Sells Solar Power Projects in China (PRNewswire)
China Resources Beer (HKEx: 291) Plans $1.2 Bln Rights Issue to Buy SABMiller’s JV Stake (English article)
Bottom line: Alibaba’s victory in a shareholder lawsuit is partly justified due to its pre-IPO disclosure that piracy is a major risk for the company, but it still should have disclosed a recent government report sharply criticizing it on the matter.
Alibaba triumphs in shareholder lawsuit
E-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is a master at influencing public opinion through its own hype, but is far less successful with government officials who often view its aggressive ways with more skepticism. With that background in mind, the company’s new courtroom victory in a shareholder lawsuit looks like a refreshing nod of approval from a government source, setting it apart from the usual cheers from fans of the company’s stock. I would probably agree with that view, even though in this case I’m not sure I completely agree with the judge’s decision. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: A Beijing visit by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella hints that a settlement will soon be announced in the 3-year-old anti-trust probe against the company, which could include a fine of more than $1 billion.
Microsoft’s Nadella back in China
Just weeks after Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook came to China on a trip partly aimed at damage control, Microsoft’s (NYSE: MSFT) CEO Satya Nadella is in Beijing on a similar mission involving a long-running anti-trust probe against the world’s biggest software company. The trip, and the fact that it was probably leaked by Microsoft, hints that the nearly 3-year-old probe against the company is nearing completion and we could soon see China announce corrective action against the company. A similar series of events unfolded before last year’s anti-trust settlement of a similarly long Beijing probe against US telecoms chip giant Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM). Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Alibaba will avoid being penalized in a new SEC probe, but may be forced to modify some of its aggressive accounting practices in a compromise with the US securities regulator.
Alibaba in new SEC probe
I’m beginning to understand why e-commerce giant Alibaba(NYSE: BABA) has been aggressively building a team of Washington lobbyists, following announcement of its latest clash with a US government agency. This time it’s the securities regulator that’s tussling with the aggressive Alibaba, with word that the US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the company for potential illegal accounting practices. The SEC is already well acquainted with Alibaba, following another unrelated probe of the company last year related to piracy in its online marketplaces. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: A new global tie-up with Uber marks a major advance for Ant Financial’s Alipay, while new Internet car initiatives by Tencent and Alibaba are unlikely to find big audiences despite getting big resources from their backers.
Alibaba, Tencent car initiatives drive ahead
A series of stories involving Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and Tencent (HKEx: 700) reflect the growing importance China’s leading Internet firms are placing on cars, which could be the next major battleground for web-based services. Alibaba is in 2 related headlines, including one that says its affiliated Ant Financial unit has signed a major tie-up that will allow anyone in the world to use its Alipay electronic payments service to pay for Uber hired cars.
The other 2 headlines both involve car manufacturing, including one that says mass production has begun for the first Internet-equipped model co-produced through a tie-up between Alibaba and SAIC (Shanghai: 600104), China’s leading car maker. The other headline says a car-making venture backed by Tencent has been quietly poaching workers from the likes of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Germany’s Daimler (Frankfurt: DAIGn), as it gears up for its own production. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on May 4. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Tencent (HKEx: 700) Venture Poaches Google Talent as Chinese Techs Pile into Autos (English article)
SAIC Begins Mass Production for Car Jointly Produced With Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) (Chinese article)
Bottom line: The recent case involving criticism of Alibaba by Washington and Beijing over piracy should form a template for how the 2 governments can collaborate on commercial issues where they have common interests.
US warns Alibaba over fake goods
Washington and Beijing showed a rare sign of collaboration on commercial issues last week when the US sternly rebuked e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) for widespread trafficking of pirated goods on its websites, reinforcing a similar message delivered by China at the start of this year. While it’s doubtful the US Trade Representative’s (USTR) office and China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) consulted each other in their separate actions, the parallel moves showed just how effective the 2 governments can be when they work together in some of the many areas where their interests overlap.
That contrasts sharply with a more clashing style on many other issues like high-tech hardware security and new energy products, where both sides have similarly common interests but more often take actions that result in trade wars and angry verbal exchanges. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China’s commerce regulator is putting growing pressure on Alibaba to play by its rules governing piracy and fair competition, but is likely to keep dialogue private to avoid public spats like one early this year.
SAIC accepts JD’s Alibaba complaint
E-commerce juggernaut Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is coming uncomfortably under the microscope just days before its important Singles Day shopping extravaganza, with 2 new developments reflecting growing scrutiny from the nation’s top commerce regulator. The first has the powerful State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) formally accepting a complaint from rival JD.com (Nasdaq: JD), which accuses Alibaba of strong-arm tactics aimed at stifling competition during Singles Day promotions set for November 11.
The second headline looks a bit more benign, and simply says that SAIC Minister Zhang Mao visited Alibaba’s headquarters in the city of Hangzhou in coastal Zhejiang province this week. Headlines from that meeting look designed to show a facade of harmony, with Zhang praising Alibaba for its innovation in e-commerce. But I do suspect that Zhang is strongly pushing Alibaba behind the scenes to clean up its sites of traffic in pirated and substandard products, and also to avoid abusing its market dominance that led to the JD.com complaint. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: The latest spat between Alibaba and JD over behind-the-scenes strong-arm tactics will quickly subside following JD’s filing of a formal complaint, as both come under government pressure to clean up their sites of counterfeit goods.
JD accuses Alibaba of strong-arm tactics
In what’s quickly becoming an annual ritual of fall, a war of words has broken out between e-commerce leaders Alibaba(NYSE: BABA) and JD.com(Nasdaq: JD) in the run-up to China’s November 11 Singles Day, the world’s biggest online spending extravaganza. This year JD has accused its larger rival of pressuring third-party online merchants to limit their Singles Day promotions to Alibaba’s own websites, effectively freezing out other sites like JD’s where those same merchants may also operate other online stores.
At the same time, Alibaba, JD and their many smaller e-commerce peers are coming under fire from a new Beijing report saying that more than 40 percent of goods sold online in China are either fake or of poor quality. This new report looks similar to another one that came out early this year uncovering rampant piracy among Chinese e-commerce firms. This time no specific companies are named in the latest media reports. The report earlier this year named many specific companies, and cited Alibaba’s popular Taobao mall as one of the most egregious marketplaces for trade in counterfeit goods. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: A major US trade group’s new call for censure of Alibaba over piracy will bring more negative publicity, though the company’s name is unlikely to reappear on the next edition of Washington’s “notorious markets” list for trade in counterfeit goods.
Group says Taobao still plagued by fakes
A major US trade group that launched an assault on Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) earlier this year is ratcheting up the volume of its attack, calling for direct censure of the Chinese e-commerce giant for not doing enough to fight piracy. The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) was quite scathing in its earlier criticism of Alibaba back in July, blasting the company for its flawed approach and lack of transparency in tackling piracy on its Taobao C2C marketplace.
At the time of that critique the AAFA said it was sending a letter detailing its concerns to the US Trade Representative’s office, which compiles an annual list of “notorious markets” where piracy is rampant. Now the AAFA, which represents more than 1,000 American clothing and shoe makers, is being even more direct by specifically calling for Alibaba to be included on the next edition of the “notorious” list that is likely to be published in the next 2-3 months. (AAFA announcement; English article) Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Alibaba’s establishment of a dual headquarters in Beijing for its Tmall unit looks like a smart move to improve relations with government regulators, and should help to avoid future clashes over issues like piracy.
Alibaba’ss Tmall opens second HQ in Beijing
Embattled e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is finally realizing that only the passage of time will the ease the weight of negative sentiment dogging the company, and is moving on to the important business of laying a more solid foundation for its future development. That’s my interpretation based on the company’s latest major move, which has Alibaba’s Tmall online marketplace set to establish a second headquarters in Beijing.
Media have been buzzing with rumors about the move for much of this week, with some saying Tmall might be preparing to relocate its headquarters completely to Beijing from Alibaba’s hometown of Hangzhou. But the reputable China Business Network (CBN) says it has finally gotten to the bottom of the story, and that Alibaba’s intent is to have Tmall co-headquartered in both Beijing and Hangzhou. Read Full Post…
