Bottom line: A US trade group’s statement criticizing Alibaba’s anti-piracy efforts reflects widely diverging views between the company and its critics, and could see Alibaba’s name return to the annual US list of “notorious” piracy sites.
US trade group blasts Alibaba
I’ve written several times about the difficult task that leading e-commerce site Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) will face in maintaining its status as a friend of Washington in the battle against piracy, following a major scandal earlier this year involving the rampant sale of fake goods on one of its main websites. Most news has involved steps Alibaba is taking to boost its chances of staying off an annual list of “notorious” websites for piracy, which is published annually by the Office of the US Trade Representatives. But now we’re getting a taste of the opposition Alibaba will face in that battle, with a major US trade association blasting the company for shortcomings in its anti-counterfeiting policies. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Alibaba will mount an intense campaign in Washington over the next 6 months in a bid to avoid major embarrassment if its name appears on a widely watched list of global Internet companies that don’t do enough to fight piracy.
Volume grows in Alibaba anti-piracy drive
Just weeks after hiring a major lobbyist to convince Washington it’s serious about fighting piracy, e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is turning up the volume in its campaign with a couple of new announcements about its commitment to combating the problem. The latest of those has seen Alibaba jointly issue an announcement with the Washington-based International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition, reaffirming an earlier tie-up aimed at stamping out the selling of fake products in Alibaba’s popular e-commerce marketplaces.
The other announcement came earlier in the week, and saw Alibaba announce it was strengthening its cooperation with a Chinese organization that fights online copyright infringement. Unfortunately for Alibaba, no one paid too much attention to these 2 announcements, with the result that its renewed anti-piracy blitz wasn’t publicized too much in mainstream media. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Alibaba’s new hiring of a Washington insider to head its international government affairs reflects its attempts to look more global, and also an intense lobbying campaign to ensure its name stays off an annual US piracy list.
Alibaba bulks up in Washington
E-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) has just made a major new addition to its Washington lobbying team, as it gears up for what’s likely to become one of its biggest battles yet on Capitol Hill. That battle will see the company try to convince the Obama administration that it’s a strong partner in the battle against piracy, as it tries to stay off an annual list published by Washington that singles out major internet sites that don’t do enough to stamp out counterfeiting.
Alibaba’s new hire of former GE Capital executive Eric Pelletier to head its international government affairs is also part of its attempts to look more global by adding big-powered non-Chinese to its top management ranks. The move parallels similar hires by equally globally-minded companies including networking equipment giant Huawei and leading PC maker Lenovo (HKEx: 992), which are also trying to convince the world that they’re truly global players and not just Chinese companies. Read Full Post…
Shanghai may be famous for its entrepreneurial spirit, but its track record isn’t quite so stellar when it comes to nurturing top entrepreneurs. That could be starting to change, however, with word that Dalian Wanda Group, one of China’s most dynamic companies, plans to move its headquarters to Shanghai from its current location in Beijing.
As a longtime foreigner living in Shanghai, I’ve always been surprised by the relatively small number of major private companies for a city of our size. We should certainly be proud of some of our city’s most outstanding entrepreneurs, with names like Guo Guangchang of Fosun Group and Spring Airlines (Shenzhen: 601021) Chairman Wang Zhenghua as 2 outstanding examples. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China’s largest corporations need to face stiffer regulatory penalties to ensure their compliance with Beijing rules, as part of a campaign to clean up the country’s business climate.
More strictness needed in Alibaba, telco cases
Some of China’s leading high-tech firms were in the headlines last week for foot-dragging in response to government calls to change their business practices, in separate cases that show why Beijing needs to get more aggressive about enforcing its rules among big domestic corporations.
The first case saw e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) sued by one of the world’s top makers of luxury goods for allegedly refusing to clean up its popular sites of trafficking in pirated goods. The second saw critics accuse China’s 3 major mobile carriers of taking largely empty steps to improve their mobile data pricing and speeds, after Beijing called on them to take such action. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: A new anti-bribery probe against the medical device divisions at Siemens, GE and Philips will end with a quiet settlement, as China scales back a wave of probes that have raised complaints about discrimination against multinationals.
Foreign medical device makers fall under China microscope
Summer time is fast approaching, which means it’s time for China’s latest crackdown on foreign firms to start heating up. Such crackdowns are becoming an annual tradition, and have even developed a certain cyclicity that sees them begin in late spring, then reach a fever pitch in summer before fading in the fall. This year could continue that pattern, following reports that the medical device units of global conglomerates Siemens (Frankfurt: SEIGn), General Electric (NYSE: GE) and Philips (Amsterdam: PHG) are all being probed over whether they bribed hospitals and other medical professionals to achieve their current market dominance. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: New moves against e-commerce and online video firms are extensions of a broader crackdown on rogue Internet practices, which will slow short-term growth at some companies but ultimately create a healthier business environment.
E-Commerce in China
Crackdowns widen on video, e-commerce
It seems like I write about the latest Internet crackdown far too often these days, as Beijing focuses on a wide range of industries where it wants to clean up what it sees as unhealthy business practices. Another 2 such crackdowns are in the headlines as we head into spring, one in the scandal-wracked e-commerce space and the other in online video. Both crackdowns actually began earlier, and these latest moves just show the regulators don’t feel that their job is finished yet.
Of course it’s a slight oversimplification to say this broader series of crackdowns is coming from a single source, since the commerce regulator has been the main driver behind the e-commerce crackdown and the broadcasting and publishing regulator is behind the video clean-up. But those 2 concurrent campaigns, along with other similar ones, probably underscore a recent resolve by central leaders in Beijing to clean up a Chinese business landscape that’s often riddled with corrupt and illegal practices. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China’s regulators should work closely with innovators like Alibaba and SMG to minimize the risk from their new financial products that bring small lenders and borrowers together.
Alibaba, SMG partner on film finance
E-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) made its latest advance in the financial realm last week, announcing a major tie-up with Shanghai’s leading broadcaster to promote film finance over its online platform based on the crowd-funding concept. The move extends Alibaba’s recent forays into both entertainment and finance, and could provide a major boost for smaller Chinese movie makers who often lack access to project funding.
But the reality is that movie making is a highly risky business for even the most experienced companies, and smaller productions are famous for losing money. That means many of the projects that get financed through the new Alibaba tie-up with Shanghai Media Group (SMG) may ultimately see investors lose some or all their money if and when poorly conceived projects fail to find an audience. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Alibaba’s clean-up of its Taobao marketplace is likely to last for the next year, and could see growth in trading volume on the platform fall by about half of current levels to the 15-20 percent range.
Alibaba evicts 26 sellers from Taobao
Two months after a scandal erupted over high piracy rates on one of its main websites, e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) has moved to address the problem with the expulsion of 26 merchants from its popular Taobao C2C platform. Alibaba’s description of the campaign shows the company is still avoiding the word “piracy” in its discussion of the clean-up, reflecting the sensitivity of the situation. But the larger question is just how many merchants will ultimately be expelled from Taobao, and what that will mean for Alibaba’s top and bottom lines. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Many of Alibaba’s older stakeholders are likely to sell some or all of their shares after their lock-up period ends, driving the stock down to or even below its IPO level over the coming months.
Alibaba lock-up period ends
Top managers at China’s Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) are almost certainly watching their company’s stock with acute angst this week, even as business continues as usual with word of the e-commerce leader’s latest overseas expansion into Korea. The angst is the direct result of an end to the lock-up period for Alibaba’s stock, which could technically flood the market with up to 340 million shares that were forbidden from trading for the first 6 months after its record-breaking $25 billion IPO.
Put differently, all of those shares would be worth about $29 billion at Alibaba’s current price, accounting for more than one-tenth of its total market capitalization of about $210 billion. The shares officially become eligible for trading when the lock-up period ends on Wednesday, March 18, which is exactly 6 months after the shares made their trading debut on the New York Stock Exchange. (Chinese article) Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China should work with its major trading partners to send unified signals on issues like piracy to create a transparent business climate and avoid confusion.
US, China send crossed signals on piracy
In an unusual reversal of roles, Washington officials who regularly criticize China for piracy found themselves defending Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) on the issue last week, just a month after a Beijing regulator blasted the e-commerce leader for allowing rampant fake goods trade on its popular Taobao site. The conflicting messages are at least partly political, since a similar US condemnation would have contradicted Washington’s praise of Alibaba’s piracy-fighting efforts over the last 2 years. Read Full Post…
