Tag Archives: Shanda Games

News Digest: April 23

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The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 23. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • Regulator Bans Unauthorized Commercial SMSs To Fight Spam (Chinese article)
  • SouFun (NYSE: SFUN) Comments On A Short Seller’s 3rd Report (PRNewswire)
  • Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) to Fully Participate in Actoz Rights Offer (PRNewswire)

News Digest: April 16

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The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 16. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • ‘Django Unchained’ Abruptly Pulled From China Theaters (English article)
  • Bertelsmann (Frankfurt: BTGGg) Joins With Kaixin Targeting Mothers, Children (Chinese article)
  • Shanda Games’ (Nasdaq: GAME) Actoz to Issue Shares For Mobile Expansion (PRNewswire)
  • Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Transforming To Compete With Apple, Samsung – CEO (Chinese article)

Shanda Ties With Alibaba 盛大牵手淘宝 合作失败可能性大

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China’s unruly and highly competitive Internet space has created all kinds of interesting partnerships, with word of a new tie-up between e-commerce giant Alibaba and former online game leader Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) emerging as the latest. The driving force behind most of these tie-ups is a desire to drive more traffic to Internet sites as companies search for more customers. In this case, it appears the 2 companies are aiming to sell e-commerce goods to Shanda’s millions of online gamers from Alibaba’s hugely popular TMall online shopping mall. (Chinese article)

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Shanda Seeks Stability in New President 盛大集团任命新总裁，求稳定

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If ever there was an Internet company that seems full of lost potential, it would be online entertainment firm Shanda Group, whose temperamental founder Chen Tianqiao is both one of the company’s greatest assets but also its greatest liabilities. After years of storminess that have left Shanda as a company rich in assets but poor in performance, Chen finally seems to want to give his firm a better chance at success with the naming of a new president in the form of a Taiwanese investment banker named Robert Chiu. (Chinese article)

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News Digest: August 28, 2012 报摘： 2012年8月28日

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The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on August 28. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • Jingdong Mall Blocks Alibaba’s eTao From Price Comparisons (Chinese article)
  • Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) Announces Resignation of Tan Qunzhao as CEO (PRNewswire)
  • China Approves Ford (NYSE: F), Mazda, Changan to Split JV in Two: Ford CEO (English article)

News Digest: June 12, 2012 报摘： 2012年6月12日

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The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 12. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.

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◙ Huawei, ZTE (HKEx: 763) Execs Sentenced to 10 Years for Corruption in Algeria (English article)

◙ 7 Days (NYSE: SVN) Announces Strategy Update and Share Repurchase Program (PRNewswire)

◙ Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Launches No-Contract Mobile Broadband Service (English article)

◙ NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES) Invests Over RMB 10 Mln in Mobile Literature Content (English article)

◙ Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) Reports Q1 Unaudited Results (PRNewswire)

Renren Weighs Game Unit Spin-Off 人人网考虑分拆游戏业务

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Renren (NYSE: RENN) investors tired of seeing losses quarter after quarter could soon have another alternative as China’s leading social networking site reportedly plans to spin off its online game unit into a separately listed company. If true, the news would mark the latest plan by an Internet company to spin off an individual business into a separate unit, as part of a broader trend by this sector to provide investors with clearer choices focused on specific businesses like games or e-commerce. Many of China’s Internet companies, especially the older ones, often have lots of different businesses, from portals, to games, e-commerce and social networking, under a single company. One or more of the businesses are often profitable and end up subsidizing the others that are losing money — frustrating investors who might like the profitable units but care less for the loss-making ones. In this latest case, media are citing unnamed sources saying Renren is crafting a plan to spin off its game unit by September, and would eventually list the business separately with an IPO. (Chinese article) Renren may have hinted at this move when it released its first-quarter results last month, at which time it said its online game revenue nearly doubled to $17.5 million, accounting for more than half of the company’s total revenue. (previous post) I’m normally not a big fan of online game stocks, as business for such companies can vary widely due to their dependence on 1 or 2 popular titles for success. But in Renren’s case, the company actually looks a bit more interesting than traditional rivals like Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) and The9 (Nasdaq: NCTY), which are simply game companies and little more. Renren brings the added advantage of millions of users for its core social networking site, which provide an instant audience for its games. For that reason, it could probably find more success with so-called casual gamers, the people who like to play games occasionally but aren’t as fanatical as hard-core players who can spend hours playing at Internet cafes. Renren hasn’t commented in too much detail on the game business, but presumably its profitable or would become profitable by the time of a public listing, most likely late this year or in early 2013. That would be an attractive alternative for investors, who have shunned Chinese IPOs for nearly a year now partly because most of the ones to list during that time were losing money. An IPO for Renren’s game unit would parallel a similar move by Internet portal Sohu (NYSE: SOHU), which spun off its gaming business into a separately listed company, Changyou (Nasdaq: CYOU) several years ago. Others reportedly weighing similar moves include gaming company NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES), which may spin off its portal business; and Internet giant Tencent (HKEx: 700), which recently reorganized and has discussed spinning off its e-commerce business. Look for more such spin-off plans in the next 12 months, potentially providing stock buyers with some more focused, and perhaps even profitable, China Internet investment options.

Bottom line: Renren’s reported plan to spin off its online games business is part of a trend that could see a flurry of similar moves and IPOs by profitable Chinese Internet companies in the next year.

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ Renren: China’s Next Gaming Company? 人人网：中国下一个网游企业？

◙ Tencent E-Commerce: Another Money Loser IPO 腾讯电商：将又一个失败的

◙ NetEase Name Change: Spin-Off Coming 网易更名：预示业务分拆

Shanda Delists: Thanks for the Profits 盛大网络退市：获利可喜

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Anyone who invested in Shanda Interactive (Nasdaq: SNDA), China’s first online game company to go public, must surely be happy by the ending to the company’s story as a publicly traded firm, which officially comes today with its delisting from the Nasdaq following a successful privatization bid. From my own observer’s perspective, I’m also quite welcoming of this delisting, as Shanda’s core online game business is already well represented for investors by its separately listed game unit, Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME); thus this delisting will remove a duplicate company from the market that only serves to confuse investors with the kinds of accounting tricks that Chinese firms need to stop to restore credibility to their tarnished reputation. Let’s look quickly at this final chapter of publicly traded life for Shanda, which officially ended on Tuesday when shareholders approved a generous takeover offer led by the company’s deal-making founder, Chen Tianqiao. (company announcement; Chinese article) Under that deal, shareholders will get $41.35 for each American Depositary Share (ADS) they hold, representing a handsome 275 percent return for anyone who initially bought the company’s ADSs for their IPO price of $11 when Shanda went public in 2004. Since then Shanda’s shares have gone on a roller coaster ride that saw them rise as high as $55 in 2010, only to sink to $32 last year amid a series of accounting scandals at US-listed Chinese firms. Amid all that, the company spun off Shanda Games and was planning to spin off its online literature unit, called Cloudary, last summer before indefinitely scrapping the offer when market sentiment plummeted. From an investor perspective, the delisting of the parent Shanda Interactive, which aspires to become a diversified entertainment company, should be a welcome development, as it will greatly simplify this company by only listing each of its individual business units, while removing a parent company whose own financial results were essentially double-counting the performance of each of those units. This kind of double counting is relatively common among not only Chinese but also Hong Kong companies, and represents the kind of games that are one of the biggest risks for investors when buying Chinese stocks. So I congratulate Chen on this new delisting, even though I doubt his motivations are so pure. Instead, Chen has indicated he may try to list Shanda Interactive on a domestic Chinese stock market, most likely China’s Nasadaq-style ChiNext or its planned international board in Shanghai. But I wouldn’t look for that offering anytime soon, certainly not this year though possibly in 2013.

Bottom line: Shanda Interactive’s successful delisting marks a positive move for better transparency at US-listed Chinese firms, and could presage a re-listing on a Chinese exchange as soon as 2013.

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ Shanda Plays Games With Big Dividend 盛大游戏寄望高额分红计划提振股价

◙ Shanda Moves Ahead With Privatization 投资者对盛大私有化仍持保留态度

◙ Grentech Follows Shanda in Privatization Ploy 国人通信赴盛大网络後尘宣布私有化

News Digest: January 13, 2012

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The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on January 13. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.

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◙ China’s Auto-Sales Growth Trails U.S. for First Time in At Least 14 Years (English article)

◙ Xunlei Prepares for Second IPO Attempt (English article)

◙ Tudou (Nasdaq: TUDO), Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) Block Youku (NYSE: YOKU) Search Engine (English article)

◙ Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) Announces Date of January 23 for Special Cash Dividend (PRNewswire)

◙ China To Open Domestic Parcel Delivery Market to Foreign Investment in H1 (Chinese article)

Soufun Looks For More Support With New Dividend 搜房网借新派息计划寻求支撑股价

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When does a 31 percent dip in your share price look good? When your rivals’ share prices have fallen by even more, or at least that seems to be the thinking at real estate services firm Soufun (NYSE: SFUN), which has just announced its second dividend in the last 4 months amid a broader sell-off that has seen many US-listed China stocks tumble by even more in the last few months. Soufun’s latest plan looks even more attractive now than the first plan announced in August (previous post), as the payout amount will remain at $1 per American Depositary Share, translating to a return of about 7.5 percent based on the company’s latest share price. (company announcement) That’s up from a payout ratio of about 5 percent for the August dividend, when the company’s shares were quite a bit higher. A growing number of US-listed companies have tried the dividend approach, including chipmaker Spreadtrum (Nasdaq: SPRD) and online game specialists Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA) and most recentlly Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME), betting that cash payouts will appeal more to investors than traditional share buybacks. So how effective is the dividend strategy? A quick comparison shows that while Soufun’s shares are down 31 percent since it announced its first dividend, its closest rival, E-House (NYSE: EJ) is down by an even bigger 42 percent over the same period, showing the strategy may have some effect. Of course, Soufun’s recent posting of solid third-quarter results, even in the face of China’s rapid real estate slowdown, may also be helping its stock. (previous post) For all of those reasons, Soufun may indeed look like a nice play going forward. Dividends may be good for short-term investors, helping to support stock prices and provide some definite returns in uncertain markets. But for longer term investors, there’s still no replacement for solid company fundamentals and growth prospects, meaning it still pays to check a company’s bottom line no matter how nice the dividend.

Bottom line: The dividend approach being tried by many US-listed China firms is providing some short-term support for share prices and quick returns for investors.

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ Shanda Plays Games With Big Dividend 盛大游戏寄望高额分红计划提振股价

◙ Investors Pocket Spreadtrum, Giant Dividends and Run

◙ Sofun’s New Strategy: Dividend Wave Ahead? 搜房网新策略：中国概念股派息潮即将来临？

Shanda Plays Games With Big Dividend 盛大游戏寄望高额分红计划提振股价

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Shanda (Nasdaq: SNDA) head honcho Chen Tianqiao, lacking any major news to boost languishing shares prices of his 2 public companies, is resorting to playing games to lift their stocks, first through a privatization plan for one and now with a massive special dividend for the other, Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME). (company announcement) The only problem is, another online game operator, Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA) tried a similar plan earlier this year with mostly disappointing results. So let’s have a look at Shanda Games’ new plan, which will see it offer a one-time cash dividend of $1.02 per American Depositary Share (ADS) on December 20, translating to roughly a 25 percent payout based on its price of about $4 when the announcement came out. Shanda shares jumped just $0.43 per share, or around 11 percent, after the announcement came out, or less than half the amount of the special dividend, indicating investors think the company’s share price may already be overvalued. Chen’s ploy looks especially risky in light of Giant’s experience earlier this year, when it offered a massive special dividend that amounted to 40 percent of its share price at the time. (previous post) Giant shares jumped a little after the announcement, though nowhere near the amount of the special dividend, but then crashed after the actual payout and now trade nearly 20 percent below their levels when it first announced the dividend. There’s no reason to believe that Shanda Games’ dividend won’t see a similar outcome, with investors boosting the stock to collect the one-time payout and then quickly selling it once the dividend passes. Of course this new move from Chen comes just a week after he launched a bid to privatize his other listed company, Shanda Interactive, whose shares are also in the doldrums along with those of many other US-listed China stocks. (previous post) Instead of playing these kinds of deal-making games, Chen needs to sit down and create an exciting roadmap for his companies to convince investors they have strong long-term growth potential, which will do much more to boost their share prices.

Bottom line: Shanda Games’ new offer of a large one-time dividend is the latest bid by founder Chen Tianqiao to boost the company, but is ultimately bound to disappoint.

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ Shanda Moves Ahead With Privatization 投资者对盛大私有化仍持保留态度

◙ Giant Fires CFO, Offers Dividend to Placate Investors 巨人网络CFO辞职 高额分红以安抚投资者

◙ Grentech Follows Shanda in Privatization Ploy 国人通信赴盛大网络後尘宣布私有化