Tag Archives: Sina

Sina latest Business & Financial news overview of Doug Young, the Expert on Chinese companies, (former Journalist and Chief editor at Reuters)

INTERNET: Sohu Slide Continues, Time to Sell?

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Bottom line: Sohu founder Charles Zhang should privatize his company in the next year and then sell off the pieces, or risk see his dwindling empire slowly become worthless.

Sohu’s incredible shrinking empire

You know you’re a CEO when you can call results like those just released by Internet company Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) “solid”. Of course that’s my sarcastic assessment, after reading the latest quarterly report that absolutely nothing upbeat about it from one of China’s oldest Internet companies. Nearly all of the numbers in Sohu’s latest report were down, with the lone exception of its online search business, whose anemic growth shouldn’t excite anyone.

Also down was Sohu’s stock, which slumped 6.4 percent after the results came out and is rapidly approaching lows not seen for nearly a decade. All that brings us to my assertion that perhaps it’s time for founder Charles Zhang to consider the unthinkable and break up his company and sell of the various pieces while there are still potential buyers. If he waits too much longer, those pieces will continue to diminish in value to the point where nobody wants them. Read Full Post…

INTERNET: Weibo Rocks Without Alibaba, Break-Up Ahead?

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Bottom line: Weibo’s lessening dependence on Alibaba is making an acquisition of the former by the latter look less likely, and raises the possibility that Weibo could instead make a play for its parent, Sina.

Weibo weans self from Alibaba

I’ve been predicting for a while that e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) would soon make a bid for Weibo (WB), often called the Twitter (Nasdaq: TWTR) of China, due to an increasingly cozy relationship between the two. But the latest results from Weibo could prompt me to revise my earlier prediction, with the revelation that Weibo actually appears to be weaning itself from its heavy dependence on Alibaba.

This story has a number of threads, underpinned by a landmark tie-up that saw Alibaba buy 18 percent of Weibo 3 years ago, and then later increase that to the current level of 30 percent. The idea was that Weibo, which was losing money at the time of the original tie-up, could milk Alibaba’s connections with thousands of online merchants to find new business opportunities. Such a development did indeed occur, and last year business from Alibaba accounted for a whopping 30 percent of Weibo’s total. Read Full Post…

IPOs: NetEase Eyes Portal Spin-Off, Friends Deliver for Postal Bank

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Bottom line: NetEase is likely to complete a spin-off of its news division, possibly through a sale to Sina, while Postal Savings Bank’s massive IPO will meet with tepid reception due to limited growth prospects.

NetEase plans portal spin-off

Two significant but very different IPOs are in the headlines as we get set for the Mid-Autumn holiday break, one from China’s vibrant private sector and the other from a big state-run behemoth. In the former category is NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES), one of China’s oldest Internet companies, which is reportedly mulling an IPO for its news portal, one of its original businesses with a history dating back to the 1990s. In the other news, China Postal Savings Bank has reportedly placed most of the shares for its massive $8 billion listing with a group of 6 cornerstone investors. Read Full Post…

VIDEO: New Alibaba-Backed Alliance Hints at Sina Acquisition

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Bottom line: A new alliance between Youku Tudou, Weibo and UCWeb, combined with reports of the imminent resignation of Youku’s CEO, point to a sale of Weibo parent Sina to Alibaba within the next 6 months.

New alliance hints at Sina sale

Two new developments involving several Alibaba-backed (NYSE: BABA) assets are hinting at a major new shakeup in the firm’s online video and social networking (SNS) division, which could include an acquisition of stalwart web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) that I’ve been predicting for a while. This particular series of corporate shuffles is quite complex, but does seem to hint that Alibaba is trying to rationalize and synergize some of its major web-based entertainment and SNS assets outside its core e-commerce business. Read Full Post…

INTERNET: Sina Gives Weibo Dividend, Phoenix Fires Editors

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Bottom line: Sina’s award of Weibo shares as a dividend reflects recent strong momentum in Weibo’s business, while Phoenix New Media’s firing of 3 top employees for disciplinary reasons will undermine its news division’s credibility.

Sina gives Weibo shares as dividend

Two of China’s leading news portals are in the headlines today, led by word that industry stalwart Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) is giving stock in its Twitter-like Weibo (Nasdaq: WB) unit to shareholders as a dividend. That particular news comes as shares of both Sina and Weibo have soared over the last 2 months, as Weibo finally starts to realize its profit potential.

Meantime, Phoenix New Media (NYSE: FENG) is in more dubious headlines, with word that 3 high-level employees from its news division have been fired for “serious violations of discipline.” There’s no mention of criminal charges in the reports, which cite an internal memo to employees. But it’s a bit noteworthy that the wording is identical to the frequently used phrase for high Communist Party officials being probed for corruption. Read Full Post…

China News Digest: September 1, 2017

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The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on September 1. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • Tencent (HKEx: 700) Announces Interim Results (HKEx announcement)
  • Xiaomi to Launch Mobile Payment Service Mi Pay with Bank Card Support (English article)
  • Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Announces Distribution of Weibo (Nasdaq: WB) Shares (PRNewswire)
  • Fosun (HKEx: 656) in Talks to Buy Stake in Russia’s Renaissance Capital (English article)
  • ChineseAll Digital Publishing (Shenzhen: 300364) Buys 16 Pct of Sina Reader (Chinese article)
  • Latest calendar for Q2 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)

INTERNET: Sina Jumps on Weibo, JD Inches Towards Profits

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Bottom line: Sina’s latest financials show it could be benefiting from recent woes at Baidu, while JD.com’s results show its growth is slowing as it moves towards its important goal of becoming profitable.

Sina jumps on strong profit growth

Two of China’s top Internet companies have just reported their latest quarterly earnings, with web stalwart Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) wowing Wall Street with new numbers that show its Twitter-like Weibo (Nasdaq: WB) service may finally be gaining some traction. Meantime, investors were less impressed by e-commerce giant JD.com (Nasdsaq: JD), which continued to post strong revenue growth but remained squarely in the loss column. JD tried to comfort investors by saying its operations are now quite profitable on a non-GAAP basis, but that didn’t seem to change sentiment too much. Read Full Post…

China News Digest: Wednesday, August 10

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The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on August 10. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • HTC (Taipei: 2498), Alicloud Form Strategic Alliance in Virtual Reality (Chinese article)
  • Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Reports Q2 Financial Results (PRNewswire)
  • China Extends Marriott-Starwood Deal Review by Up to 60 Days (English article)
  • BP (London: BP) Seeks Buyers for Its Half of China Petrochemical JV (English article)
  • China Film (Shanghai: 600977) Rises 44 Pct in Shanghai Trading Debut (Chinese article)
  • Latest calendar for Q2 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)

INTERNET: Baidu Pays $1.3 Bln Price for Transparency

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Bottom line: Baidu’s long-term revenues will decline by 15-20 percent from current levels as a result of a cut-back in sponsored links and new transparency policies that will scare away some of its advertisers. 

Baidu cuts Q2 revenue outlook

What’s the cost of being honest, or at least a little more honest? If your name is Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), apparently the answer is about $400 million, which is how much China’s leading search engine has just lowered its latest quarterly revenue forecast after taking steps to become more transparent. Put differently, the figure is about one-eighth of Baidu’s previous revenue forecast for the quarter, meaning it would translate to lost revenue of about $1.3 billion of the $10.25 billion it generated for all of last year. Read Full Post…

INTERNET: Baidu Scandal Unleashes Crackdown Wave

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Bottom line: A flurry of new corporate crackdowns will have the biggest impact on Baidu due to its role in a scandal over false advertising claims, and indicates this year’s summer crackdown season could be hotter than usual.

China cracks down on web merchants, drug makers

Summertime in China is a season for crackdowns, and we’re getting a taste of a potentially hot summer ahead fueled by a high-profile scandal involving false advertising claims on leading search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). Three separate crackdowns are in the headlines as we begin the new week, including 2 that look potentially tied to the Baidu scandal.

That scandal consumed China for much of last week, after a student with cancer claimed he was duped into seeking treatment at a hospital that made false claims about its ability to treat his disease. (previous post) In his long list of complaints before he died of his illness, Wang Zexi also accused Baidu of deception for putting the hospital and its inflated claims high in his search results simply because the hospital paid a rich premium for such high placement. Read Full Post…

BUYOUTS: Autohome, E-House Drive Back to China

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Bottom line: Autohome and E-House are both likely to complete their privatizations from New York, continuing the migration of US-listed Chinese firms returning home to seek higher valuations on China’s stock markets.

Autohome drives away from New York

The drive back home for New York-listed Chinese companies continues as we head into the new week, with online car site Autohome (NYSE: ATHM) becoming the latest to announce a privatization plan. In a slightly unusual twist to that story, Autohome shares actually rose above the offer price before the buyout deal was announced, suggesting investors were hoping for a bigger premium than the one offered. But they quickly fell back to the offer price in after-hours trading.

At the same time, online real estate company E-House (NYSE: EJ) announced it has signed a definitive deal to privatize, nearly a year after it first announced its plan to de-list from New York. E-House’s plan has gone down a windy road since it was first announced last June at the height of a rally that saw China’s stock markets more than double in a year. Since then Chinese markets have tanked twice, and are now about 40 percent lower than where they were when E-House first announced its offer. Read Full Post…