Tag Archives: Taobao

INTERNET: Trump-Ma Honeymoon Ends as Alibaba Lands on US Black List

Bottom line: The inclusion of Alibaba’s Taobao marketplace on the latest edition of a US blacklist for piracy signals US is taking a tougher line on trade issues.

Alibaba calls itself ‘scapegoat’ after landing on US blacklist

What a difference a year makes. It was just about this time a year ago that Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) founder Jack Ma scored a major coup by becoming the first major Chinese business leader to score a visit with incoming US President Donald Trump. (previous post) The pair were all smiles back then, with Ma trumpeting a plan to create 1 million American jobs by helping US businesses selling their products into China over Alibaba’s popular e-commerce platforms.

Fast forward to the present, where Ma isn’t smiling anymore, and Alibaba has even taken the unusual step of accusing Trump of making the company into a scapegoat in a growing tide of US protectionism. The abrupt turnabout hinges on two major developments, the most recent being the placement of Alibaba’s consumer-to-consumer (C2C) Taobao website on Washington’s annual “notorious” list of marketplaces with rampant trafficking in pirated goods. That follows another setback for Ma earlier this month when a plan by his Ant Financial saw its plan for a major US acquisition crushed by the Trump administration. Read Full Post…

E-COMMERCE: Alibaba Cranks Up the Anti-Piracy Pitch at NPC

Bottom line: Alibaba’s anti-piracy PR blitz during the National People’s Congress is aimed at getting attention during the high-profile event, but it will need to keep up its efforts to convince the public and officials its effort is sincere.

Alibaba calls for tougher anti-piracy laws

As the National People’s Congress (NPC) kicks into high gear in Beijing, e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is using the annual session of China’s legislature as a soapbox to make its case that it’s being tough in the battle against piracy. In the last 2 weeks alone, founder Jack Ma has made two high-profile declarations on the subject, one equating the problem to the drunk driving menace and the other calling for his country to create tougher laws to fight the problem. Lest anyone think Alibaba is trying to pass the buck, the company has also announced it has filed a lawsuit against a maker of counterfeit pet food. Read Full Post…

E-COMMERCE: Alibaba Gets Christmas Coal from Washington

Bottom line: Alibaba’s Taobao marketplace is likely to be included on the annual US “notorious markets” for piracy list for the next 1-2 years, after its return to the list this year.

Alibaba’s Taobao gets coal for Christmas

Christmas may be just around the corner, but the folks at e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) won’t be feeling much holiday cheer this year. That’s because Alibaba’s hugely popular Taobao C2C marketplace has just been included on the latest edition of Washington’s annual “notorious markets” for piracy list, in a sharp rebuke to the company. The move reverses an earlier decision by Washington 4 years ago, when it took Taobao off the list to acknowledge its efforts to fight the problem. Read Full Post…

INTERNET: Baidu Gets Proactive with Bitcoin Ban

Bottom line: Baidu’s bitcoin advertising ban represents a more proactive stance that major Chinese firms are starting to take towards controversial business, as they seek to boost their images and avoid scandals.

Baidu bans bitcoin ads

Online search giant Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) rippled through the headlines last week with the relatively small news that it would no longer take advertising business from services that hosted trading in bitcoin and other virtual currencies. While seemingly minor on the surface, the move had larger significance due to the controversial nature of virtual currencies and Baidu’s decision to take action without government prodding or the threat of a scandal. Read Full Post…

INTERNET: Alibaba Eyes Polish C2C, Ant Chases Taiwan Insurance

Bottom line: Alibaba’s bid for Polish C2C site Allegro looks like a smart move into a related developing market, but could be thwarted by rival Tencent, while affiliate Ant Financial’s new Taiwan insurance tie-up also looks smart though relatively small.

Alibaba bids for Poland’s Allegro

E-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and its Ant Financial affiliate are in a couple of major headlines as the weekend approaches, each focusing on a strategic growth area. In the first case, Alibaba has entered the bidding for a leading Eastern Europe online auctions site, competing with global rival eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) for Poland’s Allegro. The second deal has Ant, owner of leading electronic payments service Alipay, expanding its financial services holdings with the purchase of a majority stake in the insurance unit of Taiwan’s Cathay Financial (Taipei: 2882). Read Full Post…

China News Digest: June 3, 2016

The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on June 3. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════

  • Didi Chuxing, Uber Compete for Most Funds in Latest Drives (Chinese article)
  • Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) Announces Terms of Share Purchase from SoftBank (Businesswire)
  • China Says Midea’s (Shenzhen: 000333) German Robot Deal Shouldn’t be Politicized (English article)
  • Taobao Invests 28.2 Bln Yuan in Suning (Shenzhen: 002024), Becomes 2nd Largest Shareholder (Chinese article)
  • US Requests Documents From Huawei on Previous Trade Sanctions (Chinese article)

E-COMMERCE: Anti-Piracy Group Pulls Out Welcome Mat from Under Alibaba

Bottom line: A brouhaha that has seen Alibaba suspended from an anti-counterfeiting group just a month after joining is an embarrassment but won’t have a major longer-term impact on the company’s stock.

Tiffany quits anti-piracy group after Alibaba joins

A brouhaha over the admission of Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) to a leading US anti-piracy coalition has taken a somewhat strange twist, with word that the group has formally suspended the e-commerce giant just a month after it joined. The development occurred after several of the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition’s (IACC) members quit after the group accepted Alibaba, including the latest defection last week by Tiffany & Co.

Tiffany’s defection followed earlier withdrawals from the IACC by 2 other luxury goods makers, Michael Kors and then Gucci a short time later. (previous post) The coalition’s members were unhappy because of Alibaba’s previous status as operator of marketplaces with rampant trafficking in counterfeit goods, even though the company has pledged to strongly step up its fight against such trade. Read Full Post…

News Digest: February 5, 2016

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on February 5. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════

  • Shanghai Disneyland (NYSE: DIS) Announces 30 Travel Partners, Heads Off Scalpers (Chinese article)
  • Merchants Bank (HKEx: 3968) Terminates Payment Support for P2P Lending Sites (English article)
  • Evergrande Taobao Soccer Club Fined 1 Mln Yuan, Sues League (Chinese article)
  • ChemChina, Syngenta (Zurich: SYNN) to Move Quickly on US National Security Review (English article)
  • eLong (Nasdaq: LONG) Enters into Definitive Merger Agreement for Going Private  (PRNewswire)

News Digest: February 4, 2016

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on February 4. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════

  • Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Announces Fiscal Q3 Results (HKEx announcement)
  • RMB Our Guest: Shanghai Disneyland (NYSE: DIS) Unveils Ticket Prices (English article)
  • Hackers Steal Account Details of 20.6 Mln Users of Alibaba’s (NYSE: BABA) Taobao (English article)
  • KFC China Boosts Yum Brands’ (NYSE: YUM) Established Restaurants Sales (English article)
  • Ming Yang (NYSE: MY) Enters Into Definitive Merger Agreement For Going Private (PRNewswire)

INTERNET: Baidu, Ctrip Battle with Fraudsters

Bottom line: New scandals involving fraudsters using Baidu and Ctrip platforms highlight a major problem for major web companies from third-party merchants, but are unlikely to have a big impact on their business.

Frausters make headaches for Baidu, Ctrip

Two new scandals involving leading travel services provider Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) and top search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) are shining a spotlight on the daily battle China’s top Internet firms must do with the hundreds of fraudsters lurking online. The first case has Baidu dealing with fraudsters who tried to sell products on its Tieba social communities service, while Ctrip has landing in trouble after 2 people bought invalid tickets from independent travel agencies on one of its open marketplaces.

The biggest case for this kind of fraud came a year ago, when China’s commerce regulator released a report showing huge volumes of trafficking in pirated goods on the Taobao marketplace operated by leading e-commerce site Alibaba (NYSE: BABA). In all of these cases the fraud isn’t being directly committed by the big-name companies, but rather by small, third-party merchants doing business on their sites. But the big Internet names are realizing that they are ultimately responsible for the reliability of all transactions taking place on their sites. Read Full Post…

E-COMMERCE: Alibaba Stays Off US Piracy List, Warned to Improve

Bottom line: Alibaba is the biggest winner by keeping its name off an annual US piracy list, but the victory is only partial due to a strong warning in the report to improve its anti-piracy efforts.

US warns Alibaba to step up anti-piracy actions

After months of behind-the-scenes lobbying in Washington, e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) has managed to keep its name from reappearing on an annual US list of “notorious” global markets for piracy  that has just been published. But the victory is really only partial, since the US Trade Representative’s (USTR) office has devoted quite a lot of space to Alibaba in the latest edition of its Notorious Markets report, expressing its concerns about the rate of trafficking in pirated goods on some of Alibaba’s sites.

This long-awaited decision appears to be a compromise, aimed at appeasing some groups that wanted to see Alibaba’s name reappear on the list, including the American Apparel & Footwear Association, which issued several strongly-worded statements on the matter. The matter put the USTR in an awkward position, because it had previously removed Alibaba’s name from the list in 2012, only to see Alibaba strongly criticized for continued rampant piracy by Beijing early this year. Read Full Post…