Bottom line: Alibaba’s new Disney tie-up is unlikely to gain much traction due to overcrowding in China’s Internet video market, while its tie-up to sell $8 billion worth of bad debt from asset manager Huarong looks mildly positive.
Alibaba in streaming tie-up with Disney
E-commerce giant Alibaba(NYSE: BABA) is in a trio of headlines as we head into the year-end holidays, led by a new tie-up with Disney (NYSE: DIS) as it looks to leverage its growing stable of media assets. But in a sign of how much attention the company now attracts, the other 2 stories in the headlines aren’t really ones that Alibaba would care to trumpet too much.
The larger of those is mildly positive, with media reporting that Alibaba’s Taobao C2C marketplace is teaming up with one of China’s leading bad asset sellers to auction off $8 billion in soured loans. The other headline is one that’s becoming a small headache for Jack Ma, and involves Evergrande Taobao the soccer team that he co-owns. That story has one of Japanese car maker Nissan’s (Tokyo: 7201) China joint ventures suing the club for breach of contract related to a high-profile sponsorship dispute. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 16. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Disney (NYSE: DIS), Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) Team to Stream Films to Chinese Viewers (English article)
Huawei Says 2015 Sales to Top $60 Bln, up More Than 29 Pct from 2014 (Chinese article)
China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Expects to Break 500 Mln 4G Users by End 2016 (English article)
Bottom line: Alibaba’s spin-off of its C2C marketplace for second-hand goods could reflect a new trend for big Internet firms to separately run individual assets, while LeTV may have provided most of the money in the first funding round for its smartphone unit.
Taobao spins off Xianyu
A couple of fund-raising headlines are spotlighting emerging trends in China, including a nascent move by big companies to spin off smaller units as separately run and funded entities. That move was center stage in new reports that e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba(NYSE: BABA) is spinning off its Xianyu marketplace that specializes in sales of second-hand goods between consumers.
The second headline comes from online video high-flyer LeTV(Shenzhen: 300104), and spotlights a trend that shows rapidly cooling investor sentiment towards overheated sectors like video and smartphones. That news has LeTV declining to name any of the backers in the first funding round for its fledgling smartphone unit, hinting that no serious investors were interested in this particular opportunity that raised $530 million. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 27. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104) Raises $530 Mln in 1st Funding Round for Smartphone Unit (Chinese article)
Taobao to Spin Off C2C Second-hand Goods Trading Platform Xianyu – Source (English article)
Bank of Qingdao (HKEx: 3866) HK IPO Gets Chilly Reception, Calls on Friends (Chinese article)
Citic Securities (HKEx: 6030) Says Being Probed for Securities Violations (HKEx announcement)
Uber Says China to Pass US as Company’s Largest Market by Year-End (Chinese article)
Bottom line: JD’s decision to shutter its Paipai C2C marketplace looks like a smart move, as China looks set to crack down on online trafficking in fake goods that is often rampant and hard to police on such sites.
JD to shutter Paipai by next April
E-commerce JD.com(Nasdaq: JD) has just announced it is formally shuttering it Paipai C2C site, citing difficulties policing the thousands of small merchants and individuals who sell products on the site. Timing of the move is slightly strange, since JD announced the downbeat decision just a day before the November 11 Singles Day, which has become the world’s biggest day for online shoppers.
On the surface at least, the move looks like a major victory for archrival Alibaba(NYSE: BABA), whose Taobao online marketplace competes directly with Paipai and controls the vast majority of China’s C2C e-commerce market. But the move also represents a major tactical decision for JD, since C2C markets are notoriously difficult to police for fakes, substandard products and fraud due to the huge number of merchants they host. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 7. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Tencent (HKEx: 700) in Talks to Borrow up to $1.5 Bln in Syndicated Loan (English article)
JD (Nasdaq: JD) Sues Alibaba for Misleading Users on Speedy Delivery (English article)
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…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 6-8. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Meituan, Dianping in Merger Talks – Source (Chinese article)
Apparel, Footwear Industry Calls for Taobao Relisting as “Notorious Market” (press release)
China to Hasten Roll-out of Car Charging Network: Xinhua (English article)
Yum’s (NYSE: YUM) China Missteps Amplify Calls For Spinoff, Other Change (English article)
Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) Closes Purchase of Ontario Assets from KKR (PRNewswire)
Bottom line: Shanghai will bid aggressively for Chinese tech firms to list on a new Nasdaq-style board planned for the city, while shares of companies privatizing from New York will continue to sag in sync with China’s stock market sell-off.
Soccer club eyes IPO on new Shanghai board
A new Shanghai-based Chinese board that aims to compete with Wall Street for new high-tech listings is moving closer to reality, with reports that Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) iQiyi online video service and Alibaba’s (NYSE: BABA) affiliated Ant Financial unit will be among the exchange’s inaugural listing candidates. A separate report also says that another Alibaba-affiliated company, soccer team Evergrande Taobao, will also list on the board, which is being referred to right now as the new strategic industries board.
Meantime in New York, the current week looks set to end with just a single privatization announcement for a US-listed Chinese firm, a sharp slowdown from the 20 earlier offers in the month of June. In this case the abrupt slowdown is at least partly due to the plunge in China’s stock markets this week, and we’re unlikely to see any more offers until the situation stabilizes. 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: A probe against WeChat in Taiwan is likely to see its local offices shut down and Tencent evicted, reflecting the many challenges Chinese tech companies will face as they try to expand abroad.
WeChat faces Taiwan eviction
Taiwan may share many cultural traits with China, but its government certainly doesn’t seem to have much love for Chinese technology. The list of Chinese firms running into trouble on the island has just gained a new member, with word that Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) hugely popular WeChat is facing eviction from Taiwan for possibly violating local investment rules.
This brewing setback is interesting mostly for political reasons, and also because it reflects the troubles that WeChat has faced in its fledgling global expansion. From a practical perspective, Taiwan looks like an easy market for Chinese tech companies due to the shared language and culture. But the fact is that Taiwanese preferences are often quite different from China’s, and in this case the reality is that Japan-leaning Taiwanese far favor rival Japanese product Line to WeChat. Read Full Post…
