Tag Archives: Wechat

Wechat latest Business & Financial news from Doug Young, the Expert on Chinese High Tech Market, (former Journalist at Reuters)

RETAIL: Alibaba, Tencent Take Wars to Convenience Stores

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Bottom line: Alibaba’s move into unmanned coffee shops could stand a strong chance of success due to its relative simplicity, while WeChat’s move into Hong Kong convenience stores should also be relatively well received.

Alibaba samples coffee shops

Convenience stores are shaping up as the next battlefield in the wars for supremacy between Internet titans Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and Tencent (HKEx: 700), at least based on the latest headlines. One of those has Alibaba preparing to roll out an unmanned coffee store concept in its hometown of Hangzhou, while the other has Tencent’s WeChat rolling into Hong Kong in a big way in a new tie-up with 7-Eleven convenience stores.

Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) probably doesn’t need to be too worried just yet about the new threat from Alibaba in coffee shops, though many of the dozens of smaller coffee chains that have set up shop in China these last few years might take note. Likewise, Hong Kong’s incumbent electronic payments service, Octopus, probably doesn’t need to worry just yet either. Read Full Post…

RETAIL: Yum Delivers, Starbucks and McDonalds Devour E-Payments

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Bottom line: Yum’s purchase of a high-end take-out delivery service looks smart in targeting a higher margin, niche product in the competitive space, while McDonald’s and Starbuck’s rapid growth in mobile payments reflects rapid growth of the technology.

Yum buys take-out specialist Sherpa’s

Three of the world’s top restaurant chain operators are in the China headlines as we head into summer, in different moves that reflect their attempts to tap into the nation’s growing love affair with high-tech dining. The most interesting of the headlines has Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM), parent of the KFC and Pizza Hut chains, buying up one of China’s oldest take-out delivery services, hinting at a potential big push into the ultra competitive space. The other two headlines have McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) and Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) independently releasing new data that show just how hot electronic payments have become for both companies.

As someone living here in China, I have to admit I have completely embraced the country’s homegrown brand of mobile electronic payments, which has quickly become dominated by Ant Financial’s Alipay and Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) WeChat. But at the same time, I’ll also openly admit I’ve eschewed the home delivery services that are also all the rage in China, though the tide seems to be fading as people rediscover the fun of actually going out to eat. Read Full Post…

IPOs: China Rapid Finance, Lakala Join Race for Financial Listings

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Bottom line: This year is likely to see at least a half dozen privately owned financial services companies make public listings in the U.S., Hong Kong and China, with Lakala and Lufax likely to be among the first.

Lakala files for ChiNext IPO

We’re already three months into the new year, and still awaiting the first of what looks set to be a bumper crop of IPOs by a new generation of privately owned financial services firms that are far more dynamic than their state-run peers. Two more of those are in the headlines today, led by China Rapid Finance, a peer-to-peer (P2P) lender that says it’s eyeing a $100 million IPO in New York. At the same time, the popular Lakala electronic payments service has filed to make a listing on the Nasdaq-style ChiNext board in Shenzhen.

That pair are joining a few other notable names that are reportedly aiming to list in the not-too-distant future. That group includes Lufax, which bills itself as China’s largest P2P lender and is aiming to list in Hong Kong. Then there’s Qudian, a microlender that is looking to raise hundreds of millions of dollars with a New York listing. And of course, the granddaddy of them all is Ant Financial, which could raise more than $1 billion with a listing in Hong Kong or dual listing in Hong Kong and China. Read Full Post…

IPOs: iQiyi Eyes 2017 Listing, Renren Finally Retires

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Bottom line: iQiyi won’t make an IPO next year even though Baidu would like to get the company off its books, while Renren’s privatization marks one of the last buyouts for a US-listed Chinese firm from a wave dating back to last year.

iQiyi reportedly eyes 2017 IPO

The year 2016 is winding down as an unmemorable one for Chinese IPOs, thanks to a rocky start that cast a chill over the entire space. That said, the new year could be a bit more lively, amid signs that China’s securities regulator is opening the gates a bit wider to new offerings. That signal could bode well for offshore listings as well, with word that loss-making online video site iQiyi, controlled by online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), is contemplating such an offering next year. Read Full Post…

FINANCE: WeChat Sips with Starbucks; Alipay in Europe, Australia

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Bottom line: Starbucks’ selection of WeChat before Alipay for in-store electronic payments is a symbolic victory for the former, while Alipay’s aggressive global expansion could eventually help it to overtake UnionPay outside China.

WeChat ties with Starbucks

China’s two leading mobile payments services are both in the headlines, led by word of a major new tie-up between Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) WeChat and coffee lifestyle titan Starbucks (NYSE: SBUX). I have to admit that my interest in this particular tie-up is somewhat personal, as I’m a big fan of both of these companies and have been waiting a long time for such a partnership.

But equally significant is the fact that Starbucks chose WeChat before archrival Alipay. That same Alipay is in a couple of its own headlines, both showing how it’s trying to expand abroad to compete with China’s other major electronic payments system, the state-owned UnionPay. One of those headlines has Alipay in a new tie-up in Australia, while the other has it announcing partnerships with four major financial companies to expand its footprint in Europe. Read Full Post…

IPOs: Meitu Marches Towards HK Listing, Draws Value Skeptics

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Bottom line: Meituan should be able to eventually monetize the vast audience for its selfie app, but may have to settle for a valuation below the $5 billion it wants for its IPO due to shorter-term investor skepticism. 

Meituan banks on beauty for $750 mln IPO

Plans for a Hong Kong listing by selfie app Meitu are steaming ahead, but are also drawing some differing opinions from different sides of the East-West border. It seems Chinese fans of the app that lets users enhance photos of themselves to show their best face have quite a high opinion of this local beauty, believing it could be worth up to $5 billion. But westerners are a tad more skeptical, noting that Meitu now derives most of its money from smartphone sales rather than from anything directly related to the app. Read Full Post…

FINANCE: Xiaomi, Huawei Try E-Payments; UnionPay Thrives in US

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Bottom line: UnionPay’s announcement that its cards are usable at nearly all US ATMs shows it is targeting local US customers, while stiff competition will limit the success of new Xiaomi and Huawei e-payment services.

UnionPay makes big gains in US

It’s been a busy week for Chinese companies in the electronic payments headlines, with 3 major names making big moves in the space. Leading the pack is industry stalwart UnionPay, China’s equivalent of MasterCard (NYSE: MA) and Visa (NYSE: V), which is saying its own credit cards are now accepted by an impressive 80 percent of US merchants. The other headlines are coming from smartphone makers Huawei and Xiaomi, which have announced roll-outs for China-based electronic payment services that will compete with other similar products from Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Samsung (Seoul: 005930). Read Full Post…

China News Digest: August 18, 2016

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The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on August 18. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), Ford (NYSE: F) Invest $150 Mln in Radar Tech Firm Velodyne (Chinese article)
  • Tencent (HKEx: 700) Announces Q2 Results (HKEx announcement)
  • Smartisan Chief Denies Rumors of Company Sale to LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) (Chinese article)
  • WeChat Wallet, Alipay Enter Japanese Shopping Malls (Chinese article)
  • Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Announces Environmental Progress in China (Businesswire)
  • 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…

Shanghai Street View: Grouped Out

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Groups explode on WeChat
Groups explode on WeChat

This week’s Street View takes us to Shanghai’s cyber realm, where I feel compelled to write about a recent trend that has seen an explosion in chat groups on the hugely popular WeChat mobile messaging platform. I write occasionally about cyberspace in this column, usually focusing on apps that make life easier for Shanghai residents for things like hailing taxis and locating nearby public toilets.

But the chat group phenomenon is slightly different, as it doesn’t have any real-world applications and is solely designed to facilitate better communication among groups of friends, acquaintances, colleagues, family members, or simply people with a common interest. Such groups really are quite useful in some cases, for example by helping people to plan an outing or for students to pass on messages about their latest class assignments. Read Full Post…

INTERNET: Facebook Inches Closer to China with Tencent Poach

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Bottom line: Facebook’s new hire of a top WeChat executive could be the latest signal that it expects to get permission to launch a China-based service soon, possibly by the end of this year.

WeChat exec defects to Facebook

Following several months of relative silence, social networking (SNS) giant Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) is back in the China headlines, with word of a major executive poach from China’s leading SNS company. This particular headline is filled with mixed signals. On the one hand, the hire of a former top executive from WeChat looks like a significant move closer to China, since the hugely popular Chinese SNS operator would be Facebook’s main rival if it’s ever allowed into China. But on the other hand, the executive is a foreigner from WeChat’s international division, which has been a poor performer in the service’s weak attempts to go global. Read Full Post…