The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on April 30. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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AIG (NYSE: AIG) Selling Down $1.2 Bln Stake in Chinese Insurer PICC (HKEx: 2328) (English article)
MIIT Vice Minister to Meet with Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) Asia Chief, Plant Coming? (Chinese article)
Yingli (NYSE: YGE) Discloses Preliminary Financial Results for Full Year 2015 (PRNewswire)
Yahoo in Talks to Sell Major Silicon Valley Office to LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) – Report (Chinese article)
21Vianet (Nasdaq:VNET) Issues 1.75 Bln Yuan in Convertible Bonds (GlobeNewswire)
Bottom line: LinkedIn’s rapid growth in China has been aided by its low-key approach to the sensitive market, and a high degree of autonomy for its local unit from its distant US-based parent.
LinkedIn reaches 20 mln China users
US business networking giant LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) is quietly emerging as one of the few foreign success stories in China’s social networking (SNS) landscape, using a low-key approach that has helped it steer clear of controversy. I haven’t written much about the company since its slightly controversial entry to China 2 years ago, when it issued a statement acknowledging it would be subject to the country’s strict self-censorship rules.
LinkedIn’s ability to avoid controversy is probably due in large part to its low-key approach, and its choice of an industry veteran with experience in both the US and China to head its local operations. True to his low-key style, company chief Derek Shen is making some minor headlines today with comments at a Shanghai event, including his disclosure that LinkedIn has signed up more than 20 million local users during its first 2 years in China. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Domestic buyers are likely to comprise most of the investors in Ant Financial’s latest fund raising, though the use of foreign advisers indicates some overseas participation may also be allowed.
Ant Financial raises new funds
Ant Financial, the financial services arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), is going back to investors for a new mega fund-raising, just a year after taking money from private investors for the first time. But any foreigners hoping to buy into Ant will probably be disappointed, since it appears this new funding round will be mostly open to Chinese institutional buyers. Likewise, Ant’s IPO that could come as soon as next year is likely to happen on one of China’s domestic stock markets, again locking out foreign investors.
Perhaps it’s only fair that foreign investors stand on the sidelines in Ant’s high-growth story, since such investors already have easy access to some of China’s top private companies that are listed overseas. By comparison, domestic Chinese investors have little or no access to shares of Alibaba, Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) or Tencent (HKEx: 700), even though that trio of corporate giants derive nearly all their money from China’s booming Internet market. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Alibaba will come close to meeting the top end of its target of raising $3-$4 billion with a new bank loan, and chances are as much as 50-50 that it will use the funds to make bids for Groupon or the stake of itself held by Yahoo.
Alibaba turns to banks for new mega-loan
After first splashing into the headlines with rumors 2 weeks ago, e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) has finally announced its latest cash-raising exercise in the form of a syndicated loan worth at least $3 billion. Following that official confirmation, all eyes will now be looking to see if Alibaba can find more demand to boost the loan amount even higher, and for any indication of what exactly it has planned for the new funds.
Let’s begin by looking at the latest reports, which have Alibaba announcing the loan in a regulatory filing. It’s somewhat noteworthy that the high-profile Alibaba hasn’t issued a formal press release about the loan, perhaps because it’s waiting to see where the final amount will top out. But perhaps Alibaba has also finally realized it’s better not to raise expectations too high with a hype-filled announcement, which can ultimately backfire if interest from smaller banks in joining the new lending syndicate is poor. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Apple would probably hand over iPhone user information to Beijing if faced with a situation like its current standoff with Washington, but would keep the matter low profile and possibly try to find other ways to placate Beijing.
Washington standoff spotlights Apple’s cooperation with Beijing
As the high-profile standoff between Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Washington continues over access to information on a terrorist’s iPhone, a new report is raising the interesting question of what the US tech giant might do if faced with a similar situation in China. Actually, the “what if” scenario isn’t raised too much in the Los Angeles Times report, which instead focuses more on the cozier relationship that Apple has with Beijing in terms of allowing access to sensitive information related to its products.
But this still looks like a good opportunity to explore the “what if” angle, since Apple might find far fewer friends in China if it decided to defy a Beijing order to hand over information stored on the Chinese iPhone of a known terrorist. By comparison, the US technology giant has found at least some supporters for its refusal to help the FBI access information stored on the iPhone of Syed Rizwan Farook, the man behind the worst terrorist attack in the US since September 11. Read Full Post…
There are at least three ways Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) can win in China. And they are realistic options that have worked for others.
But first, a few points about the situation in Chinese online streaming.
Point 1: The China entertainment market is rocketing upwards, and it will soon be the largest in the world. This huge opportunity is fueling a major fight between China’s cash-rich Internet and media giants. This hyper-competition is also creating a window of opportunity for Netflix because it has valuable things to offer to these competitors as they slug it out.
Point 2: Online media in China is very political and likely no foreign company will have control of a license or broadcast rights. So Netflix needs to be realistic about what is possible.
Point 3: The other big issue is the strong local competition. If Netflix wants to win in online streaming in China, they need to be prepared to fight for a long time.
Bottom line: China’s global Internet conference this week was mostly empty pageantry, but it did reveal that Baidu might like to privatize from New York one day, and attracted a handful of China-friendly global executives.
Wuzhen Internet pow-wow mostly empty talk
China’s big Internet pow-wow this week in the picturesque town of Wuzhen hasn’t produced much news despite its big aspirations, reflecting Beijing’s tight control over cyberspace and companies that do business there. But the globally-minded event did produce at least one interesting tidbit on the recent privatization wave by US-listed Chinese companies, and also an entertaining photo of 2 top executives that went viral online.
The news item came from Robin Li, founder of leading Chinese search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), who hinted that he hopes to someday join the recent wave of Chinese companies now privatizing from New York due to undervaluation. The photo that went viral captured a humorous moment involving a catnap during the conference by Zhou Hongyi, the controversial and more often outspoken CEO of security software specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU). Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Yahoo’s reversal of its earlier decision to spin off its 15 percent of Alibaba into a separate company will have no impact on Alibaba, which is indicating separately that it will hold onto its own big stake in Uber China rival Didi Kuaidi.
Yahoo reverses course on Alibaba stake spin-off
A couple of news items are showing that the long and complex relationship between Internet search pioneer Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Chinese e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba(NYSE: BABA) is far from over, and how the companies may remain hopelessly entangled for a while to come. The first item made global headlines, and has Yahoo reversing its earlier decision to spin off its 15 percent of Alibaba into a separate company. The second item has Yahoo founder Jerry Yang getting named as a top adviser to Didi Kuaidi, China’s main rival to US private car services giant Uber, which counts Alibaba as one of its major stakeholders.
At the heart of this complex dance is a personal relationship between Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Yahoo’s Yang. The pair struck up a friendship more than a decade ago, and ultimately formed a major alliance that saw Yahoo purchase 40 percent of Alibaba for about $1 billion. Yahoo later sold down that stake, netting billions of dollars in profits. But it still holds 15 percent of Alibaba, which is currently worth about $30 billion. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 10. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) Reverses Plan to Spin Off Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) Stake (English article)
Wal-Mart’s (NYSE: WMT) China Imports Cost 400,000 US Jobs in 2001-2013: Report (English article)
President to Buy Qihoo 360’s (NYSE: QIHU) Enterprise Security Business – Source (English article)
Didi Kuaidi Appoints Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) Co-Founder Jerry Yang as Adviser (English article)
Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) E-Auto to Become Presenting Partner of FIFA Club World Cup (Businesswire)
Bottom line: Google should follow the example set by LinkedIn and Apple and be more transparent when it returns to China, and should work with Beijing to forge a more constructive relationship.
Google eyes China return in 2016
One of the strongest signals yet that Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) could soon return to China came late last week, when media reported the company was aiming to open a Chinese version of its Google Play app store next year in accordance with relevant Chinese laws. Such a move would represent an important improvement in the company’s relationship with Beijing, coming 6 years after Google shuttered its China-based search service due to a disagreement on self-policing policies that apply to all sites in China.
The shift is being driven by both sides, amid a realization that they can work together constructively to each other’s benefit. Google’s realizes that China is a market it can’t afford to ignore, with the world’s largest base of 600 million Internet users and 1.3 billion mobile subscribers. Beijing also realizes that a high-tech giant like Google can bring important technology and know-how to the country, whose large stable of smartphone makers already rely heavily on Google’s free Android operating system (OS). Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 29. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Walmart’s (NYSE: WMT) Yihaodian Overhaul Sparks Mass Resignations (Chinese article)
Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Leads Huawei into US Smartphone Market (Chinese article)
Didi Kuaidi Invests in Indian Car Hire App Ola (English article)
Beijing Commerce Department Opens Inquiry into Xiaomi False Claims (Chinese article)
Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) Says on Track to Spin Off Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) Stake This Year (English article)
