Are You Reaching Your 1.3 Billion Customers?

From ChinaBiz/China Herald:
By Fons Tuinstra

"Twenty percent of the so-called media time is the Chinese on average spending on the internet. Since only ten percent of the population is online, those figures will vary enormously. Compared to that the ad revenue flowing to this medium, 0.8 percent, is tiny. Online marketers argue that there should be at least a connection between the time consumers spend on a medium and the revenue stream. In China the gap is gigantic and the advertisement bucks are not spent where the consumers are. In the next five to ten years the number of online users is expected to double to about 250 million, putting more pressure on the old media.

On top of that: most of that 0.8 percent is going to the big three ones, Netease, Sohu and Sina, leaving out the largest part of the internet as a way to get to your consumers."

Yahoo China President Resigns

From Red Herring:

"Yahoo China President Xie Wen resigned his position after only 40 days in office, amid rumors that Yahoo headquarters disapproved of his plans to take the site in a Web 2.0 direction.

Jack Ma, chief executive of Alibaba.com, which took control of Yahoo China in October 2005, announced Mr. Xie’s departure on Monday evening."

"Chinese web site Sina.com, citing insiders close to Mr. Xie, reported that Mr. Xie and Mr. Ma made a trip to the United States in early November to meet with Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, bringing with them a plan authored by Mr. Xie that did not meet with Mr. Yang’s approval."

Lenovo CEO Has Global Ambitions

From CHINAdaily:

"Bill Amelio, the American running the biggest computer company operating in China, has an ambitious agenda. In the next year, the chief executive of Lenovo Group Ltd. aims to boost the company's brand in the US and break into key emerging markets -- and beat the company's Chinese chairman, Yang Yuanqing, at ping pong." Interview

Wikipedia Ban Back On In China

From webpronews.com:

"Only one week after the Chinese government released the ban placed on encyclopedia site Wikipedia, the ban appears to be back in effect.

Wikipedia had only regained the ability to reach Chinese viewers with their free encyclopedia site one week ago, however the good news was short-lived. The site has been reportedly blocked in some parts of China again."

WR Hambrecht Research Report on Baidu

From WR Hambrecht:

"We are initiating coverage of Baidu.com, Inc. with a Buy rating and a 12-month price target of $130 per share. The company is the largest search engine in China, leveraging its large traffic volume to drive online advertising revenues. We believe the company is well positioned for expected positive trends, including the greater adoption of paid search by SMEs and brand advertisers, the growth of e-commerce, and the emergence of user-generated content. In addition, Baidu's local know-how and attentive customer service create barriers for its competitors. Lastly, we believe our long-term forecast could be too conservative based on a sensitivity analysis of SME adoption rates. Our price target is based on 40x our 2008 EPS estimate of $3.15 (ex-FAS123R) plus net cash, which we believe is reasonable compared with our expected long-tem growth rate for the company."

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Record Companies Lose Lawsuit against Baidu

From Forbes:

"A Beijing court has ruled in favor of Baidu, China's biggest Internet search company, in a copyright suit brought on by seven global music companies, the official China Business News reported.

Ren Xuyang, assistant to Baidu's president, was quoted as saying that the ruling is the first positive development for Baidu since it was sued for its MP3 search technology, which provided links to illegal downloads of copyrighted music."

Baidu and eBay to Collaborate in China

From BusinessWeek:

"Chinese Web portal Baidu Inc. said Wednesday it signed a multi-year, cross-promotional partnership with eBay EachNet, a Chinese commerce site that was bought by eBay in 2002.

Under terms of the agreement, Baidu will promote PayPal Beibao, PayPal's service in China, as the preferred payment method on Baidu. In return, eBay EachNet will use Baidu as the exclusive search provider on eBay EachNet."

China Buys $1.9 Bln of Africa's Ores, Builds Network

From Bloomberg:

"Chinese companies including ZTE Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co. today signed 16 contracts with 11 African nations to buy minerals, build infrastructure and phone networks, in the country's biggest investments on the continent.

ZTE signed two $30 million contracts to provide phone equipment to Lesotho and Ghana, while Huawei will help Ghana set up village phone networks for $30 million and help Kenya set up an Internet-based electronic government network, according to contracts signed today in Beijing.

China, the world's fastest-growing major economy, is increasing investment in Africa, as it seeks more supplies of oil, iron ore and other resources to meet local demand. Chinese President Hu Jintao yesterday pledged to double aid to Africa in three years by extending more credit and waiving tariffs on more of its exports to strengthen economic and political ties."

Shanda Cashes in on Sina Shares

From ShanghaiDaily:

"Shanghai online games company Shanda Entertainment Ltd said yesterday it would sell part of its stake in Sina Corp to Citigroup, in a move that shows it has finally given up on attempts to acquire Sina and form China's biggest online firm."

"Shanda bought a 19.5 percent stake in Sina in February last year in an attempt to merge and become the country's No. 1 online firm. But Shanda's plan failed after Sina launched a "poison pill" measure in which it put more shares on the market."

First Vodafone-branded 3G Phone Manufactured by Huawei

From 3G.co.uk:

"Vodafone has started to market the first mobile phone under its own brand in Portugal."

"The Vodafone 710 is the first mobile phone manufactured for the Vodafone Group by the Chinese company Huawei Technologies as the result of the strategic alliance between them was signed in February 2006. Apart from Portugal, the phone will be launched in Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom."

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China's Communications Industry Soars

From Asia Times Online:

"China's communications industry registered 1.11311 trillion yuan (US$141.3 billion) in business volume in the first nine months of 2006, increasing by 25.1% year on year.

In a breakdown, telecom business revenue reached 1.05892 trillion yuan, up 25.5% year on year, and services business revenue rose by 17.9% year on year to hit 54.19 billion yuan."

"The number of fixed-line phone users in China increased by 18.861 million to reach 369.306 million by the end of September."

"Meanwhile, the number of mobile-phone users increased by 49.748 million in the January-September period, hitting 443.154 million by the end of September."

"The communications industry completed 144.31 billion yuan in fixed-assets investment in the first nine months of this year, 17.7% higher than that in the same period of 2005."

TCL to Close European Operations

From CHINAdaily:

"TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings, which reported a nine-month loss of HK$1.52 billion (US$195 million), said Tuesday that it would shut its European unit in an effort to return to profit. "

"TCL Multimedia joins Asian companies including Lenovo Group and Benq in posting losses after making overseas acquisitions."

China Net Investor: TCL Corp., is China's biggest publicly traded consumer electronics maker. Three years ago, TCL became the world's biggest TV maker when it bought the television division of France's Thomson SA. This year TCL tumbled from the top TV spot as LG Electronics and Samsung surged ahead. (Source: iSupply)

Lenovo Ready to Pull Plug on IBM

From ZDNet Asia:

"Lenovo is now ready to remove the IBM logo from its products, 18 months after finalizing its acquisition of IBM's PC division, according to a senior company executive.

The Chinese PC giant intends to keep the IBM logo on its computers for consumers, while its large enterprise customers will have the option of having the IBM logo removed by the end of this year, Deepak Advani, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Lenovo, said at a media briefing held here last week."

Yahoo China to Be Community-Based Portal

From cio.com:

"Alibaba.com plans to turn the Yahoo China website into a community-based portal that relies on users for the bulk of its content, the company’s top executive said Wednesday."

"Alibaba acquired Yahoo’s Chinese operations in 2005 as part of a deal that saw Yahoo invest more than US$1 billion in the Chinese e-commerce company."

Sohu To Broadcast NBA Games

From Sun-Sentinel.com:

"Fans in China will have a chance to watch a webcast of the Heat's opener through a partnership the NBA has with Internet company NuSports, which along with another Internet firm, Sohu, will stream 87 games in Chinese this season on NBA.com/China. Online visits from China make up 20 percent of traffic to NBA.com -- the largest after U.S. fans, the league says."

China Goes it Alone on Mobile TV Standard

From electronicsweekly.com:

"China is reported to be going its own way on mobile TV with the announcement of a home-grown, recommended standard for the technology.The standard, called GY/T220.1-2006, is expected to be formally implemented by China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) on 1 November 2006."

"This is not the first time China has gone its own way on technology standards. It also put forward its own standard, TD-SCDMA, for 3G mobile telephony, competing with W-CDMA and CDMA2000."

Alibaba Invests in Classified Listings Web Site

From Red Herring:

"Alibaba.com, China’s largest e-commerce company, said Monday it had made a strategic investment in Koubei.com, a classified listings and community web site based, like Alibaba, in the East China city of Hangzhou."

"Koubei.com, founded in 2004, offers local classified ads and discussion forums in major Chinese cities. The site, the name of which means “word of mouth” or “reputation” in Chinese, encourages users to rate and comment on local businesses."