The 1,318km railway began construction in April 2008 and started operation in June 2011.
2019 (Jan – Sep)
2018
2017
2016
Passenger Revenue (‘0000 ¥)
1,204,204.99
1,579,069.55
1,556,737.53
1,418,926.44
PassengerMiles (billion km)
25.86
34.46
34.24
31.83
Unit Price (¥ per km)
0.466
0.458
0.455
0.446
Occupancy %
79.91%
81.64%
80.18%
73.38%
Unit price is consistent with experiences, e.g. Nanjing South to Shanghai Hongqiao is ~295km and costs ¥134.5, which translates to ¥0.456 per km in unit price.
For occupancy rate, there is some seasonality fluctuation (Jan – Sep vs. Oct – Dec).
By just looking at the title, I don’t even know what I am trying to say.
But here is an example. We are know targeted ads (by Facebook or others). By purchasing ads for a more precisely defined population, sellers are wasting less time for other audience. The overall efficiency of transmitting messages (ads in this case) increases. This is value creation.
However, as Facebook gaining more insights and pricing power, it can charge higher prices for more effective ads to the extend that targeted ads are just a little better than traditional (mass) ads. I put 95% in the title but that is just to give a feeling. The sellers will be better off but the marketing costs will continue to increase and in the end they will find it very hard to earn a lucrative net profit margin.
This might be the ultimate price discrimination and Facebook is capturing nearly all the value down the chain.
Some time in the future, we will find old-school ways are much more friendly.
Cyber-security has been a hot space for investments and acquisitions. With Thoma Bravo buying Sophos Group for $3.8 billion this week, here is a roundup of selected corporate M&As happened since 2018.
Travis announced that he would be starting a new fund with his windfall from Uber shares sold in its most recent major secondary round. At the time, Kalanick said the new fund — called 10100, or “ten one hundred” — would be geared toward “large-scale job creation,” with investments in real estate, ecommerce, and “emerging innovation in India and China.” CSS has two businesses, CloudKitchens and CloudRetail (controlled with one entity I assume), which focus on redevelopment of distressed assets in those two areas. [Crunchbase]
And in Feb 2019, Travis Kalanick said to plot China comeback with ‘shared kitchen’ business – CloudKitchens in China, partnering with Zhang Yanqi, former COO of ofo.
OYO
also backed by SoftBank, started from assembling hotel rooms under its brand and management system in India.
acquired by Blackstone, the traditional and one of the largest real estate players in the work, back in June 2017 for approximately £500m.
Source: The Office Group
But with a different type of investor, TOG might be on the path of growing profits.
Its financial results for 2015 reported its EBITDA up 33% to £15.4m (2014: £11.6m), and revenues up 62% to £54.3m (2014: £33.6m). TOG is London’s largest privately-owned occupier of office space (at least by that time). [leadersleague]
Also – a report on beer that includes 2011-2016 beer consumption growth by country.
So ~200,000,000,000 liters divided by world population of 7,500,000,000 = 26.67 liters per person annually.
Say a can of beer is 330 ml – then each person is consuming ~80 cans per year.
That is a larger than I expected.
Although beer still needs to compete with wines, spirits and others for total alcohol consumption, it is still the no.1 source of alcohol (worldwide, but varies by country) – the impacts on everyday life are huge!
Source: brewersassociation.org, R.S. Weinberg, Beer Marketer’s Insights, and the Brewers Association
In the US, craft beers is a growing sector while the overall beer sales is declining in 2018.
Source: brewersassociation.org
And the number of brewpubs is growing rapidly in recent years in the US.
Source: brewersassociation.org
And stories have been told, for example, Corono has been very popular and growing fast in China.
Source: AB InBev
On a conference call following the release of Q1 2018 results yesterday, Carlos Brito told analysts that AB InBev’s more expensive offerings are doing “very well” in China. He singled out Corona, which became the number one imported beer in China in the three-month period. The brand “[is] growing very rapidly”, Brito added. A-B InBev boasts around a 20% market share in the country, with strength coming from its premium and super-premium brands. [just-drinks.com]
And sales of Budweiser in China overtook those in America in the first half of 2018. [beveragedaily.com]
So human beings won’t evolve fast within 20-50 years, without any genetic engineering.
As we are reaching our limits, it would be very hard to break any records – for those sports that measures speed, height, strength, etc.
But that is what we are all expecting (as audience) and what keeps the sports industry exciting and growing.
So those sports have become increasingly dependent on “outside helps” – including those (e.g. certain drugs) banned by the overseeing committee.
Therefore, there will be increasingly possible that future sports will be driven more by technology development and the supervising body will be more “tolerant”.
What is more, there is always a blurring line between “allowed medication” and “forbidden techniques”.
I will be very interested to see how this conflict/problem will be solved/mitigated.
WeChat is also gradually upgrading itself as an entrance to internet.
Scanning a QR code is as common as using WeChat.
Businesses are using QR codes as the beginning of a customer relation; government departments/agencies are using QR codes as a way to provide/introduce/reserve many services.
And most of these websites or alternatives or websites are happening in Tencent’s ecosystem/domain. (or Alibaba/Baidu/JD/Toutiao/Weibo/Meituan’s domain)
Few people are creating their own website nowadays in China. For example, when we can find a restaurant’s website in US, usually in China we find it on WeChat/Ele(alibaba)/Meituan/Dianping(Meituan).
And when people are used to it, search engines are going to give away their position as the entrance of internet.
And when people forget how to type a web address, internet is more disconnected and is just comprised of a few closed bubbles – not exciting.
It’s time to talk about WeChat’s development after I have spent more than two month catching up in China.
This series will try to summarize several things WeChat has already been doing great and what it could possibly do in the foreseeable future.
First of all, restaurant mini-programs/official account.
The most significant feature to me is probably the ability to order on a digital menu via a QR code. All you need to do is to seat down and scan the code (with the information of table number usually) that is sticked on the table. One can totally make an order and wait for food without any help from the restaurant (saving lots of labor and waiting time). In addition, since everyone on this table can scan the code, they will share the same page and see each other’s ordering, which is extremely helpful as they are mostly shared plates.
What is more, usually it also makes users to follow the restaurant’s official account in WeChat in a very smooth way. Sometimes it’s mandatory. It is particularly beneficial for restaurant chains (and milk tea / coffee chains) that have multiple locations and marketing campaigns.
Then, depending on the frequency of customer’s visits, chains usually have their membership system in WeChat official accounts or mini-programs. That way, an WeChat account is essentially a Facebook or gmail account in the US. Complex reward and membership programs can be implemented in WeChat by chains, such as McDonald’s.
Besides ordering, WeChat provides a way for consumers to take a number to wait for a table before arriving at the restaurant.
The booking/waiting environment is a little different here in China. While booking a table at a specific time is common in the US, restaurants in China mostly only have a queue system. Most people will need to go to the restaurant first, take a number and wait for an hour or more in prime time. This is actually good for the shopping mall as people need to stay here longer, either generating other purchases or making the mall look more popular.
Also, on WeChat one can order ahead, which is especially helpful in beverage chains like Hey Tea. Hey Tea has long been “featuring” its super long line to order. As Starbucks in China just announced its order-ahead-and-pick-up feature “Fei Kuai” in a few cities this summer, its competitors have been able to do this at least one year earlier on WeChat.
Not to mention the payment step, which WeChat has been doing for years.
