Category: Uncategorized

「News of the Week」Luckin Coffee Fraud

On April 2, the company’s board announced that a preliminary investigation indicates that the “aggregate sales amount associated with the fabricated transactions from the second quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2019 amount to around RMB2.2 billion ($314 million).” Luckin’s stock price crashed.

Luckin Coffee Press Release

WSJ – Luckin, Rival to Starbucks in China, Says Employees Fabricated 2019 Sales; Stock Plummets

FT – Luckin Coffee apologises for alleged fraud

TechCrunch – Luckin Coffee’s board initiates investigation into $300M potential fraud

WSJ – Ernst & Young Says It First Found Accounting Issues at Luckin

Dots to connect: more scrutiny for US-listed Chinese companies, investigations into underwriters / lawyers / equity research analysts / auditors, trust issues, the need for Citron & short-sellers, fundamental value of this coffee chain business, internal governance for corporates in China, etc.

「What’s News In China」

On May 24, Hubei Province besides Wuhan City would end the lockdown starting on May 25. The city of Wuhan, where the virus was first detected in December, is to remain locked down until April 8. // Time | Gov.cn

ANTA (HKG: 2020) reported its 2019 financial results, revenue growing 40.8% to ¥34 billion. Its FILA brand grows 73.9% in revenue, reaching ¥14.8 billion or 43.5% of the total revenue. // ANTA Presentation | prnewswire

 

「What’s News In China」

Sales in China dropped 20.5% for January and February due to COVID-19 and the lockdown. Restaurant sales dropped 43.1%. // Xinhua

Tencent (HKG: 0700) reported its 2019 financial results, growing the top-line at 21% and adjusted EBITDA at 30%. Its fintech services revenue has surpassed ¥100 billion in 2019. There are over 50 million monthly active merchants in 2019Q4 and LiCaiTong 理财通, increased its aggregate customer assets over 50% year-on-year, while its number of customers more than doubled year-on-year. // Press Release | Annual Report

Lilium raised $240M in a recent financing round led by Tencent, with participation from other previous backers that included Atomico, Freigeist and LGT. Lilium, a Munich-based startup that is designing and building vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft with speeds of up to 100 km/h, eventually plans to run in its own taxi fleet. // TechCrunch | Press Release

Lilium Jet side view
Source: Lilium

 

「News of the Week」Stock Market Worst Week Following Fed’s Zero Interest Rate Move

The worst week for Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 since 2008 financial crisis (Oct 2008).

Fed cut rates to near-zero the weekend before, lowering federal-funds rate to a range between 0% and 0.25%.

Dots to connect: QE, easing from central banks around the world, inflation on the way, bond issuing in low-interest-rate environment, another round of asset bubble(?) when recover, etc.

「What’s News in China」

SoftBank invested $1 billion in Beike 贝壳, together with Hillhouse, Tencent, Sequoia China, in a round of $2.4 billion. The round, closed in November last year, valued Beike at ~$14 billion. Beike is a real-estate brokerage with an online tool to match buyers and sellers, as sites like Zillow and Redfin do in the U.S. It also offers real-estate financing, home décor and property management. SoftBanks has also invested in another $1 billion in Ziroom for the long-term apartment rental market. // WSJ | Sina

TikTok’s owner, ByteDance is launching Resso in India, which describes itself as a “social music streaming app”: users are encouraged to share lyrics, comments and other user-generated content with each other, alongside full-length tracks of music that they can consume and also share with others. It has secured licensing deals with Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group as well as big publishers specifically in the Indian market. Resso’s pricing in India is in line with those of Apple Music, YouTube Music, Spotify, Times Internet-owned Gaana, and Reliance Jio’s JioSaavn. // TechCrunch

Bestore 良品铺子, a consumer brand in China with over 2,300 snack bars and online presence on Taobao and JD.com, etc., went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) with an online listing ceremony last Monday. The company livestreamed the 13-minute ceremony. Close to 50% of the company’s revenue comes from Hubei Province, the center of the epidemic. The stock has more than tripled, trading at ¥36.74 per share as of March 5 versus IPO price of ¥11.9. // kr-asia

Tesla delivered cars to customers in China with lower-performance Autopilot hardware than promised, because of supply chain issues caused by the coronavirus outbreak. According to the BBC, the new chip is up to 21 times faster at processing images than its predecessor. Tesla quickly apologized on Weibo 微博 for the decision and said it will offer free upgrades to affected Model 3 owners once supplies become available. // engadget | BBC

 

 

「News of the Week」Court Rules: Privately Operated Internet Platforms Free To Censor Content They Don’t Like.

WSJ – Tech Platforms Aren’t Bound by First Amendment, Appeals Court Rules

Despite YouTube’s ubiquity and its role as a public-facing platform, it remains a private forum, not a public forum subject to judicial scrutiny under the First Amendment

– Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown

Dots to connect: internet platforms’ products that operate like government, possible platforms with political views,  regulation vs. indirect influence on tech firms, etc.