Category: Uncategorized

「What’s News In China」

Alibaba raised ~$11.2 billion in Hong Kong Stock Exchange, offering stocks at HKD$176 per share. With Hong Kong exchange relaxed its rules around “one share, one vote”, Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is able to list its shares on HKEX again. It is the world’s largest listing so far this year. The overall sum raised could rise to nearly US$13 billion if the underwriting banks exercise an option to sell 15% more shares. // WSJ

Walmart announced on Nov 21 that it plans to add 500 new stores in China over the next five to seven years. It will also remodel more than 200 stores in China over the next few years, adding features such as self-service cash registers where customers can pay using facial recognition. The company’s China sales grew 6.3% last quarter, higher than its 2.5% growth worldwide. // CNN

Kuaishou (快手), the main competitor for Douyin (Tik Tok) in China, to become the exclusive partner for 2020 Chinese New Year Gala. The Chinese New Year Gala (春晚), or Spring Festival Gala, is the most watched annual television broadcast and Kuaishou will be the exclusive partner for 2020 to send red pockets (红包) to audience. Last year, Baidu was the exclusive partner to promote the use of its digital wallet. spending over ¥1 billion in red pockets. Kuaishou has achieved 200 million DAU in 2019 and the target is 300 million. // Jiemian

「News of the Week」Japan’s New Internet Giant

WSJ – Yahoo Japan and Chat App Line Agree to Merge

SoftBank’s announcement

As part of the deal, SoftBank Group subsidiary SoftBank Corp. and Naver said they would buy all the shares in Line not already owned by Naver at ¥5,200 ($47.78) a share. Naver owns 72.6% of Line as of Monday. SoftBank Corp. and Naver will pay ¥170 billion ($1.56 billion) each to buy those Line shares, SoftBank said.

Line Pay has 37 million users and PayPay, operated jointly by SoftBank and Yahoo Japan, has 19 million. (Nikkei)

Source: WSJ, Bloomberg

Dots to connect: competitions in ads, e-commerce, payment in Japan, monetization on 82 million Line MAU, Japan moving to cash-less, SoftBank’s consolidated financial performance, new superapp, etc.

「What’s News in China」

BeiGene (NASDAQ: BGNE; HKEX: 06160), announced on Nov 14 that BRUKINSA™ (zanubrutinib) has received accelerated approval from the US FDA as a treatment for mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) in adult patients who have received at least one prior therapy. This is the first time that the FDA approved a drug based on efficacy data that is predominantly from China. // reuters | BeiGene

Trip.com (NASDAQ: TCOM), formerly Ctrip.com (Nasdaq: CTRP) and TripAdvisor (Nasdaq: TRIP) announced a strategic partnership on Nov 6 to expand global cooperation, including a joint venture, global content agreements and a governance agreement. TripAdvisor will own 40% of the joint venture. Trip.com shall acquire up to 6.95 million TripAdvisor shares or TripAdvisor shares valued at USD317.6 million through open market transactions within one year following regulatory approvals. Trip.com will have a nomination right for one TripAdvisor board seat commencing upon the relevant regulatory bodies’ approvals of the transaction. // TripAdvisor

Luckin Coffee (NASDAQ: LK), a coffee chain founded in 2017 in China and operating only 9 stores that year, grew to 3,680 stores at the end of 2019 Q3, with quarterly revenue expanding more than 6-fold to RMB1,493.2 million from RMB227.1 million a year ago. Also mentioned in the earnings release, Luckin “strategically launched Luckin Tea as an independent brand and developed our new retail partnership model, .. engaged in ongoing discussions with potential strategic partners to set up joint ventures in markets outside of China.” // Luckin Coffee

Source: luckincoffee.com

「What’s News In China」

Shanghai Green Valley Pharmaceuticals (Green Valley, 绿谷制药) today announced on Nov 2 that China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has approved Oligomannate (GV-971) as new drug for the treatment of “mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and improving cognitive function.” It is the first novel drug approved for Alzheimer’s disease globally since 2003. The company is also planning a global phase 3 trial with sites in the U.S., Europe and other parts of Asia in early 2020 to support regulatory filings around the world. // prnewswire | fiercepharma

On Nov 5, Nio (NASDAQ: NIO), long being seen as the Tesla in China, announced its partnership with Intel’s Mobileye to build self-driving EVs. Under the planned collaboration, Mobileye will provide NIO with the design of the self-driving system building on the Mobileye AV Series, a L4 AV kit comprised of the Mobileye EyeQ® system-on-chip, hardware, driving policy, safety software and mapping solution. NIO will take on the automotive-grade engineering, integration and mass-production of Mobileye’s system for both consumer automotive markets and for Mobileye’s mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) applications. In addition to integrating the self-driving system into its vehicle lines, NIO will develop a specially configured variant of electric AVs that Mobileye will use as robotaxis, deployed for ride-hailing services in global markets. // TechCrunch| intel

36Kr (NASDAQ: KRKR), a Beijing-based news and data provider, known for tracking fundraising and tech related news in China, raised $20 million in its Friday debut on NASDAQ. The company is similar to TechCrunch or Crunchbase (its affiliated Crunchbase News). // Crunchbase News

「News of the Week」Singles Day Record

On this annual shopping festival, we could see how Chinese consumers are growing their spending.

Alibaba’s Tmall reached 10 billion yuan in less than two minutes (00:01:36)

With updated info: Alibaba singles day sales GMV stood at 268.4 billion yuan (~$38 billion), growing 26% from last year.

Dots to connect: competitions from JD and Pinduoduo?, growth okay, houses being sold on platforms, live steaming as a new type of sales & marketing but costs?

「What’s News In China」

Tencent will lead the development of blockchain-based invoice system in China. The invoices will be created as part of the project named “General Framework of DLT-Based Invoices,” which was approved and supported by countries such as the UK, Switzerland, Sweden and Brazil during an ITU-T international meeting on e-invoice standards. As of August 10, more than 6 million blockchain e-invoices have been issued, and more than 5,300 companies have been registered in China to use blockchain e-invoices since the first…was issued by Tencent on August 10, 2018. // globaltimes | TNW

China has banned online sales of e-cigarettes on Nov 1. All websites and apps selling e-cigarettes should be shut down and all online marketing campaigns halted; online shopping platforms need to remove e-cigarette products from their sites. The measures are aimed at protecting adolescents from vaping. // 烟草专卖局 | Bloomberg

Biotechnology company Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) announced on Oct 31 that it is taking a 20.5% stake in BeiGene (NASDAQ: BGNE), one of the largest biotech companies in China for $2.7 billion. The all-cash deal values BeiGene at $174.85 per American depository share, a 25% premium to BeiGene’s closing price on the Nasdaq on Wednesday. BeiGene’s stock jumped 37% the next day. // Amgen