Softbank earns $11bn for selling some of its huge Alibaba stake June 4, 2019 Japan’s Softbank will book a pre-tax profit of $11.1bn (£8.75bn) for selling part of its stake in Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba. The sale forms part of a three-year-old deal to sell assets in order to buy British chip designer ARM for $32bn in 2016. Read more: Uber IPO: Shares slide on second day of trading [...]
Jack Ma’s Alibaba chases ‘$20bn Hong Kong float’ May 28, 2019 Alibaba is seeking to raise up to $20bn (£15.8bn) in a Hong Kong float, it is reported. Read more: DEBATE: Does Jack Ma deserve criticism for backing the ‘996’ working week? The listing would be its second after a 2014 $25bn initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange. The online retail and cloud [...]
Amazon to close its online store in China after failing to gain a foothold April 18, 2019 Amazon is set to close its online in store in China after failing to gain a real foothold in the country where JD.com and Alibaba reign supreme. The e-commerce giant will shut its operations in China down from 18 July, it announced today. Read more: Unilever shares rise on first quarter sales growth Rivals JD.com [...]
DEBATE: Does Alibaba boss Jack Ma deserve the criticism for backing the ‘996’ working week? April 17, 2019 Does Alibaba boss Jack Ma deserve the criticism for backing the ‘996’ working week? Becci Gould, associate director at Kin&Co, says YES. I would challenge Jack Ma’s backing of working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week, not just from a mental health standpoint, but also from a business performance perspective. According to the [...]
Alibaba co-founder defends controversial 12-hour working days and calls overtime a ‘huge blessing’ April 15, 2019 Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma sparked controversy this afternoon after defending the 12-hour working day. Read more: Ecommerce billionaire named China's richest man The billionaire tycoon, who has a personal wealth estimated at roughly $40bn (£30bn), has doubled down on his view in favour of the “996 system”, which refers to a working schedule of 9am [...]
China’s mobile brands have global ambitions – this will have a big impact on the digital marketing ecosystem April 12, 2019 With the world’s online mobile population growing day by day, and a home market dominated by giants such as Tencent, Baidu, and Alibaba, Chinese app developers are increasingly looking to market their apps abroad. I have seen first-hand this shift from a focus on the domestic market to a much more global viewpoint. And I [...]
Lyft shares hit new lows on reports of record $100bn Uber float April 10, 2019 Shares in ride-hailing app Lyft fell to record lows today following reports the float of arch-rival Uber could be one of the largest in history. Lyft’s shares plunged as much as seven per cent to $62.91, well below its opening price of $72. Read more: Uber IPO 'seeks to sell $10bn of shares' The fall [...]
Uber IPO: Ride-hailing firm seeks to sell $10bn of shares in largest tech float since Alibaba April 10, 2019 Uber could look to sell as much as $10bn worth of stock in its initial public offering (IPO), in a move which would make it one of the biggest tech floats ever. Read more: Morgan Stanley tapped to steer Uber through IPO If successful, the taxi app firm could hail the highest-value IPO since that [...]
WPP hunts for replacement as last Chinese board member steps down March 25, 2019 WPP is on the hunt for a new Chinese board member after it emerged a long-serving director from the country will step down, Sky News reported. Ruigang Li, who founded venture capital giant China Media Capital (CMC) and has served on the WPP board since 2010, has reportedly told colleagues he will not stand for [...]
Luxury retailer Farfetch to merge Chinese business with JD.com March 11, 2019 Luxury fashion retailer Farfetch will merge its China sales platform with ecommerce giant JD.com before the end of the year as it looks to cash in on growing demand for luxury goods in the country. The merger, first announced last month, comes after the London-based firm bought Toplife, JD.com’s luxury fashion venture. Read more: Chinese [...]