Alibaba revenue rises 54 per cent in first quarterly results since IPO November 4, 2014 Alibaba’s first earnings report since its initial public offering (IPO) – the largest in history – was something of a mixed bag. While revenues beat analysts’ expectations, profits fell well below forecasts. Revenues came in at $2.74bn (£1.71bn) for the quarter ended 30 September 2014, beating an expected $2.61bn from analysts polled by Yahoo [...]
Xiaomi is spending $1bn on Internet TV content to takeover China’s smart TV market and rival Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent November 4, 2014 Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone maker, is planning to spend up to $1bn (£625m) on online TV content in an effort to dominate the smart TV market. The three-year-old company has already overtaken established players in the smartphone market to become the third largest in the world and is now setting its sites on the billion [...]
Fall of the dragon: Is everyone far too optimistic about China? November 3, 2014 There's nothing particularly new about fears of a sharp economic slowdown (or “hard landing”) in China. And Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) surveys released in the past few days will only add to the list of worries for those who see annual growth slipping well below the Communist Party’s target of 7.5 per cent this [...]
Alibaba passes WalMart with share price leap October 28, 2014 SHARES in Chinese e-retail giant Alibaba climbed above $100 during trading yesterday after exec chairman Jack Ma said he was open to working with Apple on mobile payments. The stock jump meant that the firm’s market capitalisation edged over the $248bn mark, while that of US retail giant WalMart fell to around $247.5bn according to [...]
Alibaba’s share price reaches record high, valuing it higher than Wal-Mart October 28, 2014 Shares in Alibaba soared to a record high of $100.45 today, valuing the Chinese etail giant at more than $247bn (£152bn), taking it above US rival Wal-Mart for the first time. Alibaba's share price rose 2.8 per cent during mid-morning trading today. It listed on the New York Stock Exchange last month at $68 a [...]
Reed Elsevier to enter China’s car insurance industry in joint venture October 23, 2014 BRITAIN’S biggest media group Reed Elsevier yesterday said a four per cent rise in underlying revenue in the first nine months kept it on track to meet its goal of growing revenue and profit this year. Reed also announced a new joint venture between its LexisNexis Risk Solutions business and Jing You, the largest supplier [...]
Huawei doubles its premium smartphone shipments globally October 23, 2014 HUAWEI said third-quarter smartphone shipments jumped 26 per cent year-on-year, doubling the number of devices it shipped in the high-margin premium market dominated by Samsung and Apple. The Shenzhen-based firm, which is also the world’s second-largest telecoms equipment maker – and the third largest smartphone maker – shipped 16.8m units globally in the quarter ending [...]
Beyond the AGM: Shareholders and firms must collaborate more closely on strategy October 22, 2014 On Monday, the government will publish its final response to the Kay Review, which looked at how we can get financial markets to work better for the long-term. Although the debate about promoting long-termism is far broader than the review, the time is right to take a closer look at whether companies feel the policy [...]
Arm Holdings’ Simon Segars: Britain’s chief chipmaker is moving from smartphones to the Internet of Things October 21, 2014 Simon Segars, the boss of Britain’s biggest tech firm, believes his Chinese customers will begin adopting Arm’s latest chip designs in low-end smartphones next year, a move that would dramatically boost royalties. In its third quarter results yesterday, Arm Holdings, which makes processors for most of the world’s smartphones and tablets, revealed a two [...]
Car auctioneer float comes to a screeching halt October 21, 2014 BRITISH Car Auctions (BCA), owner of the webuyanycar.com, became the latest casualty of weak equity markets yesterday after it was forced to pull its impending stock listing. The private equity-owned group, backed by Clayton Dublier & Rice, blamed “volatility in global equity markets” for pulling down the listing, which aimed to raise £200m. “The board [...]