China Tech News

Robin Li, chairman and chief executive officer of Baidu, reportedly stated in an open letter to his search engine company that the company's management has decided to cut its medical business unit.

The dissolution method has reportedly not been determined yet. Related staff may either be merged to a new department or transferred to new positions.

Prior to this, Li said that they would make internal adjustments and eliminate products with no market competitiveness. They would allocate their resources to projects with advantages or strategic importance. So the severing of this healthcare unit means the services never materialized into much for Baidu.

more...

China's Lenovo Group confirmed that Jiang Zhen, former executive of Samsung, has joined Lenovo as vice president and will be responsible for the product strategy and product management of its mobile business group in China, covering product portfolio, product planning and operation.

With the joining of Jiang, Lenovo's vice president Chang Cheng will have a position adjustment. Chang will focus on the construction of software and hardware ecosystem. Both Chang and Jiang will report to Qiao Jian, Lenovo Group's senior vice president and co-president of mobile business group.

more...

Facebook issued a ban to its advertising agencies, asking them to suspend all advertisements for certain kinds of Chinese utility apps.

Facebook said that recently they found many irregularities from Chinese tool and utility app advertisers. Therefore, the company decided to suspend all advertisements for Chinese tool apps and the major focuses are apps related to smartphone clean-up, memory reclamation, and battery optimization. The company claimed that many of these advertisements deceived users, for example, by telling them their phone storage is full when it actually is not.
Facebook made a clear requirement to its advertising agencies to ask them to suspend all ads about clean-up and battery apps; otherwise, the agencies would be included in a blacklist.

more...

It seems to be a tough job being the head of the online commerce division of one of China's biggest conglomerates.

Wanda's e-commerce subsidiary Ffan.com just revealed that its chief executive officer Li Jinling submitted his resignation in December 2016 and formally departed the company in February 2017.
Meanwhile, Wanda Network Group vice president Xu Hui will take the CEO role.

more...

Ma Weiying, assistant managing director of Microsoft Research Asia, has left Microsoft and joined Toutiao.com as vice president.

In his new role, Ma will lead Toutiao's artificial intelligence laboratory. The news has been confirmed by Toutiao.
Ma joined MSRA in April 2001 as director of the researcher in the network search and mining team, leading the studies of information retrieval, Internet search technology, data mining, multimedia management, and mobile information browsing. `Ma worked for HP lab between 1997 and 2001.

Ma gained his Master's degree and PhD of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of California, Santa Barbara in 1994 and 1997, respectively. During his PhD study period, Ma participated in the Alexandria Digital Library project of UCSB.

more...

Smartphone maker Meizu will move its Shenzhen branch back to Zhuhai and its smart home services department will begin a round of employee layoffs.

For those employees who do not want to move back to Zhuhai, they will reportedly be considered as part of the voluntary turnover. At the same time, an insider revealed that Meizu's Zhuhai headquarters will also cut at least 10% of its employees.

Meizu's Shenzhen branch was founded in August 2014 and it mainly focuses on the gaming center, smart home services, and network development. At present, this branch has 350 employees.

more...

Baidu Ventures announced that its first investment project cooperating with American VR/AR company 8i has been completed.

Baidu Ventures participated in the B round of financing of USD27 million of the company. Apart from the investment, Baidu said they will begin deep cooperation with 8i in the product sector.

8i was founded in 2014 and headquartered in Los Angeles, U.S. and Wellington, New Zealand. The company focuses on 3D character imaging in the VR/AR/MR sector. It is committed to realizing large scale, low cost, and high precision 3D character imaging and has developed a series of image capture, splicing and compression core algorithms that are compatible with all AR/VR platforms.

more...

Alibaba's affiliate Ant Financial Services Group is betting big on growing South Korea's Kakao Pay past its current user base of 14 million.

Kakao Pay is the mobile payments service of Kakao Corp., which gained fame as a mobile messaging service.
"South Korea is an important market for Ant Financial in its global expansion, and we see many opportunities in the market for innovative services and growth in mobile payments. Given Kakao’s leading mobile platform offering and vast customer base, we believe we can bring Ant Financial's broad experience in digital payments and technology-driven financial services to offer exciting and innovative products to South Korean customers," said Douglas Feagin, President of Ant Financial International.

more...

The China National Development and Reform Commission has granted Baidu regulatory approval to launch an artificial intelligence research center.

The Chinese search engine will focus on deep learning, computer vision, machine hearing, biometric identification, human-computer interaction, standardized services and intellectual property in deep learning.
It will also participate in the joint development of national laboratories for big data system software and brain-like intelligent technologies and application. Baidu recently also hired Lu Qi, formerly global executive vice president at Microsoft, to lead its AI research.

more...

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi recently confirmed that Manu Kumar Jain, Xiaomi's director of its Indian market business, has been promoted to global vice president.

Prior to this, Xiaomi's global vice president Hugo Barra departed the Beijing-based company due to work pressure and health reasons associated with living in China. Barra has since joined Facebook in the United States to lead its virtual reality business.

Jain is a co-founder of India's local e-commerce company Jabong and he joined Xiaomi in 2016. He played an important role in Xiaomi's rapid development in the Indian market. Under his leadership, Xiaomi sold 2.5 million to 3 million smartphones each quarter in the Indian market and about 75% of those phones were made in India.

more...

Apple is reportedly discussing with China's BOE Technology Group about the supply of OLED displays for its future iPhone products.

If BOE is included in the list of suppliers for Apple, it will become the first Chinese company that provides these types of displays to Apple, in addition to those suppliers in South Korea and Japan.

According to reports in Chinese local media, Apple has implemented several months of tests on BOE's AMOLED displays. However, a decision is yet to be made if BOE will be the provider.

more...

The United States Department of Commerce has reportedly agreed to extend ZTE's temporary export license to March 29, 2017, allowing American companies to continue to provide software, technologies, and restrictive components published in March 2016 to ZTE.

Attachment 25801

Prior to this, the Chinese telecom device manufacturer received an export restriction from the American government and its export license was due for expiration on February 27, 2017. However, the extension is shorter than the previously approved 90 days by the United States Department of Commerce, which means ZTE is still facing pressure.

more...

Chinese search engine company Baidu announced that starting from February 26, 2017, Baidu Group's president and chief operating officer Lu Qi has been appointed director and vice chairman of the board of directors of Baidu.

Attachment 25800

Baidu announced on January 17, 2017 its intention to appoint Lu as Baidu Group's president and COO, leading products, technology, sales, marketing and operations, effective immediately. Baidu's existing business groups and leaders would all directly report to Lu, while Lu would directly report to Baidu Group's chief executive officer Robin Li.
In addition, Baidu announced other changes to its board of directors.

more...

Chinese online group buying and lifestyle services provider Meituan Dianping set up an investment fund with initial capital of CNY1.5 billion and target fund scale of CNY3 billion.

Wang Xing, chief executive officer of Meituan Dianping, reportedly revealed during an internal communications meeting that as the cornerstone investor, Meituan Dianping initiated and established the fund for the first time. Meituan Dianping's senior vice president Chen Shaohui will be chief executive officer of the fund management company.

The capital is provided by a number of large enterprises and professional parent funds, including Meituan Dianping, Tencent, and New Hope.

more...

Chinese e-commerce website Vip.com published its unaudited financial report for the fourth quarter and entire year of 2016 in which it boasted total operating revenue of CNY56.59 billion.

According to the report, the company realized a year-on-year increase of 40.8%; and it achieved gross profit of CNY13.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 37.4%.

If calculated in accordance to non-GAAP methods, Vip.com's operating profit in 2016 was CNY3.49 billion, a year-on-year increase of 32.4%; and its net profit attributable to shareholders was CNY2.87 billion, a year-on-year increase of 30.4%. Meanwhile, the company predicted that its net operating revenue in the first quarter of 2017 would reach between CNY15.3 billion and CNY15.8 billion.

more...

https://www.chinatechnews.com/wp-con...a-traveler.jpg

Hong Kong-based travel booking platform Klook has raised US$30 million in its series B round.
Sequoia Capital, Wecapital Group, Matrix Partners China and China Growth Capital participated in the round. Matrix and China Growth were already investors in the company that specializes in offering travel activities cheaper than local travel agencies at destinations around the world.

Founded in 2014, it claims to currently offer over 10,000 tickets to activities in over 80 destinations. In 2016, over five millions bookings were made by users from around 30 countries.

more...

58.com realized operating revenue of USD306.6 million, which was about CNY2.095 billion, during the fourth quarter of 2016, a year-on-year increase of 28.5%.

The Chinese online classified information service provider published its unaudited financial report for the fourth quarter and entire year of 2016 and said that it made net losses of USD19.7 million. For the entire year of 2016, the company realized operating revenue of USD1.142 billion, which was about CNY7.592 billion, a year-on-year increase of 69.5%; and it made net losses of USD117.8 million.

more...

Chinese software, integrated system, and technical services provider Skytech announced that the group has signed a cooperation framework agreement with Alibaba's online payment affiliate Ant Financial.

According to the agreement, the two parties will jointly build new type of smart city services across China. Skytech will be responsible for new smart city construction and realization and service interfaces; while Ant Financial will provide real-name authentication, payment, and credit functions to related government platforms.

more...

Ping An WiFi, a brand under China's Ping An Group, announced that they have gained a CNY550 million investment from Kuang-Chi Group and the two parties will jointly establish a company named Shenzhen Ping'an Xunke.

The combo have initiated what they call a "smart WiFi network application industrial alliance", aiming to promote smart city construction. This new alliance will integrate hardware manufacturers to promote the upgrades of new technologies, new materials, and new products to make Internet connectivity more ubiquitous. Ping'an Xunke will invest about CNY100 million for research and development into the alliance; while Kuang-Chi Group will be responsible for the research and development of hardware and materials.

more...

Attachment 26017

Chinese Internet tourism services provider Ctrip.com is further integrating Traveling Bestone and Qunar vacation businesses to implement its strategy in second-, third-, and fourth-tier cities across China.
So far, Ctrip has opened over 5,500 retail outlets in 22 provinces and cities across China and the company plans to increase the number to 6,500 by the end of 2017.

Ctrip claims 250 million registered members and an app with 2.3 billion accumulated downloads. The company ranked first in the Chinese online outbound travel and domestic travel markets by market share and it is reportedly the largest online tourism channel in China. With the 5,500 integrated stores, Ctrip is now also expected to become the largest offline tourism retailer and services provider in China.

more...

Attachment 26016

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group realized USD11 billion mobile advertising revenue in 2016, accounting for 40.3% market share in the Chinese mobile advertising market.

According to the latest statistics provided by the market research firm eMarketer, Baidu achieved mobile advertising revenue of USD5.5 billion in 2016, accounting for nearly 20% market share in China. Tencent's mobile advertising revenue was USD3.2 billion, accounting for 11.6% market share.

more...

Alipay, Shareco, and Hainan Airlines jointly announced that Hainan Airlines will formally launch inflight mobile payment services on its first batch of 15 planes which will allow travelers to pay for goods and class upgrades.
By the end of 2017, the services will be deployed to cover 129 planes.

more...

On the heels of Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma's overtures to American President Trump and to the Australian government with a new round of tech investments, Alibaba is now spreading its government ties to Denmark.

Alibaba Group's executive vice president Joseph Tsai and Danish foreign minister Anders Samuelsen jointly announced in Hangzhou that Alibaba Group and the Danish government have reached a strategic deal.

more...

Chinese search engine company Sogou.com reportedly made an important step for its initial public offering in 2017 and Wang Xiaochuan, chief executive officer of Sogou, revealed that the company already held a multi-party meeting to discuss the related issues.

The multiple parties mentioned by Wang included executives of Sogou and the two major shareholders of Sogou: Tencent and Sohu. They reportedly discussed the possible arrangements for the IPO. Though most details are yet to be decided, it is highly possible that Sogou will be listed on Nasdaq. Meanwhile, Wang also admitted they have not developed a detailed schedule for the IPO.

more...

Apple appears to making up for lost time in China. Its former CEO Steve Jobs never set foot in China, but now the company he founded is boosting spend in the Middle Kingdom under CEO Tim Cook.

Apple China announced that following Beijing and Shenzhen, Apple will launch new research and development centers in Shanghai and Suzhou. According to a report published by Apple, the company has promised to invest over CNY3.5 billion into R&D centers in China.

more...

2016 was not a great year for Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE. The company says it had total losses of CNY767 million.
ZTE published its performance briefing for the entire year of 2016 and the first quarter of 2017; and the company also disclosed the financial impact of its "incident" in the U.S. Two weeks ago, ZTE confirmed that it reached a deal with the United States Department of Commerce to pay USD892 million for violating American sanctions on Iran and North Korea.
According to the performance briefing, ZTE's operating revenue was expected to reach CNY101.233 billion in 2016. Due to the incident in the U.S., the company paid a one-time penalty of USD892 million, which was about CNY6.15 billion, and its total losses were CNY767 million; and the company's net losses were CNY2.357 billion.

more...

Chinese e-commerce behemoth is expanding its control of online ticketing sales with the acquisition of Damai.cn.
Alibaba's music division will be the vessel in which Damai.cn operates, and the two businesses will provide services that connect musicians with their fans.

Alibaba created a cultural and entertainment group last November to put businesses such as online video platform Youku Tudou, browser company UCWeb, Alibaba Pictures, Alibaba Music, Alibaba Sports and Alibaba Digital Entertainment under one umbrella.

more...

China Unicom's operating revenue was CNY274.2 billion in 2016, a year-on-year decrease of 1%; and its net profit was CNY630 million, a year-on-year decrease of 94.1%.

China Unicom's mobile business services realized revenue of CNY145.02 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1.7%; its fixed-line business services realized revenue of CNY94.66 billion, a year-on-year increase of 3.7%; its broadband access revenue was CNY43.87 billion, which was at the same level as that in 2015; and its IDC and cloud computing business revenue was CNY9.45 billion, a year-on-year increase of 33.7%.

more...

HTC is planning to sell its mobile phone manufacturing plant in Shanghai, and the money gained will be invested into the virtual reality operations of the business.

HTC's board of directors has decided to sell its Shanghai manufacturing plant to a Chinese mainland company for USD91 million, which is about CNY630 million, with the aim of allocating more money to expand its VR business. HTC emphasized that the sale of the plant would not affect the overall business of its mobile phone unit. The buyer of the factory is reportedly Xingbao Information Technology.

HTC's Shanghai mobile phone manufacturing plant was built in 2009 with an area of 114,000 square meters and it is mainly engaged in making smartphones sold in mainland China. In 2011, the factory boasted monthly production of two million units. However, with the decline of HTC's mobile phone business, many product lines of this factory went idle.

more...

Chinese B2C e-commerce provider JD.com recently announced plans to separate its former clothing and home business unit into two units: a clothing business unit and a home and lifestyle business unit.

JD Group's vice president and former clothing and home business unit president Xin Lijun will be president of home and lifestyle business unit; while Ding Xia will be appointed as president of clothing business unit.

After the separation, JD's clothing business unit will have eight major business divisions and related supporting teams, covering clothing, owned clothing business, sports and fitness, shoes and bags, luxury and jewelry, watches and clocks, international brands, and other clothing owned brands.

more...

News broke yesterday that Chinese Internet behemoth Tencent took a 5% stake in U.S.-based Tesla. Though the stake is small, the impression was large enough to push Tesla's stock up by more than 2.5% by the end of the trading day.

While investors appeared to applaud Tencent's purchase of about 8.17 million Tesla shares, some critics on social media wondered if this was more Chinese encroachment on American jobs, technology, and competitiveness.
Some of the job worries may be justified. China-based LeEco's Faraday Future, which is planning to build a factory in Nevada, yesterday cancelled its plans to build a second California factory. Will the company now throw up its cash-strapped arms and move operations back to China and employ Chinese laborers?

more...

New Zealand's government revealed that Chinese telecom device maker Huawei will invest NZD400 million, which is about CNY1.938 billion, in the country for data center and innovation lab construction.

Simon Bridges, minister for Economic Development of New Zealand, and Paul Goldsmith, minister for Science of New Zealand, said in a joint statement that Huawei will cooperate with local partners to build a data center in New Zealand and two innovation labs in Christchurch and Wellington, respectively.

more...

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has cooperated with Foxconn in the building of its second Indian manufacturing plant, which is located in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh.

Xiaomi entered the Indian market in 2014 and the company started local production one year after. Xiaomi's first plant in India is not exclusive and Foxconn also makes phones for other brands. However, this new plant is exclusively for Xiaomi.

more...

https://www.chinatechnews.com/wp-con...le-payment.jpg

Xiaomi's payment service Mi Pay recently published its semi-annual user statistics report and claims that three new banks support Mi Pay bringing the total number of banks supporting Mi Pay to 33.

Meanwhile, over one million Mi Pay users have bound their credit cards to Mi Pay accounts.

more...

On the heels of its American partner Uber ensconced in controversy of its treatment of women, Chinese ride-share company Didi Chuxing is focusing on more opportunities for its female employees.

Jointly initiated by Didi Chuxing's chief executive officer Cheng Wei and president Liu Qing, the company announced the launch of a female career development plan and the establishment of the "Didi Women's Network".
This is reportedly the first female-oriented career development plan in a major Chinese Internet company.
With the slogan of "Be Great Be You", Didi hopes to inspire the company's multicultural atmosphere, promote faster growth of high-potential women, and create a working environment which is more conducive to the career development of female employees.

more...

Chinese-language mobile voice search engine provider Mobvoi announced a deal with Volkswagen Group, and the two parties will set up a joint venture to explore the vehicle artificial intelligence sector.

Volkswagen will invest USD180 million in Mobvoi. This makes the German automaker the sole investor of Mobvoi's series D financing.

more...

Lenovo announced the appointment Ricardo Bloj as new president for its Brazil business.

Bloj joined Lenovo's Brazil branch as chief operating officer in 2016 and he was promoted to president as replacement for Silvio Stagni. Stagni departed Lenovo Brazil at the beginning of 2017 and joined Allied, a local information technology distributor in Brazil.

Bloj has 25 years of experience in the information technology industry. He previously worked for IBM and Brazil's manufacturing giant Itautec.

more...

Chinese PC maker Lenovo has started a new Asia Pacific data center partner program aiming to help Lenovo's channel partners provide the best data center solutions to the enterprise market.

Sumir Bhatia, vice president of Lenovo's Asia Pacific data center, said that they are excited to launch the Lenovo data centre partner program for Asia Pacific, which reflects Lenovo's solid commitment and dedication to their channel partners in the region. As a major data center brand, Lenovo is uniquely positioned to help their business partners meet diverse needs in the enterprise market, through best-of-breed data center solutions and their open eco-system of partnerships with leading IT providers.

more...

Chinese pioneering recruitment website Zhaopin.com, which previously received three privatization proposals, announced that its board of directors has reached a privatization agreement with a consortium led by its controlling shareholder and the offer price is USD18.2 per ADS.

Zhaopin said that the consortium comprises its controlling shareholder SEEK International Investments, Zebra Mergerco under Hillhouse Capital Management, and FountainVest Partners.

more...

Chinese search engine company Baidu announced plns to fully acquire American technology company xPerception.
xPerception focuses on machine vision software and hardware solutions. It provides visual perception software and hardware solutions for a range of applications, including robotics, virtual reality, and devices for people who are visually impaired.

With the acquisition, Baidu will be able to enhance its software and hardware abilities in the visual perception sector, which will become an important supplement to Baidu's core businesses such as AR and autopilot.

more...