China Tech News

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...