China

Isolated Huawei may be shoved into Beijing’s arms

24 May 2019

Important suppliers such as Arm and Intel are abandoning the Chinese telecom titan after the United States blacklisted it. That puts $50 bln in overseas revenue at risk. Huawei has cash to cope for now, but a breakup or state intrusion can’t be dismissed as potential endgames.

Chinese booze behemoth distills a sobering reality

24 May 2019

Kweichow Moutai’s state-owned parent may be planning to sell liquor directly through a separate unit. It could help usurp some $6 bln of value from shareholders, Breakingviews estimates. For new and growing MSCI index investors, it’s a stark reminder of China’s governance risks.

Viewsroom: America’s topsy-turvy regulators

23 May 2019

Qualcomm lost a lawsuit brought by one DC overseer, even as the DOJ intervened, while $26 bln T-Mobile US-Sprint merger is getting yanked around by agencies with opposing views. Doing business is hard when agencies no longer act in unison. Plus: Is Luckin Coffee going cold?

Cox: “China does it” is a bad antitrust argument

23 May 2019

Sheryl Sandberg says Facebook shouldn’t break up since its Middle Kingdom rivals never will. France and Germany pushed hard for an anti-competitive train merger because of a looming Chinese monopoly. Western values should guide competition law, not Beijing’s Communist Party.

Meituan Dianping delivers sweet-and-sour to Uber

23 May 2019

Getting bigger enabled the $40 bln Chinese company to cut its operating loss by charging restaurants for ads and fees to tote meals. Intensifying competition with Alibaba, however, will eat into cash. Uber can expect similar trouble as it squares off with Amazon-backed Deliveroo.

Google’s hidden costs give Beijing sticker shock

22 May 2019

Reaching for sharper trade weapons, Washington has clamped down on Huawei's access to the U.S. giant's software. Chinese handset makers selling abroad rely on Google tech: the free Android system powers their phones. A crackdown leaves much of a $175 bln export market vulnerable.

Corporate clout on the line in Hong Kong fight

22 May 2019

From Washington to Wan Chai, executives are loudly protesting the city’s plan to allow extradition to mainland China. The business community often gets its way in the financial hub. Losing in this standoff would signify a turning point in Hong Kong for more reasons than one.

Samsung reaps benefits of U.S.-China tech war

21 May 2019

Restrictions on Huawei’s use of American chips and software will make it harder to sell telecom gear outside the PRC. And Apple products could be vulnerable to a backlash in China. That leaves openings for the Korean group to sell network equipment as well as more smartphones.

Huawei takes trade war into uncharted territory

21 May 2019

Washington's attack on one of China’s biggest companies will hurt suppliers. But the onslaught marks a more worrying turning point. Such a relentless assault on a corporate giant is virtually unprecedented; that makes everything unpredictable, including the rules of engagement.

Jaunts abroad offer useful cover for China’s Ctrip

21 May 2019

The $20 bln travel giant, owner of Skyscanner, has become a top shareholder in India's MakeMyTrip. Efforts at diversification are prudent: rivals are proliferating at home, and the economy is cooling. There's protection too, if Beijing pulls tourists into a worsening trade war.

Donald Trump may yet play Huawei-saving wild card

20 May 2019

The Chinese telecom firm has effectively been cut off from U.S. suppliers, from Qualcomm to Google. That happened to ZTE too, and the president relented largely to help trade talks. Huawei is a much bigger, bipartisan concern. Even so, a similar reprieve can’t be ruled out.

T-Mobile US wins game of national champions

20 May 2019

Its $26 bln merger with rival telecom Sprint is likely to be approved. There was little reason to block it. Still, taken with a U.S. ban on China’s Huawei and last year’s nixing of a bid for chipmaker Qualcomm, it’s clear keeping 5G in American hands is now a national priority.

Dimming Huawei could help recharge Xiaomi phones

20 May 2019

The Chinese telecom group led by Ren Zhengfei may have lost access to Google's apps and services. This setback hits as $34 bln Xiaomi offset fewer total handset shipments last quarter by selling pricier models. It would further benefit from a weaker Huawei in Europe and beyond.

China’s e-commerce upstart makes its presence felt

20 May 2019

The $26 bln Pinduoduo has faced regulatory scrutiny and allegations of dodgy numbers. Now it boasts more shoppers than rival JD and has put Alibaba on defence in parts of the country. The upstart’s latest quarterly loss, though, keeps alive questions about the cost of growth.

Tencent need not envy Jack Ma’s finance fame

20 May 2019

The $432 bln tech giant has offered investors a peek into its mobile money arm. It is accelerating into payments and wealth management, catching up with the Alibaba founder’s Ant Financial. Ma’s aggressive expansion rankled bank regulators. Tencent would be wise to stay low-key.

Luckin investors are short America, long lunacy

17 May 2019

An unprofitable Chinese coffee chain that didn’t exist two years ago was valued at $6 bln within minutes of its New York IPO. Luckin is well placed if frosty Sino-American relations ping back on U.S. rival Starbucks. Beyond that, the debut is every bit as irrational as it sounds.

China exhibits worrying trade war restraint

17 May 2019

Beijing could retaliate against Washington using rare earths, U.S. debt or American companies on the mainland, a popular tabloid suggests. A better question is why such weapons, some deployed in the past, now sit idle. It points to a different, more dangerous, conflict.

Baidu is stuck in a downward tech spiral

17 May 2019

China's $50 bln search engine has posted its first loss since going public. A slow economy is not helping. But there are other problems: upstarts like ByteDance are threatening its core business, while new ventures in AI have yet to deliver. Boss Robin Li is running out of time.

Viewsroom: The lasting effects of Trump’s tariffs

16 May 2019

Washington and Beijing may yet find a way to end their escalating trade war soon. But for many businesses, the damage already inflicted will be hard to undo. Plus: CEO Mark Zuckerberg might not welcome more calls to break up Facebook, but shareholders could benefit.

U.S.-China tech war may split progress in two

16 May 2019

Nationalism has sparked Washington and Beijing to begin separating their tech sectors, on supposed security grounds. Economics promises to prolong the struggle. Clustering, scale and technical prowess mean both sides can succeed in areas like 5G even if the outcome isn’t optimal.