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Baidu under fire – will it impact its $8.7 billion market value?
Monday, 22 September 2008 12:58

 

 

Robin LiChinese Internet-search giant Baidu.com Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) holds 64.4% of China's search-engine market by revenue and has a market capitalization of $8.7 billion. (Source: Analysys International).

The company, often called the "Google of China", goes by the adage that it “respects the truth, and our search results reflect that commitment."

However, Baidu came under fire over the tainted milk scandal currently rocking China. To recap: China's government confirmed that contamination of baby formula with melamine, an industrial chemical, caused the deaths of four infants and illnesses of 6,200.

Baidu was approached by several dairy producers but "flat out refused" to screen out unfavorable news. The Beijing-based company repeatedly denied speculation online that it censored information. There is no proof that Baidu played a part in concealing the discovery.

To avoid any more confusion in the future, it would be wise for Baidu to copy the business practice of Google and place paid search result outside of its main search listings. This prevents any hint of conflict of interest. Currently, Baidu allows its advertisers to pay their way up to higher positions within search results.

Unlike Badiu, Google Inc., places paid search results outside of the main search listings. "Google is under much more international scrutiny than Baidu," said Mark Natkin, managing director of Marbridge Consulting, a Beijing-based Internet and technology firm. "In terms of market practices, Baidu can definitely take more liberties."

Baidu already added a small two-character tag to identify the ads at users’ requests. It doesn't use a different background color yet as Google does to distinguish paid ads.

Baidu is a forward-looking company and recently announced that it will include business-to-business and business-to-consumer sites in its offering that will directly compete with Alibaba.com. Its announced online-auction site will compete with Taobao, while its announced online-payment system will compete with Alibaba's Alipay system.

Robin Li, Baidu founder, chairman and chief executive, has good reason to stay confident in his company. Baidu is flexible enough to learn lessons and adapt to new business realities.

 
KongZhong’s Tian Jie Online game now available on China Mobile's Game Platform - a new partnership in China’s $ 750 million online game sector
Thursday, 18 September 2008 07:56

 

The overall numbers of the online game sector in China are compelling - in 2007 alone, CMR analysts estimated the growth in China’s online game sector at 25% to about $750 million a year.


Online gaming is constantly expanding, as more and more Chinese players gain Internet access. CNNIC estimates that 31.8% of China’s 125 million netizens played online games in 2006. The appeal to play is that “it provides a space to achieve a lot of dreams”. Games also help to “heal my wounded mind in the real world” and to “find friendship and love.”

The leading game companies are Shanda (NASDAQ:SNDA), Netease (NASDAQ:NTES), and The9 (NASDAQ:NCTY)

 

MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) is highly popular, a fact not lost on the KongZhong Corporation (NASDAQ:KONG).  This leading   wireless value-added services and wireless media company delivers wireless value-added services to consumers in China through multiple technology platforms including wireless application protocol (WAP), multimedia messaging service (MMS), JAVATM, short messaging service (SMS), interactive voice response (IVR), and color ring-back tone (CRBT). KongZhong also operates three wireless Internet sites: Kong.net, Ko.cn and cn.NBA.com

 

To enter the MMORPG market, KongZhong developed Tian Jie Online, a free-to-play game that got over two million registered gamers since it entered open beta testing in the third quarter of 2007. After passing China Mobile's testing, the game was officially launched on September, 10 on China Mobile's Mobile Online Game Platform.

 

China Mobile (NYSE:CHL) spent about one year developing its Mobile Online Game Platform in order to foster the growth of the mobile online game industry. Tian Jie Online is among the first of three mobile online games that will run on China Mobile's Mobile Online Game Platform. “Three Kingdoms Online” (another mobile online game developed by KongZhong Corporation) has also passed China Mobile's testing and is expected to be launched on China Mobile's Mobile Online Game Platform before September, 25 of this year.

 china mobile market

 

 
Giant Interactive: board of directors approves USD150 million repurchase of shares
Thursday, 28 August 2008 08:29
Giant Interactive, the Chinese online game company, will repurchase USD 150 million worth of its shares in the US in a move recently approved by its board of directors, according to the company’s president and CEO, Shi Yuzhu. The move, announced earlier this month, will be executed in a phased program, over a period to be determined by market conditions, trading price and any legal restrictions limiting the repurchase of shares. Phasing the repurchase program will allow the board to review and adjust the time and scale of repurchase to match the company’s interests and in accordance with market trends.

Giant Interactive recently acquired a 25% stake in the popular Chinese Social Networking Site, 51.com, which claims to be China’s largest SNS with a user base of 102 million reported by some sources on the web in recent months. CEO, Shi Yuzhu has been reported saying that he believes online game companies’ success in the industry will depend largely on the integration of social network and community features. Giant expects to greatly expand its user base with the recent acquisition of 51.com and with the new, integrated services.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 28 August 2008 09:02 )
 
Omnia Luo gaining traction in China’s $25 Billion Women's Luxury Apparel Industry
Tuesday, 16 September 2008 11:02

You might not have heard of Omnia Luo, Inc. yet, but you will!

 

Headquartered in China's fashion capital of Shenzhen, the company is listed on the stock exchange (OTCBB:OLOU). Its core business is the design, development, marketing and distribution of fine women's apparel under the brand name "OMNIALUO."

The design team develops 1,600 designs each year with an emphasis on fashionable business casual. In China, the popularity with the rapidly growing class of urban and affluent female professionals lies in its elegant, feminine and sophisticated designs. There are currently more than 200 retail stores carrying OMNIALUO in China – this number is expected to increase to more than 250 by the end of this year.

 

But Omnia Luo, Inc. looks outside of China as well. On September 12, it showed its first fashion collection at the Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week. The Spring/Summer 2009 collection, themed "Beauty Blossoms," comprised of 30 exquisite outfits from its luxury line.

The public and critics were enticed by the modern ethereal silhouette with subtle touches of Asia presented to them. The whole look was crisp and modern, with a subtle use of accessories incorporating elements from ethnic minorities in China. The creative brain behind Omnia Luo is its chief designer, Ms. Zheng (Cindy) Luo. She made sure that the shown collection was exclusively tailored for her New York audience. The practical, young and energetic pieces were heralded by guardian.co.uk as "an outfit to make you feel like a million dollars."


But savvy investors can make money on the company as well.  With an expected net profit margin for 2008 of 33%, an expected revenue growth of 83% and an expected net income growth of 116%, investing in OMNILUO stock sure looks good!

 

Omnia Luo is cleverly leveraging its New York success to expand its presence in fashionable China, building a global fashion brand.

 

Omnia Luo

Last Updated ( Thursday, 18 September 2008 08:07 )
 
Sohu.com, total revenues for second quarter 2008 reach $102 million
Thursday, 31 July 2008 13:25

Xinhua- PRNewswire reported on 28 July, that second quarter financial results (unaudited) for Chinese Internet giant, Sohu.com, reached USD $102 million; up 162% year-on-year and 20% quarter-on-quarter. Sohu.com is one of China’s leading Internet companies and is the internet content sponsor for the Beijing Olympics website. The company also operates online media, online games, mobile services, search engine and pinyin service, transliteration of standard Mandarin Chinese into Roman characters.

Sohu’s report revealed advertising revenues of USD $ 43.4 million, a rise of 57% year-on-year and 26% quarter-on-quarter. This increase has been partly due to increased advertising revenues from the Olympic website. Online games revenues were up to USD $ 47.9 million and the company’s online role-playing game, “TLBB”, Tian Long Ba Bu brought in USD $ 45.5 million.

Belinda Wang, Co-President and Chief Marketing Officer of Sohu.com, was reported saying that the company was delighted with its performance and from the strong growth in brand advertising revenues. She also said that the overall growth reflected the expansion of the China Internet market and the shifts from offline advertising budgets towards online advertising. Other senior members of staff mentioned the increased traffic due to the Beijing Olympic website and the continued high quality of Sohu’s internet content.

sohu.com logo

 

 
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