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China’s E-commerce Major Alibaba to Acquire Stake in Focus Media

20Jul By Gauri SinghNo Comments

ACQUISITION

China’s E-commerce Major Alibaba to Acquire Stake in Focus Media

China’s e-commerce major Alibaba Group announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to take over a minority stake in China's Focus Media Information Technology with an aim to tap into the digital marketing segment. The e-commerce giant will be acquiring about 6.62 percent in Focus Media for about 9.63 billion yuan ($1.43 billion) and expectedly yet another 5 percent stake in the next one year as stated by the company. Alibaba also has plans to invest $511.1 million in an entity managed by Jason Jiang, Focus Media's chairman, by subscribing to the newly issued shares of the company. Focus Media’s digital advertising screens can be seen on the streets, on subways and in elevators across 300 Chinese cities, reaching 200 million middle-class consumers. By getting in association with Focu...

China-based Didi Chuxing Raises $500 million from US-based Travel Firm

18Jul By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

China-based Didi Chuxing Raises $500 million from US-based Travel Firm

Didi Chuxing, a China-based ride-hailing online company has secured funds amounting to $500 million from a US-based travel company known as Booking Holdings. The basic aim of this funding round is to bolster the company’s plans to make an entry into the fresh markets outside of China. Both the companies announced the investment in a joint statement, however, its details were undisclosed. After this funding round, the valuation of the company has reached $56 billion. Didi Chuxing is also expected to go public and launch an initial public offering (IPO) in the near future. The deal will witness Booking work in association with Didi to offer its on-demand car services through its Booking.com apps. In the same way, Didi customers will have the option to book hotels through Booking.com...

13Jul By Gauri SinghNo Comments

CHINA

Apple Launches a Clean Energy Fund in China Worth $300 Million

The technology giant Apple Inc. is all set to launch a clean energy fund worth $300 million in China. The main idea behind this move is to connect the suppliers with the renewable energy sources. Apple announced this on Friday, working with its suppliers for investing in renewable energy projects that could power around 1 million houses in the country through fully renewable means over the next four years. In 2018 environmental responsibility report, Apple stated, "Apple's mission has never wavered. We are here to change the world... it's why we continuously strive to do more with less—reducing our impact on the earth we all share while expanding and redefining the possibilities ahead.” Following this move, reducing pollution has become the key priority of the ...

Baidu Partners With US Chipmaker to Bolster Project Apollo

12Jul By Gauri SinghNo Comments

CHINA

Baidu Partners With US Chipmaker to Bolster Project Apollo

Amercian data conversion and signal processing company Analog Devices (ADI) has entered into a collaboration memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China’s biggest technology company Baidu, for the purpose of improving and developing the Chinese company’s autonomous driving technologies. The partnership was taken forward on Tuesday and it is expected to bolster the autonomous driving solutions for Project Apollo, Baidu’s autonomous driving system platform, including sensor fusion, algorithms and ecosystem partners. The US and the Chinese company will together share resources and set up sensing and navigation applications such as RADAR and LIDAR for Project Apollo, and also and digital signal processing (DSP) products. “ADI offers groundbreaking advantages in autonomous driving, cabin e...

Ofo To Close Down in India: Fires Majority Staff

10Jul By Gauri SinghNo Comments

News

Ofo To Close Down in India: Fires Majority Staff

World’s first station-free bike sharing platform ‘Ofo’ is reportedly closing down its operations in India. The Alibaba-backed Chinese company, therefore, has fired a majority of the staff that was responsible for its India operations. The company was established in the country last year in the month of November. It had spread its business in various cities of India including Chennai, Indore, Ahmedabad, and Pune. However, the company claimed that Ofo has stopped its operations in all the but in Pune, it has tied up with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to support the Pune Cycle Plan. Ofo had promised the employees that they would have a discussion regarding the operational roadmap for the next few years. But, these things never took place and the employees were not even given the ...

Chinese E-commerce Players Eyeing to Target Indian and Middle East Market

8Jul By AnkitaNo Comments

CHINA

Chinese E-commerce Players Eyeing to Target Indian and Middle East Market

Chinese e-commerce players are now targeting India and middle east countries markets due to high potential for economic growth as per the report in Chinese media today. According to a report from app data provider App Annie, five of the top 10 best performing cross-border e-commerce Chinese apps in the first five months such as Club Factory, SHEIN, ROMWE and JollyChic focussed on the Middle East and India markets. According to the report in Xinhua news, the Indian market enjoys a huge population and high potential for economic growth, thus attracting many e-commerce players to expand their presence. Smartphones are popular in Arab countries and local consumers have strong purchasing power. But the oil-rich countries lack textiles and other light sectors, offering cross-border e-co...

5Jul By Gauri SinghNo Comments

CHINA

China’s Baidu To Launch Autonomous Bus Service Apolong

Chinese technology giant, Baidu announced on Wednesday that the company has started with the massive production of Apolong, China’s very first autonomous mini-buses and will be launched very soon. The bus will seat 14 people in total and will carry passengers from tourist areas, parks, industrial campuses, airports and other locations. The Apolong is a level four autonomous vehicle, which means that the vehicle can work in enclosed places safely without any human interaction. "2018 marks the first year of commercialisation for autonomous driving. From the mass production of Apolong, we can truly see that autonomous driving is making great strides -- taking the industry from zero to one," said Robin Li, CEO of Baidu. The Apolong will be about one-third of the size of a normal bus and w...

29Jun By Gauri SinghNo Comments

CHINA

Ford and Baidu Partner To Build Smarter Cars in China

The American Multinational automaker, Ford has signed a contract with China’s biggest search engine company Baidu to introduce artificial intelligence and smart connectivity in cars in China. Ford is one of the most trusted auto company in the world and has claimed that it would develop new in-vehicle infotainment systems and digital services which will be based on Baidu's voice-interaction system, DuerOS. The Ford owners in China can make use of these features. The feature will enable the people to communicate and command their vehicles using natural language and allow people to easily access information and services that they need in daily life. "As part of our 'In China, For China' strategy, we look forward to working closely to offer smart products and solutions that can make pe...

How Indians make it to the top of Big US Companies?

21Jun By Lavina TolaniNo Comments

Story

How Indians make it to the top of Big US Companies?

The phenomena of Indian's making it to the top positions in big US companies is not something new. However, the trend has lately made neighbour country China too anxious. While China is too competent when it comes to exposure to western education or native talent, yet statistics reveal a different story. According to a report, about 350,755 Chinese students enrolled in American universities in the academic year 2016-17 when compared against 185,000 Indian students. An article published in the state-run news outlet Global Times says, Sundar Pichai, who was born in Tamil Nadu, India, was appointed CEO of Google in August 2015, while Satya Nadella, who was born in Telangana, India, became Microsoft's CEO in 2014. In addition to those two representatives, the CEOs of SanDisk, Adobe Systems,...

Softbank Backed OYO To Enter China With All The Support

21Jun By Gauri SinghNo Comments

News

Softbank Backed OYO To Enter China With All The Support

The Gurugram-based online hospitality company OYO is now officially entering the Chinese market. OYO is a Softbank backed firm and China is its third international destination after Malaysia and Nepal. The investor of OYO that is Softbank is showing high hopes and support in favour of the hospitality company. SoftBank Group’s chairman and chief executive Masayoshi Son addressed OYO Hotels as the ‘next generation hotel company using the internet service’. He is also determined to bolster up OYO hotels in China through a joint venture.” “I would really like to introduce this (OYO Hotels) company to all of you. The founder (Ritesh Agarwal), as of today, is only 23 years old. He founded the company when he was only 19 years old. Only four years have passed but it is growing exponentially,”...

Trump threatens China of additional $200 bn Tariffs on Goods

19Jun By Lavina TolaniNo Comments

USA

Trump threatens China of additional $200 bn Tariffs on Goods

While the US-China Trade battle is heating over every day, President Donald Trump on Monday has threatened to impose tariffs on an additional $200 bn of Chinese goods amidst growing conflicts. The White House has said that if China is found going against its promise to retaliate against US tariffs announced last week, US will impose additional tariffs of worth 200 bn dollars on Chinese goods. In a statement that released Monday morning, Trump said, Further action must be taken to encourage China to change its unfair practices, open its market to United States goods, and accept a more balanced trade relationship with the United States. He also said that China has no intention of altering its unfair trade practices and is now threatening US companies workers and farmers who have done...

Google to Invest $500 Million in Chinese E-commerce Giant

18Jun By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Google to Invest $500 Million in Chinese E-commerce Giant

The biggest multinational tech company Google announced on Monday that it will invest an amount of $500 million in Chinese second largest e-commerce platform called JD.com. Both the companies have mentioned this funding as an association that will help in the promotion of JD.com products on Google’s shopping service. In return for the funds, Google will receive more than 27 million newly issued Class A ordinary shares of JD.com at an issue price of $20.29 per share. This would also be helpful for the Chinese company to expand its existence beyond China and Southeast Asia to other markets in the US and Europe. "This partnership with Google opens up a broad range of possibilities to offer a superior retail experience to consumers throughout the world," stated Jianwen Liao, JD.com's chief...