Archive for the 'Media, Tech & Telecom' Category

Microsoft MSN China top exec to step down

Xiao Chen, Microsoft MSN China’s Vice President of Sales will leave the company at the end of March to pursue his own start-up.
Chen has been with the company since its founding, and his departure is expected to deal a blow to Microsoft’s efforts to penetrate China’s online social networking space.
MSN China was [...]

China Mobile 2009 net profit rises 2.3%

China Mobile reported yesterday that profit growth in 2009 slowed to 2.3% from 30% in 2008 and that will cut capital spending over the next three years to maintain profitability.
Earnings growth has been slowed by increasing competition for China Unicom and China Telecom.
High expenditures on marketing and depreciation for third-generation mobile [...]

PayPal partner with UnionPay to expand in China

PayPal, an internet payment system owned by online auction site eBay, announced that it will partner with state-owned China UnionPay, China’s largest electronic payment service provider, to allow Chinese consumers with UnionPay debit cards to shop from overseas merchants.
The move will position PayPal to compete directly with the Alibaba Group’s online [...]

Chinese advertisers ask Google for compensation

Chinese advertising resellers that rely on Google’s search pages for revenue have written a letter demanding that the company disclose its plans to exit the China market and possibly pay them compensation.
The letter was posted on the CCTV website. It bears 27 signatures, but a manager at Universal Internet Media in [...]

Google must obey rules even if it pulls out, Beijing warns

A Chinese government spokesman said yesterday that Google must comply with Chinese policies even if it closes its China operations.
“On entering the Chinese market in 2007, [Google] clearly stated it would respect Chinese law,” said Yao Jian of the Ministry of Commerce. “If Google pulls out, it must [...]

Vimicro may break even this year on China sales

Chinese chip-maker Vimicro International may break even this year thanks to increasing domestic sales after two consecutive years of losses, commented by Vimicro Chairman John Deng.
The company’s China sales have grown to half of total revenue from only 10-20% five years ago, he said, and credited lower [...]

Google likely to close China site

Google is likely to take action to close the main portion of its China operation within weeks, according to an anonymous source familiar with the situation.
The news follows the apparent failure of negotiations to allow Google.cn to both remain in China and stop censoring search results.
Last Friday Li Yizhong, minister [...]

Google prepares to stop censoring in China

Censorship of Google searches in China could stop within weeks, but the company is unlikely to leave the country entirely.
“There will be a way for Google to not pull out 100%,” one source said, noting that the company could reach agreements with different Chinese agencies on an individual basis, allowing it [...]

Shanda profit up as China online game sales surge

Shanghai-based Shanda Interactive Entertainment announced its fourth-quarter profit rose 13% after the company introduced a wide selection of game titles.
Shanda revenues increased 49% to $220 million.
Shanda licensed games from outside developers to bolster revenues and win share from rival Tencent Holdings. Online game sales in China were up 30% last year, acccording to data from [...]

NetEase 4Q profit beats expectations

Online game operator NetEase reported higher-than-expected fourth-quarter revenues and profits on strong results from its online advertising business.
Net revenue in the fourth quarter was $183.1 million, up from $116 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. Fourth-quarter profits fell slightly year-on-year, to $83.8 million from $84.4 million.
While online gaming remains the main focus of NetEase’s [...]