Posts tagged ‘New York Stock Exchange’

29/01/2015

China pledges to ‘regulate and revamp’ e-commerce sector amid Alibaba row | South China Morning Post

The Ministry of Commerce said it will boost regulation of China’s e-commerce sector amid the continuing row between Alibaba Group, over alleged sale of fake goods by its subsidiary Taobao.com, and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC).

Alibaba's corporate headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Photo: Reuters

Shen Danyang, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, said on Thursday that the move was aimed at revamping the entire sector.

Last year, the ministry investigated more than 11,000 violations in the fast-growing e-commerce industry, and closed 3,400 websites, Shen said. The ministry would continue its campaign to build a safe and reliable market for consumers.

Online media company Sina reported on Thursday that a SAIC spokesperson denied they had received a formal complaint from Taobao.com against director Liu Hongliang, despite Taobao’s claim yesterday that they would do so.

An open letter was published on Taobao’s official Weibo account on Tuesday accusing SAIC director Liu of commissioning an “unfair” quality survey of goods sold on the platform, which resembles eBay of the US, and making public the results without giving online shop owners a chance to appeal.

Alibaba Group is due to release its quarterly earnings tonight.

via China pledges to ‘regulate and revamp’ e-commerce sector amid Alibaba row | South China Morning Post.

19/12/2014

Forget Wal-Mart: China Cuts Out the Middleman – China Real Time Report – WSJ

Wal-Mart and Amazon have become America’s main conduits for cheap, mass-produced goods from China’s factory floors. But who needs them anymore? As the WSJ’s Dennis K. Berman reports:

I am holding in my hands a men’s down jacket with fur trim, sent four days ago direct from a warehouse 67 miles west of Shanghai.

The $52.19 jacket won’t be confused for Prada. The fur appears to be “fur.” It came out of the box smelling like plastic and solvent.

Advertisement

What the jacket represents is far more interesting: It’s the final and direct link between China’s manufacturers and the global consumer. In the same way Chinese companies took over the production of goods, they are now increasingly capable of merchandizing those goods, using the Web and modern freight transport. Bentonville, you are being outsourced to China, too.

This is in part why China’s Alibaba has a $268 billion market capitalization. And it’s why United Parcel Service Inc. recently bought a company called i-parcel, to help U.S. suppliers penetrate the thickets of customs, fraud and language that still exist.

The jacket came via LightInTheBox , a Beijing company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Run by Chinese with deep experience in America, the site can shapeshift into 27 different languages, from Arabic to Bahasa to Swedish, and ship goods piecemeal all over the world. For the 12 months ending in September, LightInTheBox sold $349 million of merchandise, a 25% increase from the year earlier. It is still far from profitable, posting significant operating and net losses. Its stock has fallen 23% this year.

LightInTheBox got its start selling wedding dresses, and it’s now selling about 800 different designs for under $200. It sells 400,000 a year. For wedding dresses, “the manufacture price in China is less than $100, but the store price in the U.S. or Europe was thousands of dollars,” company co-founder and CEO Quji “Alan” Guo said in an interview. “That was a category where there should have been better availability, but it was not there.”

via Forget Wal-Mart: China Cuts Out the Middleman – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

28/11/2014

Indian Stock Exchange Rises Up World Rankings, Catching Up With China – India Real Time – WSJ

Indian shares are on a roll and that’s bringing the country’s stock exchanges onto the global stage.

English: National Stock Exchange of India Русс...

English: National Stock Exchange of India Русский: Национальная фондовая биржа Индии (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On Friday, the market capitalization, or total value of listed companies, on Mumbai’s BSE exchange reached a new record of 100 trillion rupees ($1.6 trillion.)

The market value of companies listed on Indian stock exchanges has risen by more than 40% over the past year, as investors are betting that Indian companies will benefit from a turn in the local economy and policies expected from the new government that came to power in May.

The BSE stood 10th among the world’s stock exchanges as measured by market value at the end of October, according to data from the World Federation of Exchanges.

It is followed closely by India’s National Stock Exchange, which is ranked 11th.

Industry experts say India’s standing is likely headed higher.

“It is a matter of time before we make it to the top 5,” stock exchanges in the world, said Kalpana Morparia, chief executive of J.P. Morgan India, in a statement Friday.

If the market cap of Indian companies keeps increasing at its recent pace, the BSE and NSE could soon overtake Germany’s Deutsche Borse and China’s Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

via Indian Stock Exchange Rises Up World Rankings, Catching Up With China – India Real Time – WSJ.

11/09/2014

Can Jack Ma’s Alibaba Fortune Jump-Start Chinese Philanthropy? – Businessweek

Harvard just announced its largest-ever donation: a $350 million unrestricted gift to its School of Public Health. The donor is Hong Kong-based Morningside Foundation, led by two brothers who earned their fortunes in real estate, private equity, and venture capital. One brother, Gerald Chan, earned a graduate degree from Harvard. The school will be renamed in honor of their late father as the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Jack Ma on July 15

Greater China is home to 358 billionaires (including 64 Hong Kong billionaires), according to the 2014 Hurun Global Rich List. Yet with a few exceptions—including the Harvard gift and Chinese tech titans’ recent fondness for the ice bucket challenge—a culture of domestic philanthropy has been relatively slow to take root. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet hosted a lavish 2010 dinner in Beijing intended to encourage the Chinese elite to embrace philanthropy, but several tycoons snubbed the Americans’ invitations and declined to open their wallets.

Now, at last, China has a powerful homegrown evangelist for philanthropy: Jack Ma. As co-founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group, which filed paperwork last week to raise as much as  $21.2 billion in an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, he is one of China’s most respected and closely watched tycoons—and he’s publicly embracing a culture of giving.

Ma joined Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai earlier this year in establishing a personal philanthropic trust to be “funded by share options granted by Alibaba … for approximately two percent (2%) of Alibaba’s equity,” according to a statement. The trust will focus on the “environment, medicine, education, and culture.” In Ma’s words, “Alibaba was founded 15 years ago with a mission ‘to make it easy to do business anywhere’ and a set of principles and values that emphasize our responsibility to society. Giving back to society is deeply embedded in Alibaba’s culture.”

The total value of the fund will depend on the performance of Alibaba’s upcoming IPO. If the company is valued at $120 billion, or more, the charitable trust will be worth at least $2.4 billion.

via Can Jack Ma’s Alibaba Fortune Jump-Start Chinese Philanthropy? – Businessweek.

Law of Unintended Consequences

continuously updated blog about China & India

ChiaHou's Book Reviews

continuously updated blog about China & India

What's wrong with the world; and its economy

continuously updated blog about China & India