Rural users of China Mobile lift past 600 million subscriptions

April 20, 2011, 7: 55 pm EDT by Bloomberg News

April 21 (Bloomberg) - China Mobile Ltd. became the first telephone company in the world to exceed 600 million subscribers that it has signed more rural customers in the first quarter.

China Mobile added 16.8 million subscribers in the first quarter, one almost 3% increase in the 584 million customers at the end of December, the company said yesterday.With mobile devices now represent 75 per cent of the 1.2 billion China phone users, the Beijing-based carrier is getting most of its new customer additions in the countryside who spend less on their monthly phone bills. Thus the average revenue per user, or ARPU, for the quarter ended March 31, dropped to 67 yuan ($ 10.3), 76 Yuan at the end of December, the company said yesterday. "" This subscriber number is rather good, "said Jim Tang, an analyst at go Wanguo Securities Co. in Shanghai who rate stocks"neutral". "Is especially low end subscribers, this is why you see the growth of profits to a single digit.Net profit for the first quarter rose by 5.4% to 26.9 billion yuan, 25.5 billion yuan a year earlier, reported China Mobile. Sales increased from 8.3% to 118.2 billion yuan.Profit in the first quarter was projected at 26.8 billion yuan on sales of 119 billion yuan, according to the median of four analysts estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. "Low use customers"new clients were mainly low usage customers,"Chairman Wang Jianzhou, said yesterday. "ARPU and average revenue per minute of use continue to decline."Wang is designed to battle the decline in revenue per user by the expansion of sales of data value added services such as music downloads top range of smartphone users.China Mobile said 549 million customers made use of value-added services in the first quarter and 476 million used his music wireless service. Value added services have been the "driving force" of sales in the first quarter, he said.Wang expects the company to data will be an important source of future earnings growth and plans to increase spending of 6.5 percent this year to strengthen investment services. China Mobile will spend as much as 117.7 billion yuan to invest on the network and add points of access wireless that it is intended to keep attracting smartphone users and help maintain its advance on China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. and China Telecom Corp. 'data Revenues' China Unicom this week reported it added 9.6 million subscribers in the first quarter taking his total to 320.9 million at the end of March. "It's data revenues which are clearly on the rise,"Colin McCallum, an analyst with Credit Switzerland Group AG in Hong Kong, wrote in a report April 15." "This seems to be a very healthy ratio of income to the volume, which China Mobile management has put an end to a deliberate strategy to avoid unlimited data packets.China Mobile increased 0.8% to HK$ 72.60 16 hours near trade in Hong Kong yesterday before the earnings announcement. The stock market dropped by 6 percent this year.China Unicom and China Telecom will report earnings next week.

-Edmond Lococo. Editors: Suresh Seshadri, Robert Valpuesta.

To communicate with the staff of Bloomberg News on this story: Edmond Lococo in Beijing at elococo@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Cho Young-Sam to ycho2@bloomberg.net

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How eBay has found a way to Secret in China

Illustration by Topos Graphics

By Bruce Einhorn

There has always been a certain way to executives to cringe from eBay (EBAY) of online market: ask them on China. In 2003, eBay has paid $ 150 million to acquire eachnet, e-commerce site top time as China. Director General Meg Whitman has invested $ 100 million more in the operation, but a combination of management errors - do not give enough power for managers of, for example - and a tough competition from local rival Alibaba group paralysed the company. In 2006, eBay has abandoned and withdrawn eBay EachNet joint-venture with Tom Online. Alibaba group, which unlike eBay does charge commissions, never lost his head. "It is very difficult to compete with free," says Jay Lee, eBay senior Vice President and General Manager for Asia Pacific.

While eBay seeks to challenge Alibaba group anymore, it is not a Plan B for China: connecting exporters and Chinese entrepreneurs eBay consumers elsewhere. The strategy is centred on such vendors as Fengyan Tang, 35, who goes by the English name of Maggie. Four years ago, Tang decided to start his own business dress. She found an ideal way to sell his $50 cocktail to eBay and rockabilly swing dresses and made sales of $700,000 last year. Although eBay since a minimal presence in China, is not the Tang spirit, she continues worldwide customers. To reach them, the most logical eBay. "This is the most famous," she said.

Exporters such as Tang, eBay has a company of China again. Transactions of China and Hong Kong on eBay and its PayPal unit amounted to $ 4 billion in 2010, making China market fifth of the company behind the United States, Germany, Great Britain and Korea from the South. "We learned many things," said Lee. "China is very important, but we need a different way to approach the market."

To achieve this, eBay sought segments of the Chinese market e-commerce not dominated by the pattern of the Alibaba group, Jack Ma and the Alibaba group. Alibaba group is dominant in China, but have little consumers to reach out of the country. Aliexpress, a website connecting small and medium-sized enterprises of importers and exporters in the world, do much for consumers. EBay saw an opening and has today 150 officers of catering to Chinese vendors. Last year, he launched a service with China Post and the Postal Service of United States, to provide a means for foreign buyers track their purchases of China and allow vendors on the continent to offer free shipping. The model of cross - border "is an opportunity that plays to our strength, which is the export business, explains Lee." "" We connect buyers and sellers - that is what we do. ?

EBay is one of the many foreign net companies face a challenge from China. Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), Amazon.com (AMZN), Myspace (NWS) and the AOL (AOL) stumbled, partly because Chinese officials are determined to censor Internet and are wary of the role that foreigners might play in the politically sensitive environment. (The censors have banned YouTube and Twitter, for example, creating local opportunities for copiers) Slow US companies did not also adapted to the needs of the rapidly changing Chinese market, said Mark Natkin, Managing Director of Marbridge Consulting Beijing. Companies foreign "are a distinct disadvantage," said. "It y number of case studies on which draw, and yet, there is a certain almost-hubris" by foreigners.

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Disney Gets a Second Chance in China

By Ronald Grover, Stephanie Wong and Wendy Leung

There are signs fail that the inauguration April 8 to the Shanghai Disney Resort from $ 4.4 billion was not aimed at the typical Orlando holidaymaker. Shanghai schoolchildren sang When You Wish Upon a Star - in Mandarin. Mickey Mouse was plated not in his misfiring signature, but in traditional costume of Chinese Red to symbolize good fortune. Everything which has been adapted to the tastes of the nation the most populated of the world.

Walt Disney (DIS) has good reason to sweat the details to his first on the continent theme park. Opening Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005, he underestimated will appear how many visitors and how long they would dwell. The result: too little rides, inadequate seating and food provides restaurants and angry crowds who were to be repressed. Although Park Disney belonging to Hong Kong by 47% is expanding, it loses yet 92.3 million for the year ended last October, while attendance has increased by 13%. "We learned a lot from Hong Kong," says Disney Director General Robert a. Iger. "In Shanghai, we are in route a three hour of 300 million people." This is a huge opportunity, and we must pay attention to how come and their attendance patterns. ?

For Disney studios, who will hold a 43 per cent in the station of 963-acre (three companies belonging to the State own the rest), Shanghai is a bet of $ 1.9 billion on a growing Chinese middle class who will pass the projects of the company 200 billion per year recreation of travel by 2015. It is also a bet that Disney characters and 55 year history of the race theme parks can be adapted to a culture may not fully understand. Disney "has too much riding on China to leave Hong Kong or Shanghai fail", explains John Gerner, Director General of recreation business advisors, which evaluated the possibility for theme parks in China for Village Roadshow, a theater operator and Australian Park. "Hong Kong was an experiment to see if a smaller Park would work, and he is not." Now they are fixing it. ?

Disneyland in Shanghai will almost 85 acres, approximately 50% larger than Hong Kong Park opening, said an Executive. There will be traditional Disney rides and others based on Chinese culture, said Iger. The company is adding Chinese nationals in his "imagineering" team to help develop the Park. A staple that will change: Main Street USA, the turn-of-the-century collection of shop Windows and streets cars pulled by horses that greet visitors to most of the Disney parks. Iger, explains: "we believe simply that Main Street USA is perhaps not that interesting to the people here."

Disney is not likely to repeat the cultural missteps, had its opening of Disneyland Resort Paris in 1992, where sales of food products suffered because the Park did not initially use wine with meals. In Hong Kong, Disney has reduced the number of dogs in its restaurants serving more dim sum and noodle dishes, says Executive of Disney, and it is likely to be full of terroir in Shanghai. "Disney attention much more now to cultural differences," said analyst Evercore Partners (EVR) Alan Gould. A single motivation: The Shanghai Park will generate $ 70 million in management fees for Disney in its first year and $ 200 million in a decade, estimates of Gould.

The bottom line: Disney, which already provides its television programs, to 260 million viewers in China each week betting on continental theme parks.

Grover covers industry media and entertainment for Bloomberg Businessweek in Los Angeles. Wong is a reporter for Bloomberg News. Leung is a journalist for Bloomberg News.

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Foreign direct investment in China rises to 33% on the rapid growth

April 19, 2011, 1: 04 am EDT by Bloomberg News

(Updates with comment from Economist in the fourth paragraph).

April 19 (Bloomberg) - foreign direct investment have climbed to 33% in March from the previous year, rising inflation and interest rates have not overseas wet confidence in the world fastest-growing major economy.Foreign investment added $ 12.5 billion in the Chinese economy, the Ministry of trade said in a statement in Beijing today. Investment grew at an annual rate of 29 percent in the first quarter.The Chinese Central Bank said the April 17 would ratchet of the reserve requirements of lenders for the fourth time this year to prevent the excess liquidity fueling inflation which has accelerated the fastest rate in nearly three years in March. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said last month that he can buy more land to build shops of the most populous nation of the world, which it predicts will be the most large grocery by 2014.Chine market exceeds the growth of other large economies of the world"Consequently, investment flows are continuing,", said David Cohen, an economist based in Singapore economics of the Action, who previously worked for the US Federal Reserve. "It will need to raise reserve requirements more in the course of the coming months to absorb the influx, so that it does not trigger an increase in inflation."Cohen expects China to raise the ratios of requirement of reserve banks 50 point basis in June and two to three times in the second half this year.Record RatioThe last increase in reserve ratios will enter into force on 21 April, pushing the requirement of a percentage of 20.5 record for the largest lenders.China has increased interest rates four times since October, to curb inflation which has accelerated at a 5.4% annual pace in March. Liquidity remains "excessive", Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said in Beijing yesterday evening, a day after the Bank of China announced the fourth increase lenders reserve ratios this year.The rise of investment will lead to "more political pressure for Beijing to continue to allow the appreciation of the yuan", said Cohen. gradual appreciation of the nominal exchange rate of the yuan against the US dollar will help the country overcome the inflationDeputy Governor of PBOC Yi Gang said on April 15. The Chinese Central Bank former Advisor Yu Yongding said this month that China should allow its currency strengthen the dollar to keep a lid on consumer prices. $ 3 trillion ReservesThe important economy experiencing the most rapid growth is attracting money from investors betting on the strength of its expansion and earnings prospects in the yuan. China's exchange reserves jumped to a world record 3 billion dollars in March, a level that exceeds the needs of the nation, Zhou said after a speech at Tsinghua University in Beijing yesterday evening.Gross domestic product expanded 9.7% in the first quarter of the previous year, exceeding the estimate of 9.4% economists, arguing the case for monetary tightening more. "China is still not done tightening,"Said Qu Hongbin, Chief Economist of HSBC Holdings Plc in Hong Kong China, before the release of today." "Inflation is likely to accelerate even prior to the commencement of cooling," he said, predicting increases in the rate of reserve half percentage point from months and reference interest rate quarter-point boost.Starbucks Corp., most large operator of coffee-shop in the world, said it aims to expand their presence in China by increasing the number of outlets in China to 1,500 by 2015.

-Chinmei Victoria Ruan, Zhang Dingmin, Sung, Sophie Leung. With the help of Jay Wang. Editors: Lily Nonomiya, Thomas Cherian

To contact the reporter on this story: Chinmei sung in Taipei to csung4@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Panckhurst in Hong Kong to the ppanckhurst@bloomberg.net

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Renren files China to collect as much as $ 584 million in intellectual property offices

April 15, 2011, 6: 55 pm EDT by Joseph Galante and Brian Womack

April 15 (Bloomberg) - Renren Inc., the largest social networking service of China, filed to collect as much as 584 million in an initial public offering to finance the expansion.

Renren expects to sell American depositary 53.1 million from $9 to 11 $ receipts each in an initial public offer, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. ADR represents 159.3 million common shares of class A, according to the filing.The company expects this product of the OPI 508 million and will use to woo more visitors that it is in competition with local rival Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Baidu Inc. in the market of the Internet the most populous of the world. Renren - a name which means "everyone" in Chinese - a similar characteristics such as Facebook Inc., which is blocked China.No U.S. social networking sites have gone public, then even that their popularity and revenue advertising soar. That created a pent-up among investors demand. LinkedIn Corp., which announced in January to raise 175 million in an IPO, may become the first.Renren has over 160 million registered users, according to Analysys International in Beijing. Advertising has more than doubled each year since the site began selling space in 2008, the company said. The online advertising market will triple almost 13 billion dollars in China in 2014, estimates Susquehanna International Group LLP.Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank AG and the Credit Switzerland Group AG will lead the introduction on the stock exchange. ADRS will be be included in the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RENN, prospectus showed. "School inside ' Renren has its roots date back to 2005, when the graduates of the University of Tsinghua in Beijing founded Xiaonei.com, or"school inside ". This was the year after the creation of Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Facebook, its service for fellow students of the University of Harvard.En 2006, Xiaonei was acquired by closed Oak Pacific Interactive Corp., which renames the Renren service in 2009. Softbank Corp., a carrier of the phone Japan the fastest-growing, is the largest shareholder of oak Pacific.Facebook Beijing-based has some Chinese users who circumvent censorship through virtual private networks supposedly, according to data compiled by Socialbakers.com, a website dedicated to the analysis of the statistics of Facebook.La company based in Palo Alto, California talks with potential partners on how to establish a foothold in China, a person familiar with the issue, said earlier this month. Entry into the country would give access to the largest Internet in the world market for Facebook, with more than 457 million users Web.Facebook will begin reporting financial results in April 2012, even if it does not make public, according to a document sent to potential investors. The company would be required to make disclosures because he expects to have at least 500 shareholders later this year, a threshold which makes the results necessary reports under SEC rules, a person who has examined the document said in January.

-Editors: Elizabeth Wollman, Nicholas Turner

To contact the reporters on this story: Joseph Galante in San Francisco at jgalante3@bloomberg.net; Brian Womack in San Francisco at bwomack1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Thomas Giles in the tgiles5@bloomberg.net

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China: Writer and artist renowned AI imprisoned, Weiwei

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