China: hoteliers queue up to check in
China may have the biggest number of many things in the world – population, internet users and cars, just to name a few. But when it comes to hotels, it is still playing catch up.
With 1.9m hotel rooms currently, compared with about 4.5m in the US, there is ample scope to build more rooms and fill them. No wonder every hotelier has an eye on the market – including Hyatt Hotels of the US. Continue reading »
Who needs partners? Chinese carmaker prepares first own-brand car
Automakers are pinning their hopes on China, the world’s biggest car market. But there’s a growing hurdle: China’s own-brand cars.
Of every ten vehicles sold in China, only four currently bear a Chinese logo. But the number will rise to five or six by 2015, says the head of the Guangzhou Automobile, the Chinese joint venture partner of Honda and Toyota. And his company is now preparing to launch its first own-brand car, the Trumpchi. Continue reading »
Warren Buffett: building your dreams in Shenzhen
Warren Buffett has come to China this week with a fanfare to preach philanthropy. His first stop, however, was not about giving money, but profiting from green technologies.
In Shenzhen, the southern Chinese boomtown abutting Hong Kong, BYD, the battery-maker turned carmaker in which Buffett has a 10 per cent stake, held a “build your dreams” conference for its 1,200 auto dealers from around the country. In a packed hotel ballroom, Buffett sang the praises of BYD’s electric cars. Continue reading »
Kenneth Huang: from Guangdong to the Kop
Rumours are running wild that Kenneth Huang, chairman of Hong Kong-based QSL Sports, is interested in buying Liverpool Football Club.
It is understood that Huang, backed by a sovereign wealth fund from the Far East, has indeed made an official offer to the Royal Bank of Scotland, which holds most of Liverpool’s £246m debts, to take over the club. Continue reading »
Citi learns the hard way: don’t mess with sharks
The global coalition against shark fin soup has a surprise new convert – Citigroup.
Just last week, the US bank was trying to profit from the Asian delicacy. It launched a promotion, offering credit-card holders 15 per cent off a shark’s fin and garoupa dinner at a popular Chinese restaurant chains in Hong Kong and the same discount for dining at the Imperial Court Shark’s Fin Restaurant in Singapore.
But the idea returned to bite Citigroup. Continue reading »
Trying to promote your brand in China, the world’s second largest luxury market? Most labels instinctively turn to ads – print, outdoor, TV, online, mobile or radio. But a new study points to a more powerful tool: promoting corporate social responsibility. More than two-thirds of Chinese consumers said a luxury brand’s CSR would affect their decision to purchase decision, according to a new report. Continue reading »
As Hong Kong’s second richest man, with a net worth of $19bn, Lee Shau-kee is rarely far from the media spotlight. Nicknamed the “Asian God of Stocks”, the 82-year-old never seems to tire of giving investment tips to his followers. The 2006 marriage of his son to a former model and the subsequent birth of two granddaughters only brought him a higher profile.
In the last few months, the chairman of Henderson Land, Hong Kong’s third-largest developer by market capitalisation, has been in the press for another reason. Continue reading »
Since early 2008 when Hong Kong abolished a 40 per cent duty on wine the city has become a battlefield for auction houses trying to sell fine and rare vintage to Asian oenophiles.
While traditional auctioneers such as Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonhams organise regular wine sales in Hong Kong, specialists including Acker Merrall & Condit and Zachys also have a presence here. Then come a number of new auction houses, which try to get a share of the market by either holding sales in small hotel rooms or simply online. Continue reading »
Pacific Coffee in China: Size isn’t all that matters
China may have a long history in drinking tea but the country is becoming the latest battleground for the world’s coffee chains.
This week, China Resources Enterprises, a Beijing-backed conglomerate, pledged to turn Pacific Coffee, a Hong Kong-based chain, into China’s biggest, surpassing Starbucks and all the other coffee houses on the mainland.
In Hong Kong, Pacific Coffee, founded in 1992 by a US businessman in search of a cup of good coffee, is neck-and-neck with Starbucks. They have similar numbers of stores (Pacific Coffee’s 83 versus Starbucks’ 111), often in similar locations (it is not uncommon to find a Pacific Coffee and a Starbucks in the same mall). Prices are comparable, while decors are not very different. If the armchairs at Pacific Coffee were not red, one could easily be mistaken for a Starbucks. Continue reading »
Higher wages in China: Good news for trade
While manufacturers in China are struggling to meet demands for rising wages, the International Chamber of Commerce, one of the world’s largest business lobbies, said it could be a good thing from a protectionism standpoint.
Victor Fung, chairman of the ICC and head of Li & Fung, the world’s largest trade sourcing company, said higher salaries across China would lead to an increase in export prices, which would encourage US companies to purchase elsewhere eventually. Continue reading »
Google’s pain is Baidu’s gain
If Google needed further proof of what it is missing out on after winding back in China – the world’s biggest internet market – then it should look no further than Baidu’s results.
After producing forecast-smashing numbers for the first quarter, China’s leading online search engine on Thursday released a rosy outlook for the following three months, as the FT’s Kathrin Hille reports.
Robin Li, Baidu’s chairman and chief executive, said the Nasdaq-listed company had benefited from Google’s “semi-exit” from mainland China. In March, the US company moved its mainland China web search operation to Hong Kong over censorship issues. Since then, Baidu has been able to charge advertisers more, analysts say. Continue reading »
| About this blog | Headlines email | Blog guide |
| Regulars | Series | Archive |
Stefan Wagstyl
Josh Noble
Rob Minto
Pan Kwan Yuk
Jonathan Wheatley
Heba Saleh