China Is Churning Out Billionaires (videos)

China’s world-best stock market rally made January the busiest month for IPOs in a year. It also created a bundle of new billionaires. Bloomberg Asian billionaires reporter Sterling Wong reports on "First Up." Published on Feb 17, 2015 - ref. Alibaba and Jack Ma

China Mints 24 New Billionaires in January - China saw wealth grow for 24 citizens who have joined the billionaire ranks so far in 2015, thanks to a string of IPOs in the month of January. Bloomberg’s Rob LaFranco reports on “The Pulse.”

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eBay, PayPal, Activist Shareholder Carl Icahn Called For Split (video)

Did Carl Icahn Influence EBay, PayPal Split? -

eBay.com, the world’s biggest online marketplace, said it would split off its payments arm PayPal.com, finally bowing to pressure from activist shareholder Carl Icahn after nine months. Bloomberg Intelligence’s Paul Sweeney speaks on “In The Loop.” (Source: Bloomberg--Sept 30)

Domain Names of companies referenced in video and below:
ebay.com
paypal.com
apple.com
stripe.com
uber.com
alibaba.com
alibabagroup.com
alipay.com
about.com

EBay Does About-Face in Decision to Spin Off PayPal - NYTimes.com: "... after months of long discussions about where the e-commerce industry was headed — the emergence of new payment standards; the rise of cardless payment systems for services like Uber; the hotly anticipated market debut of the Alibaba Group — John J. Donahoe, the company’s chief executive, and his other directors began to see merit in setting PayPal free. We “got to the same place that Carl [Icahn] said early on,” Mr. Donahoe said in an interview. By September, the directors had formally decided to pursue a strategy that their onetime nemesis had advocated all along..."

eBay to shed PayPal as competition increases - San Jose Mercury News: "Launched by such Silicon Valley luminaries as Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, David Sacks, Reid Hoffman and Max Levchin -- known as the PayPal mafia -- PayPal's annual revenue has ballooned from $1.4 billion in 2006 to $7.2 billion over the past 12 months. PayPal's revenue grew 19 percent over the past 12 months, compared with eBay's growth of 10 percent."

And of course, Alibaba has its own online payment platform, Alipay.

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Alibaba IPO, Historic, Record Breaking, Rise of the Chinese Dot COMs (video)

Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba is reported to have raised $21.8 billion in a U.S. initial public offering. The company and shareholders including Yahoo sold 320.1 million shares for $68 each. Bloomberg’s Julie Hyman reports on “Taking Stock.” (Source: Bloomberg--Sept 18, 2014)

Alibaba and the rise of China's internet giants - Forum:Blog Forum:Blog | The World Economic Forum: "... After the IPO...  Alibaba will probably have a market value of around $200 billion. This will make it the world’s fifth-most-valuable TMT (Technology, Media and Telecom) company behind Apple ($614 billion), Google ($387 billion), Microsoft ($382 billion) and China Mobile ($259 billion).... After the Alibaba IPO, the aggregate value of the world’s largest 50 internet companies will be about $1.7 trillion, of which about $530 billion is accounted for by Chinese companies formed in the past 15 years. Today, 15 of the world’s 50 most valuable – and imposing – internet companies are Chinese which, beyond Alibaba, include Tencent, Baidu, JD.com, VIP Shop, Qihoo and CTrip. Add up the combined value of a handful of companies brewed in the US – eBay, Twitter, Netflix and Priceline – and you would still require about another $20 billion in order to match Alibaba’s market capitalization..."--Michael Moritz, Chairman of Sequoia Capital

Domain Names of Companies referenced above:
alibaba.com
alibabagroup.com
yahoo.com
apple.com
google.com
microsoft.com
www.chinamobileltd.com
tencent.com
baidu.com
jd.com
vip.com
qihoo.com | 360.cn | 360safe.com
ctrip.com
ebay.com
twitter.com
netflix.com
priceline.com
sequoiacap.com

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Yahoo Value Without Alibaba? (video)

What Is Yahoo Really Worth Without Alibaba? -

Yahoo, which owns part of Alibaba, stands to gain a lot of cash in the Alibaba IPO, but what is the value of Yahoo without Alibaba? Senior Research Analyst at Pivotal Research, Brian Wieser, discusses Alibaba’s impact on Yahoo’s valuation. Weiser owns no stock in Yahoo. Shutterstock CEO Jonathan Oringer also speaks on “Market Makers.” (Source: Bloomberg Sept 16)

Yahoo's business strategy going forward and ability to convert its Alibaba cash into profitable business is the big unknown.

Domain Names referenced:
yahoo.com
alibaba.com
alibabagroup.com

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Chinese Dot COM Alibaba Increasing IPO Price

How Alibaba Works: Explained With 280 Pairs of Pants -
Alibaba's IPO could be the biggest in history. Bloomberg's Sam Grobart explains how Alibaba works through the experience of ordering 280 pairs of pants manufactured overseas. Video by: Dan Przygoda, David Yim (Source: Bloomberg - Published on Sep 14, 2014)

Alibaba Plans to Boost IPO Price on Strong Demand - Bloomberg: "Alibaba aims to be a global company and plans to expand its business in Europe, the U.S. and Asia, [Jack] Ma told reporters before the investor luncheon. Ma, a 50-year-old former school teacher, is China’s richest person with a net worth of $21.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The company is seeking to list after valuations for technology shares rose to a 4 1/2-year high, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The Nasdaq Composite Index (CCMP) climbed to the highest since March 2000 on Sept. 2, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index hit a fresh record three days later and a gauge of Chinese stocks in the U.S. traded near a three-year high. At the original range, Alibaba’s market value was as high as $162.7 billion, which was conservative relative to peers. At the top end, the company was asking for about 29 times three analysts’ estimates for earnings in the year through March 2015, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Chinese Internet peer Baidu Inc. trades at about 35 times estimates of this year’s earnings, while Tencent Holdings Ltd. trades at 37 times. A valuation of 35 times would imply a price of nearly $80 a share for Alibaba. Amazon.com Inc. fetches closer to 136 times forecast 2014 earnings." (read more at link above)

Domain Names referenced:
alibaba.com
alibabagroup.com
amazon.com
baidu.com
tencent.com

More info: Alibaba SEC F-1 filings

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World Economic Forum + Larry Strickling + China + Fadi Chehade?

World Economic Forum, NTIA's Larry Strickling, China, ICANN's Fadi Chehade--Internet governance politics certainly makes strange bedfellows! China's internet censorship is among the worst in the world--see video below--


Bloomberg’s Mia Saini examines the history of Alibaba’s relationship with China and United States investors weighing the risks of doing business with Alibaba. She speaks with Betty Liu on “In The Loop.” (Source: Bloomberg Sept. 12, 2014)

World Economic Forum press release - Internet Rules Should Be Made by All, Not Only by Governments: "A governments-only International Telecommunications Union conference in October may let governments set the rules of the internet and push other stakeholders to the side, US official Lawrence Strickling warned participants at the eighth Annual Meeting of the New Champions that is taking place in Tianjin, China, on 10-12 September 2014... “What has driven the internet is the absence of government in much of the process,” said Strickling, who is Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and Administrator, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), USA. “We need to find a way to keep governments participating, but must take great care to avoid having governments take over.” China, which now accounts for one out of every five internet users worldwide, supports multistakeholder decision-making, said Lu Wei, Minister, Cyberspace Administration of the People's Republic of China. “We must seek common ground while serving our differences.” But national sovereignty must be respected. While China welcomes all internet companies, they must respect its laws, protect the national interest and safeguard the rights of consumers. “Freedom and order are twins,” he said. “But your freedom should not come at the pain of others. We need to have public security. We need to respect the laws and regulations of host countries to ensure the orderly development of the internet.” Fadi Chehade, Chief Executive Officer, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), USA, urged governments, civil society, the business community, technologists and other parties to come together. “We don’t need 15 years to finalize a treaty,” he said. “Some solutions are local, some are global. We have to accept and understand this reality.”..."

ref. International Telecommunications Union (ITU) conference in October

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Alibaba, Jack Ma, His Vision, 1999 Video, Domain Names

Alibaba IPO: Jack Ma's Original Sales Pitch in 1999: Video - Bloomberg:
(Allow video to load after clicking play or go to link above)

In this video clip from 1999, Jack Ma delivers a speech to 17 friends in his apartment to introduce Alibaba and lay out his plan to compete with U.S. internet titans. For more, check out "Crocodile in the Yangtze: The Alibaba Story," on Bloomberg Television (source: Bloomberg)

Alibaba's Domain Names and more info:
alibaba.com
alibabagroup.com
taobao.com
tmall.com
aliexpress.com
1688.com
alimama.com
aliyun.com
alipay.com

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Focus on China: Internet User Growth Slows, Chinese Companies Go Global

China's total number of internet users crept up 2.3% to 632 million by the end of June, from 618 million at the end of 2013, according to a CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center) internet development statistics report (pdf). The number of China's internet users going online with a mobile device — such as a smartphone or tablet — has overtaken those doing so with a personal computer (PC) for the first time. Compared to the 53.58 million new Internet users added in 2013, the increase in the first six months of 2014 was relatively small which was due, in part, to declining smartphone sales according to state-run Xinhua news agency. According to IDC, China is the largest smartphone market in the world and will likely account for nearly one-third of the expected 1.8 billion smartphones shipped in 2018. More analysis below--

Computerworld: "...Although China has long reigned as the country with the world's largest Internet population, the services are still struggling to take off in the rural areas, where about 450 million people never go online, said the CNNIC in its bi-annual report. Total Internet penetration in China is at 46.9 percent. This is far lower than the U.S, which has a penetration rate of 87 percent, according to Internet World Stats. Many of these non-Internet users in China have low education levels, and have little need to surf the Web, the research group added...."

The Times of India: "... online mobile services with rapid growth from the end of 2013 include music, video, gaming, search, and group-buying, all of which experienced double-digit increases. The fastest growing services were mobile payment, where users shot up 63.4%, online banking, with a 56.4% rise, and mobile travel booking, which was up 65.4%... Users of microblogs such as Tencent Weibo... fell for the second six-month period in a row, by 1.9% to 275 million. They numbered 331 million at the end of June last year before the government in September started clamping down on "online rumours" which it said threatened social stability... mobile messaging apps such as Tencent's WeChat have since become venues of choice for users who want to express views without fear of retribution."

China Voice: More Internet companies should go abroad - Xinhua | English.news.cn: "During his trip to Brazil last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping, together with his Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff, witnessed the launch of the Portuguese version of China's Baidu search engine. It is not the first time that a Chinese Internet company has launched a non-Chinese search engine, but it is the first time that a Chinese state leader has helped promote its services. More Chinese Internet companies should compete internationally, as they now have the ability and can make the world's cyber environment more balanced and just...."

some Chinese Internet and Technology companies:
http://www.alibaba.com/
http://www.baidu.com/
http://www.jd.com/
http://www.lenovo.com/
http://www.mi.com/ (Xiaomi)
http://tencent.com/
http://www.weibo.com/
more info: Top 30: China's most valuable Internet Companies - Web2Asia 

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