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Doug Young

Bottom line: Alibaba's interest in Metro's China operations is part of its new retail strategy, while the purchase of a British payments company by its Ant Financial unit could give it a strong toehold in the European payments market.

After a period of relative quiet, e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is suddenly springing into three relatively major headlines simultaneously on the investment front. Two have a European angle, one involving a major potential investment in German retailer M...

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Doug Young

Bottom line: Alibaba's purchase of 33 percent of Ant Financial looks like a shrewd move for both firms, making Ant more attractive in the run-up to an IPO likely to be one of the world's biggest this year.

Alibaba and Ant back together

In what looks like a homecoming of sorts, e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) has just announced it is taking back a major stake in its Ant Financial affiliate. Followers of this pair will know they have quite a long and complex relation...

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Doug Young

FINANCE: Alibaba's Ant Takes a Bite of Hong Kong

Doug Young 01月19日

财新传媒英文部编辑

Bottom line: Ant Financial's purchase of 20 percent of Hong Kong restaurant ratings site OpenRice looks like a smart, incremental move to boost its presence in its first major foray to build a local customer base outside China.

Ant Financial buys into HK's OpenRice

We'll close out the week with a lighter story, with word that Alibaba's (NYSE: BABA) Ant Financial affiliate has taken a nibble at Hong Kong with an investment in the territory's most popular restaurant rating...

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Doug Young

Bottom line: The inclusion of Alibaba's Taobao marketplace on the latest edition of a US blacklist for piracy signals US is taking a tougher line on trade issues.

Alibaba calls itself 'scapegoat' after landing on US blacklist

What a difference a year makes. It was just about this time a year ago that Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) founder Jack Ma scored a major coup by becoming the first major Chinese business leader to score a visit with incoming US President Donald Trump. (previ...

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Doug Young

FINANCE: US Squashes Ant Financial's MoneyGram Dream

Doug Young 01月03日

财新传媒英文部编辑

Bottom line: The collapse of Ant Financial's purchase of MoneyGram reflects growing resistance from a Trump administration willing to mix business and politics in its relationship with China.

Ant's purchase of MoneyGram sinks

In yet the latest sign that the Donald Trump administration intends to take a hard line towards Chinese M&A, Washington has killed a $1.2 billion deal that would have seen Alibaba-affiliated (NYSE: BABA) Ant Financial purchase US money-transfer spec...

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Doug Young

Bottom line: Alipay's joint venture with Li Ka-shing targeting local Hong Kong customers looks like a shrewd approach in its first major foray of that kind, though it will face skepticism about its ability to protect user privacy.

Alipay turns up HK drive with new JV

After dancing around the globe for the last few years without too much to show for its efforts, Ant Financial's Alipay electronic payments unit is finally taking the plunge into local currency services with ...

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Doug Young

Bottom line: The US could veto the purchase of brokerage Cowen by a Chinese energy firm, and could also block Ant Financial's purchase of MoneyGram under tougher scrutiny by the Donald Trump administration.

US set to block more Chinese purchases?

Just days after President Donald Trump made his first veto of a Chinese deal in the US, two other deals appear to be running into trouble for similar reasons, though it's too early to call either dead just yet. In both instances...

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Doug Young

FINANCE: Jack Ma's Yu'ebao Fund Gets Too Fat

Doug Young 08月14日

财新传媒英文部编辑

Bottom line: Yu'ebao's further lowering of investment limits shows the Ant Financial-owned fund is growing too unwieldy, and the company would be better advised to diversify its wealth management product portfolio.

Yu'ebao gets too fat on cash

Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) founder Jack Ma is quickly discovering that his super-aggressive promotional ways can sometimes yield too much success. That's my quick assessment of the bottom line from reports that Yu'ebao, the phenomenally ...

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Doug Young

E-COMMERCE: Alibaba's Tmall Steps Into Southeast Asia

Doug Young 06月13日

财新传媒英文部编辑

Bottom line: Alibaba's launch of its popular Tmall into several markets with large Chinese populations shows it is still looking for a strong overseas formula, underscoring its dependence on China for the foreseeable future.

Tmall marches into Singapore

E-commerce juggernaut Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is making its latest global expansion noise with word that it will launch a version of its popular B2C Tmall online marketplace targeting overseas buyers in Southeast Asia. I hav...

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Doug Young

Bottom line: Yum's purchase of a high-end take-out delivery service looks smart in targeting a higher margin, niche product in the competitive space, while McDonald's and Starbuck's rapid growth in mobile payments reflects rapid growth of the technology.

Yum buys take-out specialist Sherpa's

Three of the world's top restaurant chain operators are in the China headlines as we head into summer, in different moves that reflect their attempts to tap into the nation's growing...

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Doug Young

Bottom line: Sesame Credit's new tie-ups with Unicom and a shared phone company are part of a string of deals to aggressively build up its credit rating business, and could add buzz to Ant Financial's future IPO.

Sesame Credit in 2 new deals

Lest anyone think Alipay is the only asset in financial services giant Ant Financial's portfolio, the company's newer Sesame Credit unit is also hankering for headlines these days, with a couple of new deals for its service. The larg...

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Doug Young

Bottom line: Ant Financial's open letter to MoneyGram could hint at a new raised offer coming soon for the company, though rival suitor Euronet is likely to bid equally aggressively and has a slightly better chance of winning the contest.

Ant makes case to MoneyGram workers, US politicians

Three weeks after being surprised by an unsolicited counterbid for US money transferring specialist MoneyGram, China's Ant Financial is finally speaking out on the matter beyond its in...

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Doug Young

IPOs: Wuxi AppTech, Qihoo Move Towards China Listings

Doug Young 03月28日

财新传媒英文部编辑

Bottom line: New signals from Qihoo and Wuxi AppTech show they may be getting preferential treatment for A-share listings, as the regulator shifts its policies to favor high-quality private firms for IPOs.

Wuxi AppTech eyes A-share listing

New signals coming from China's stock regulator hint that it's softening its stance towards letting companies formerly listed in the US jump the queue for re-listings at home. That appears to be the message, following a string of new r...

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Doug Young

IPOs: Qudian Moves Toward Blockbuster NY Listing

Doug Young 03月21日

财新传媒英文部编辑

Bottom line: Qudian's IPO will get a moderately warm reception in New York, drawing interest due to its status as a major private fintech firm but also wariness owing to many uncertainties in the young sector.

Qudian moves closer to IPO

Anything involving movement of money has always been slightly problematic in China. Be it paying for things online, paying to play computer games, or even borrowing small sums to buy something like a smartphone, nothing has ever been easy...

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Doug Young

Bottom line: This year is likely to see at least a half dozen privately owned financial services companies make public listings in the U.S., Hong Kong and China, with Lakala and Lufax likely to be among the first.

Lakala files for ChiNext IPO

We're already three months into the new year, and still awaiting the first of what looks set to be a bumper crop of IPOs by a new generation of privately owned financial services firms that are far more dynamic than their state-run ...

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Doug Young

Bottom line: Alibaba's Koubei is unlikely to gain major traction despite its $1.1 billion in new funding, due to its late arrival to a crowded O2O take-out dining space already dominated by Baidu, Ele.me and Meituan-Dianping.

Koubei raises $1.1 billion

The longer I stay in China, the more the latest stories coming from the Internet sector look like I've seen them before. That's certainly the case with Koubei, the Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) online-to-offline (O2O) take-out dini...

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Doug Young

Bottom line: Starbucks' selection of WeChat before Alipay for in-store electronic payments is a symbolic victory for the former, while Alipay's aggressive global expansion could eventually help it to overtake UnionPay outside China.

WeChat ties with Starbucks

China's two leading mobile payments services are both in the headlines, led by word of a major new tie-up between Tencent's (HKEx: 700) WeChat and coffee lifestyle titan Starbucks (NYSE: SBUX). I have to admit that ...

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