Weekly Business Roundup #9

Jun 16, 2024

Last week I wrote about that Kuaishou introduced a text-to-video model, “Kling,” which can generate up to two minutes of 1080p high-definition video.

I now got access to the app and the videos one can create are really impressive. Here is one I created of a panda eating a hamburger.

During the Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese domestic travelers spent RMB 40.35 billion ($5.56 billion), with 110 million trips made over the three-day period, according to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The per capita tourism expenditure increased by 4.2% compared to the same period last year, though it remains below the 2019 figure. Consumer confidence is still subdued on the second Dragon Boat Festival since China lifted its Covid-19 restrictions.
New Oriental’s subsidiary East Buy’s stock dropped 9% to HKD 13.9 on Tuesday after star livestreamer Dong Yuhui expressed reluctance about being a salesperson. The company’s shares have fallen 15.5% in the past five days, following founder Michael Yu’s criticism of its livestream sector. Despite success in e-commerce since mid-2022, East Buy’s net profit halved in the six months ending November 2023, posing a challenge for stable profits.

Chinese food delivery giant Meituan announced a $2 billion share buyback plan, stating its financial resources are sufficient for this move while maintaining a strong financial position. This follows solid Q1 earnings, with a 25% revenue increase and a 60% profit rise to RMB 5.4 billion. Meituan’s shares have surged over 80% since January, and the company has already spent $995 million on buybacks this year. Recently Meituan is buying back 500 million HKD per day.

ByteDance is reportedly planning to spin off its auto info and trading platform Dongchedi, aiming to raise up to USD 800 million in preparation for an IPO. This financing round could value Dongchedi at USD 3 billion.
China’s express delivery sector handled over 2.65 billion parcels during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, the State Post Bureau reported yesterday. Parcel collection reached 1.29 billion, and deliveries totaled 1.36 billion, up 26% and 15% respectively.

In Q1 2024, Huawei’s HarmonyOS surpassed Apple’s iOS in China, becoming the second most-used OS after Android. HarmonyOS’s market share rose from 8% to 17%, while iOS dropped from 20% to 16%.
China Eastern launches fourth route with homegrown C919 planes.
Kweichow Moutai hit its lowest point this year, losing CNY 110 billion in market cap this month. The wholesale price of the 500-ml Moutai Feitian bottle dropped another CNY 200 to CNY 2,230.
Tencent and GAC Group have upgraded their partnership to launch an automatic driving map solution. This initiative leverages Tencent’s cloud computing and enterprise-level AI platform to support intelligent cockpits, customer service, and automatic driving.

The Great Wall Street - Investing in China