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☆ Jack Ma is praising Alibaba. Wall Street is more cautious
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-14 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Alibaba shares got a boost last week from news founder Jack Ma is pleased with the company's turnaround so far. They cut their price target to $100 a share, down from $105 previously, while maintaining an overweight rating. Eddie Wu became CEO of Alibaba in September, and is also acting head of the cloud business. They cut their price target by $1 to $105 a share and maintained their buy rating. They have a price target of $85, and, in contrast to the many buy ratings, rate the stock equal weight.

Persons: Jack Ma, Joe Tsai, Ma, Alex Yao, Tsai, Nicolai Tangen, We've, Eddie Wu, Trudy Dai, Daniel Zhang, Kenneth Fong, Douyin, Nomura, Doubao, Ernie, Qianwen, monetization, Morgan Stanley, Gary Yu, — CNBC's Michael Bloom, Arjun Kharpal Organizations: CNBC, Wall Street, JPMorgan, Norges Bank Investment, Alibaba, Commerce, UBS, PDD Holdings, Norges Bank Investment Management Locations: China, U.S, Taobao, BABA

☆ Alibaba scraps IPO of logistics unit Cainiao, says it will take full ownership
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Alibaba Group company logo is displayed on a screen at the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on February 14, 2024 in New York City. Alibaba on Tuesday said it was scrapping a planned initial public offering for its smart logistics unit Cainiao, adding to recent woes for the former Chinese tech darling. The shelving of the planned IPO — which would have been a boon to Alibaba, handing it an injection of cash with a key exit deal — comes after deteriorating market conditions in China. In a press release Tuesday, Alibaba said that it was withdrawing its IPO and listing application for Cainiao, and would also buy the remaining shares of the company it does not already currently own. Cainiao, which Alibaba first launched in May 2013, provides warehousing and fulfillment services, last-mile delivery and pick-up posts, and reverse logistics to customers of Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall e-commerce sites.

Persons: —, Alibaba, Joe Tsai Organizations: Alibaba Group, New York Stock Exchange, Investors, Baidu, U.S, Dow Jones Industrial, Tech Locations: New York City, Alibaba, China, U.S, Cainiao, Hong Kong

☆ Chinese retailers further discount iPhone 15 amid slowing sales
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Customers are experiencing the newly launched iPhone 15 at Apple's flagship store in Shanghai, China, on September 24, 2023. Major Chinese third-party retailers JD.com , TMall and Pinduoduo are battling for customers by offering more steep discounts on Apple's iPhone 15 just five months after launch, as the U.S. tech company suffers slowing sales in China. Third-party retailers are also offering discounts of as much as 10% on Apple's iPhone 14 Pro. The iPhone 15 launch came at a time of slowing sales for Apple in China where it faces rising competitive pressure from domestic rivals like Huawei and Xiaomi . On Thursday, the third-party retailers were offering discounts on all four models of the iPhone 15 series, including the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, Reuters checks showed, with some models on sale at up to 1,300 yuan ($180.68) less than the usual price.

Persons: PDD didn't Organizations: Apple's, U.S ., Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, Max, Local, Reuters Locations: Shanghai, China, U.S

☆ Alibaba bets on overseas e-commerce unit amid sluggish growth in China
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Sheila Chiang | In Sheilachiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Costfoto | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesChinese tech giant Alibaba Group is betting on its overseas businesses while domestic consumption growth remains sluggish. James Dong, CEO of Southeast Asian e-commerce giant Lazada Group, was named as Daraz's acting CEO. Dong took over as Lazada Group CEO from Chun Li in June 2022, after running the company's Thailand and Vietnam operations. Intense competitionThe e-commerce business that once propelled Alibaba to success has run into challenges with upstart competitors such as PDD, while consumption growth in China remains sluggish. Alibaba posted 9% year-on-year revenue growth in the third quarter to about $31 billion.

Persons: Eddie Wu, Yinglan Tan, AliExpress, Bjarke Mikkelsen, Jan, James Dong, Lazada, Tan, Alibaba, Zhang, Dong, Chun Li, Li, Pierre, Lucy Peng, PDD Organizations: Nurphoto, Getty, Digital Commerce, Tmall, Tmall Group, Alibaba, Ventures, Lazada, CNBC, Ventures Partners, Alibaba Group, PDD Holdings, Hong Kong, HK Locations: Huangpu District, Shanghai, Taobao, monetization, Alibaba, Pakistan, Asia, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong

☆ Alibaba shares jump 4% in premarket trade after it hikes share buyback program by $25 billion
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Shares of Alibaba jumped in premarket trade, as the company missed market expectations for revenue in the December quarter, but announced it is increasing the size of its share buyback program by $25 billion. U.S.-listed shares in the Chinese e-commerce giant were more than 4% higher in pre-market trade. Here's how Alibaba did in its fiscal third quarter, compared to LSEG estimates:Revenue: 260.35 billion Chinese yuan ($36.6 billion) versus 262.07 billion yuan expected. On top of its structural changes, Alibaba also scrapped the hotly-anticipated spinoff of its cloud computing business last year. More recently, two of Alibaba's co-founders, Jack Ma and Joe Tsai, in January bought shares worth around $200 million in the Chinese e-commerce giant.

Persons: Alibaba, Pinduoduo, Eddie Wu, Daniel Zhang, Alibaba's, Jack Ma, Joe Tsai, Evelyn Cheng Organizations: Revenue, Alibaba Locations: Suqian City, Jiangsu Province, China, premarket, U.S, Beijing

☆ Alibaba, ASML and more: Jefferies reveals its 'highest-conviction' stocks to buy — and one has 118% upside
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Ganesh Rao | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Investment bank Jefferies has revealed its top stock picks that are exposed to major themes like innovation, new products, and emerging markets. The investment bank forecasts Prudential shares will rise 118% to 18,000 British pence over the next 12 months. The investment bank expects Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba to rise to 128 Hong Kong dollars ($17), which implies an 84% upside potential. The investment bank expects shares to rise 57% over the next 12 months. The investment bank believes ASML's current valuation of 33 times forward earnings is too low since it forecasts 49% earnings growth over the next two years.

Persons: Jefferies, Prudential Jefferies, Prudential's, Anil Wadhwani, Eddie Wu, Wu, Alibaba's, Joe Dickerson, Dickerson, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Prudential, Jefferies, Hong, U.S, HSBC Jefferies, HSBC, ASML Semiconductor, DexCom Locations: U.K, Asia, China, India, Africa, Hong Kong, Alibaba

Signage for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. covers the front facade of the New York Stock Exchange November 11, 2015. Cloud competition from HuaweiAlibaba has been an industry leader in the cloud business. Alibaba in November blamed U.S. restrictions on chip sales to China for the decision to pull the cloud IPO. Alibaba said its cloud business revenue grew by just 2% year on year in the quarter ended Sept. 30. Those resellers were other companies that had acted as distributors or agents for Alibaba cloud and received commissions.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, It's, Alibaba, hasn't, they're, Duncan Clark, Clark, ”, Jack Ma, Brian Wong, Eddie Wu, Trudy Dai, Daniel Zhang, Yi Zhang, —, Alibaba's, Canalys, BDA's Clark Organizations: Alibaba Group Holding, New York Stock, Reuters, BDA, Alibaba Group, Alibaba, Duncan Clark BDA, Huawei Alibaba, Huawei, Tencent, “ Global Locations: Reuters BEIJING, U.S, China, Beijing, Alibaba

The logo of Alibaba's e-commerce apps Taobao and Tmall are displayed on mobile phones, in this illustration picture taken October 27, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBEIJING, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Alibaba's online shopping platforms Taobao and Tmall cancelled its annual Dec. 12 shopping festival and will instead host another shopping festival called 'year-end good price' in December, according to notices on the platforms' websites on Friday. The dates of the new festival were not included in the notice, which was posted in a help section for platform merchants, and Alibaba did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the change. The 12.12 shopping festival, held annually on Dec. 12 since 2012, was the less-celebrated sister of November's Singles Day sales festival, which traditionally fell on Nov. 11 but has in recent years ballooned into a multi-week event beginning in late October. Reporting by Albee Zhang and Brenda Goh; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Edmund KlamannOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Florence Lo, Tmall, Alibaba, Albee Zhang, Brenda Goh, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Edmund Klamann Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Thomson Locations: Rights BEIJING

☆ China's JD.com posts higher Q3 profit as supply snarls ease
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A sign of China's e-commerce company JD.com is seen at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) Asia 2016 in Shanghai, China, May 12, 2016. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 15 (Reuters) - Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com reported quarterly revenue below estimates on Wednesday, but posted a surge in profit as supply chain problems eased. JD.com has fewer popular livestreamers than its competitors, such as Austin Li, who exclusively streams on Alibaba Group's (9988.HK) platform. The company reported net revenue of 247.7 billion yuan ($34.19 billion) for the third quarter, missing analysts' average estimate of 249.26 billion yuan according to LSEG data. But it posted net income attributable to shareholders of 7.94 billion yuan, up 33% from 5.96 billion yuan a year earlier.

Persons: Aly, JD.com, Xu Ran, Austin Li, Alibaba's Tmall, Arsheeya Bajwa, Akash Sriram, Sophie Yu, Varun, Kim Coghill Organizations: CES, REUTERS, JD Retail, HK, Citi, Daiwa, Jefferies, PDD Holdings, Thomson Locations: Asia, Shanghai, China, Bengaluru, Beijing

☆ Xiaomi claims a record $3.11 billion in Singles Day sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

(Photo by Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesBEIJING — Chinese smartphone and consumer electronics company Xiaomi claimed record sales across platforms during the Singles Day shopping festival. For a second-straight year, the two online shopping giants declined to share total figures for the Singles Day shopping festival. That's the same figure JD shared for Singles Day results in 2021. The company also claimed first place in different categories of Chinese brands' smartphone sales across other online shopping platforms. In 2022, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Alibaba had said its Singles Day sales were "in line" with the prior year, which had recorded the equivalent of $84.54 billion GMV at the time.

Persons: Xiaomi, JD.com, JD, Alibaba, Tmall Organizations: Getty, Nurphoto, Apple, HSBC, Bain and Company Locations: YICHANG, CHINA, Yichang, Hubei province, China, BEIJING, Hong Kong, Alibaba, 2023e, 2024e

The world's biggest shopping event happens in China each year - and it's called Singles Day. WHEN DID THE IDEA OF SINGLES DAY ORIGINATE? The idea for Singles Day had originated at China's Nanjing University back in 1993 and was originally called "Bachelor's Day." Cyber Monday immediately follows Black Friday, which falls on the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday, the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States. "The presale period of Tmall and particularly on -- in general, the Singles Day, confirms a softer trend versus a year ago," said Estee Lauder CEO Fabrizio Freda last week, adding that the company was more optimistic about the next part of the Singles Day events in November.

Persons: it's, Bain, Jacob Cooke, Pinduoduo, Cooke, Estee Lauder, Nike, JD.com, Fabrizio Freda, Nicolas Hieronimus, Hieronimus, Granth, Aditya Soni, Diane Craft Organizations: China's Nanjing University, Adobe Analytics, U.S, Reuters, Technologies, Cyber, HK, PDD Holdings, Adobe, Bain, HOPE, Nike, Procter & Gamble, Apple, L'Oreal, Thomson Locations: China, United States, Beijing, Greater China, Bengaluru

Data released on Thursday showing a drop in consumer prices to their lowest since the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the doubts in China's economic rebound after some months of indicators showing growth stabilising. China's big online shopping platforms did not release final sales figures for 2022, when analysts said COVID-19 restrictions inhibited spending and consumer confidence. Some indicators point to a slowdown in Singles Day sales. Data provider Syntun estimated e-commerce platforms sold 311 billion yuan of products from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3, a 7.1% decrease year-on-year. For Tan Jiapeng, a 35-year-old office worker in Beijing, his only Singles Day purchase so far has been a Descente winter jacket, an "essential purchase" for the winter.

Persons: Florence Lo, Jason Yu, Kantar, COVID, Bain, Jacob Cooke, Nomura, Tan Jiapeng, Tan, Casey Hall, Sophie Yu, Marius Zaharia Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, HK, PDD Holdings, Company, Technologies, Thomson Locations: Rights BEIJING, China, Beijing

HONG KONG (AP) — Shoppers in China have been tightening their purse strings, raising questions over how faltering consumer confidence may affect Saturday's annual Singles’ Day online retail extravaganza. Singles Day, also known as “Double 11,” was popularized by e-commerce giant Alibaba. Shoppers spent $38 billion in 24 hours on Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms during Singles’ Day in 2019. “The hype and excitement around Singles’ Day is sort of over," said Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of Shanghai-based China Market Research Group. “I just feel that people don’t spend as much as before, possibly because they don’t have much to spend,” she said.

Persons: ”, Shi Gengchen, Shi, Shaun Rein, Rein, keener, Hu Min, Alibaba’s Tmall, ” Jacob Cooke, ” Cooke, Yu Bing Organizations: — Shoppers, Bain & Company, Shoppers, China Market Research, Consumers, WPIC Locations: HONG KONG, China, Chaoyang, COVID, Shanghai, Shijiazhuang, China's Hebei, China's, Beijing

☆ Singles Day: China’s e-commerce giants try to lure reluctant consumers with ‘truly low’ prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Manav Tanneeru | Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The Singles Day festival, also known as “Double 11,” was created by Alibaba in 2009 and has turned into a weeks-long shopping bonanza in China. To lure them, e-commerce platforms are offering rock bottom prices this Singles Day. “While the government is looking for solid consumption growth, consumer spending is hampered by both lower household income growth and weak consumer confidence,” said Louis Kuijs, chief Asia economist at S&P Global Ratings. This is a real downgrade in consumption,” the user said, adding she hadn’t yet spent any money during the current Singles Day. “Some promotions are fake,” said another user under the name “Nyanko.” “Merchants have raised prices before cutting them for Singles Day.

Persons: ”, Alibaba, Alibaba’s, JD.com’s, Pinduoduo’s, ” “, Alicia Yap, Zhejiang province Hu Xiaofei, Louis Kuijs, ” Kuijs, Jacob Cooke, “, ” Cooke, Cooke, John Donahoe, Lululemon Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Companies, Citi, “, China’s, Technologies, Bain and Company, Pinduoduo, Nike, . Company, Starbucks Locations: China, Hong Kong, Beijing, Jinhua, Zhejiang province, Asia

Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall Group did not respond to a request for comment. This year's Singles Day event is also the first since Alibaba Group split into six business units. This view is supported by recent polls on social media where the majority of respondents said Singles Day was no longer necessary. Meara He, a 21-year-old student from Wenzhou, says she often shops using Douyin live-streams and this year, "doesn't care" about Singles Day as much. "In the past I would wait for Double 11 (Singles Day) and do some shopping, but this time I just plan to buy products that I need," she said.

Persons: Alibaba, Pinduoduo, Josh Gardner, Alibaba's, Ashley Dudarenok, AlixPartners, Douyin, Melody Zhao, Casey, Sophie Yu, Brenda Goh Organizations: PDD Holdings, Kungfu, Tmall, Administration, Market, ByteDance, Alibaba, Suisse, Industry, Hua Gui Food Group, Casey Hall, Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, HK, China, Wenzhou, Shanghai, Beijing

SHANGHAI, Oct 23 (Reuters) - E-commerce giant Alibaba Group (9988.HK) said it will be offering huge discounts as it gears up for its annual Singles Day shopping extravaganza - an indication that Chinese consumer confidence remains at a low ebb. The event - which begins on Tuesday and despite its name now stretches over several weeks - will offer over 80 million products at their lowest prices this year, it said in a statement. Tmall will also compare prices on products in real time with other e-commerce platforms in China and tag products with the lowest price, it said. Alibaba did not disclose how much in subsidies and coupons it plans to offer in total this year but added that Taobao and Tmall had committed an "unprecedented" amount of investment. The company last year did not announce the sales tally for the event for the first time, saying only that the total amount was in line with 2021.

Persons: Alibaba, Tmall, Xi Jinping, Brenda Goh, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: Alibaba, HK, Communist Party, Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, China

☆ China's Singles Day sales festival wraps up with e-commerce giants reporting sales growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-21 | by ( Casey Hall | Thomson Reuters | Casey Has Reported On China'S Consumer Culture Her Base In Shanghai For More Than A Decade | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SHANGHAI, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group (9988.HK) reported that its Chinese e-commerce platforms Tmall and Taobao recorded "positive" year-on-year growth over this year's Singles Day sales period, which wrapped up at midnight on Saturday. Meanwhile competitor JD.com (9618.HK) said its festival GMV (gross merchandising volume) hit a "record high" over the sales period. A Bain and Company report released last week found that 77% of the 3,000 consumers it surveyed had planned to spend less or the same on Singles Day compared with last year. Though several consultancies were predicting Singles Day GMV growth across platforms would reach anywhere from 14% to 18% - returning to double-digit growth for the first time since the pandemic - the final sales picture will take longer to energe. Colour cosmetics, traditionally a strong performer throughout the Singles Day sales period, were expected to struggle this year as make-up demand remains low almost a year after China lifted strict COVID-19 restrictions.

Persons: Taobao, JD.com, Alibaba, Bain, Casey Hall, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: Alibaba, HK, PDD Holdings, Company, Nike, Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, China

☆ JD.com shares hit record low, banks cut Q3 growth target on retail slowdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The logo of JD.com is seen at the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing, China September 1, 2022. The brokerages and banks including Citi, Daiwa and Jefferies, which issued notes to clients on Thursday and Friday with the revised estimates. Shares in JD.com, which is also China's largest home appliance retailer, closed at their lowest level since their June 2020 debut. Citi Research lowered its revenue assumption for JD.com by 3.4% and 4.3% for the third and fourth quarter, saying that it now estimates 0.8% and 1.3% growth respectively. JD.com is China's leading online platform for sales of digital and electronics products, such as mobile phones and domestic electrical appliances.

Persons: Florence, JD.com, Nomura, Sophie Yu, Donny Kwok, Brenda Goh Organizations: Fair for Trade, Services, REUTERS, Rights, Citi, Daiwa, Jefferies, Citi Research, Alibaba, HK, PDD, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, Rights BEIJING, HK, Hong Kong, United States, JD.com, BEIJING, HONG KONG

☆ H&M blames warm weather for September sales slide
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-27 | by ( Helen Reid | トムソンロイター | London-Based Reporter Covering The European Retail Sector Through A Global Lens. Focusing On Companies Including Adidas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

H&M, whose biggest rival is Zara owner Inditex (ITX.MC), said September sales would be down 10% year-on-year measured in local currencies. That compares with Inditex reporting sales between Aug. 1 and Sept. 11 that were up 14%. Operating profit in the Swedish group's third quarter jumped to 4.74 billion crowns ($431 million) from a year-earlier 902 million. The year-ago figure included a one-off cost of 2.1 billion crowns for the group's exit from Russia, which also accounted for four percentage points of the 10% September sales decline. H&M announced a share buyback programme starting on Wednesday, planning to buy back up to 3 billion crowns of stock by March 31 next year.

Persons: サマリー, Inditex, Vera Diehl, Nicolas Champ, LSEG, Richard Chamberlain, Anna Ringstrom, Helen Reid, Jan Harvey, Mark Potter Organizations: Union Investment, Barclays, RBC, HK, Tmall Locations: STOCKHOLM, Zara, Swedish, Russia, JD.com, China's Xinjiang, Alibaba's

☆ China's e-commerce discount race to the bottom puts incumbents under pressure
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Casey Hall | Thomson Reuters | Casey Has Reported On China'S Consumer Culture Her Base In Shanghai For More Than A Decade | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSHANGHAI, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Discount e-commerce is set to dominate globally during the critical upcoming holiday shopping season in the West and Singles’ Day in China, analysts said. Platforms in China, the world’s largest e-commerce market, have recently described a “value-for-money battle” stoked by economic insecurity and a slower-than-expected retail recovery following the lifting of COVID-19 curbs late last year. “There was a clear vacuum for the discount retailer online experience ... Across the world, executives are now focusing on price pressures as discount online retailers gain increasing market share. In the West, the inflation driven consumer wants something cheaper because they're going through a moment of financial insecurity,” Ho said.

Persons: Florence Lo, ”, thrall, Sharon Gai, ” Humphrey Ho, Rui Ma, Trudy Dai, Alibaba, ” Ho, Casey Hall, Vanessa O'Connell, Aurora Ellis Organizations: PDD Holdings, REUTERS, Rights, West, Deal, Hylink, Amazon ., Tmall, Thomson Locations: China, Southeast Asia, North America, Europe, United States, Douyin, Canada, Australia, America, U.S, Amazon, Amazon . Indonesia

[1/5] People stand outside an Apple Store as Apple's new iPhone 15 officially goes on sale across China, in Shanghai, China September 22, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song Acquire Licensing RightsSHANGHAI/BEIJING, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Over a hundred customers queued inside Apple's (AAPL.O) flagship store in the Chinese financial hub of Shanghai on Friday, waiting to pick up their iPhone 15 orders on the first day of in-store availability. But the strength of pre-orders in the world's second-largest economy, which began last Friday, has eased worries, with delivery times pushed into November and the premium iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max selling out in just one minute on Alibaba's (9988.HK) Tmall e-commerce site. Among those at the store was social media influencer Zhang Ming, 25, who said she wanted to try out the iPhone 15 after being unsuccessful in pre-ordering online. The iPhone 15 includes a new titanium shell, a faster chip and improved videogame-playing abilities.

Persons: Aly, Pro Max, Zhang Ming, Apple, Wang Puyu, Nicoco Chan, Brenda Goh, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Apple, REUTERS, Rights, Huawei, Pro, HK, Tmall, Shanghai, Thomson Locations: China, Shanghai, Rights SHANGHAI, BEIJING, Nanjing, Mo, Beijing

Hundreds of people lined up at a flagship Apple store in Beijing to pick up the new iPhone 15 when deliveries began on Friday. As of 10 a.m. Beijing time on Friday, iPhone 15 sales via JD 's Dada one-hour delivery app surged by 253% versus that of the iPhone 14 last year, Dada said. Zhao said he was planning to upgrade from his Huawei device to buy the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which has a list price of 9,999 yuan ($1,370). Strong iPhone 15 pre-salesApples' iPhone 15 pre-sales in China pointed to robust demand. Counterpoint Research's most optimistic outlook for Apple in China predicts a 4% year-on-year decline in Apple iPhone shipments in the fourth quarter.

Persons: Evelyn Cheng, JD, Dada, Zhao, he'd, China Zhao, Will Wong, Alibaba's Tmall, Pro Max, Tarun Pathak Organizations: Apple, CNBC, Huawei, Street Journal, Bloomberg, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IDC Apple, Pro, IDC, Counterpoint Technology Market Research Locations: Beijing, Evelyn Cheng BEIJING, China, Sanlitun, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Americas

☆ Disney's top-selling merchandise line in Asia is this under-the-radar fluffy bear
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Duffy and Friends is Disney's top-selling franchise in Asia, having generated $500 million in revenue this year. Duffy, a fluffy bear, was introduced in 2002 with a back story linked to Mickey and Minnie. The revenues include sales from Shanghai Disney Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland, and the Tokyo Disney Resort in Japan. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe back story for the fluffy bear involves Minnie Mouse hand-sewing the stuffed bear to accompany Mickey on a long sea voyage from Cape Cod. Both Duffy and LinaBell can be seen in a Disney video from September 2021, which shows the fluffy bear meeting his new fox friend.

Persons: Duffy, Mickey, Minnie, Mel, LinaBell, there's Organizations: Service, Disney, Shanghai Disney Resort, Tokyo Disney Resort, Walt Disney World, Shanghai, Shanghai Daily Locations: Asia, China, Wall, Silicon, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Japan, Orlando , Florida, Cape Cod

☆ China's AI applications are coming — where it matters for monetization
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-17 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Around the same time, Tencent announced it is integrating its AI model into advertising content creation, and its own Zoom-like video conferencing app. It's also not clear how powerful China's AI applications currently are, beyond demos and select business partnerships. "Overall we see generally Chinese language model[s] still lag behind the most advanced ChatGPT version 4," CLSA's Tony Zhang said in a phone interview in the last week. Now with Beijing's green light, public-facing AI applications such as Baidu's Ernie bot can be widely used in China. Generative AI and large language model-related revenue contributed to 20% of SenseTime' s revenue in the first half of 2023, Nomura analysts said, citing company management.

Persons: Nomura, Tencent, Coffee, Luckin, Joey Wat, It's, Tony Zhang, –, Ernie, Oliver Wyman's David Xie Organizations: Baidu, KFC Locations: Beijing, China, Taobao, TikTok

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