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☆ Meta strikes deal to sell VR headset in China - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

The logo of Meta Platforms' business group is seen in Brussels, Belgium December 6, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 9 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms (META.O) has struck a deal with Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) to sell a new, lower-priced version of its virtual-reality (VR) headset in China, a return to the country 14 years after Facebook was shut out, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The preliminary deal will make Tencent the exclusive seller of Meta's headsets in China, the Journal said, citing sources. Meta and Tencent did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Reporting by Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Mrigank DhaniwalaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Yves Herman, Tencent, Shubham, Rashmi Aich Organizations: REUTERS, Tencent Holdings, HK, Facebook, Wall Street, Thomson Locations: Brussels, Belgium, China, Bengaluru

☆ Beijing takes 'golden share' in a Tencent subsidiary, records show
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A man rides an electric bike past the Tencent headquarters in Nanshan district of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China September 2, 2022. Tencent, the world's largest video game company and the operator of the WeChat messaging platform, declined to comment. Shenzhen Yayue Technology, whose business involves information technology and internet services, was previously 100% owned by a Tencent subsidiary before the stake change took place on Wednesday, according to Qichacha. The Financial Times first reported Beijing's plan to acquire a golden share in a Tencent subsidiary earlier this year. In the case of ByteDance, the Chinese government took a board seat in Beijing ByteDance Technology with its 1% stake.

Persons: David Kirton, Ma, Josh Ye, Brenda Goh Organizations: REUTERS, Tencent Holdings, HK, Shenzhen Yayue Technology, Oc, China Internet Investment Fund, Alibaba, Reuters, Financial Times, Beijing ByteDance Technology, Thomson Locations: Nanshan district, Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, HONG KONG, Shenzhen Yayue, TikTok, Beijing

☆ Exclusive: China's Nio explores investment, tech alliances with Mercedes - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Nio, when contacted, denied it talked to Mercedes on a collaboration, calling it "untrue", without elaborating. Mercedes said in a separate response that there were no collaboration plans with Nio at the moment. Chinese EV companies may also be able to navigate potential trade barriers better by forging such tie-ups. Nio, whose investors include Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings (0700.HK), has publicly called for more such tie-ups with established automakers. ($1 = 7.3127 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh; Additional reporting by Ilona Wissenbach in Frankfurt; Editing by Muralikumar AnantharamanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: William Li, Ola Kaellenius, Nio, Mercedes, Leapmotor, Elon Musk, Tesla, Nio's Li, Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh, Ilona Wissenbach, Muralikumar Organizations: HK, Mercedes, Benz, Nio, EV, Volkswagen, SAIC, Audi, VW's, Tencent Holdings, Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, China, Tesla, Frankfurt

☆ Tencent investors Naspers and Prosus announce abrupt departure of CEO Bob van Dijk
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Arabile Gumede | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Bob van Dijk Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe immediate and mutually agreed departure of Naspers and Prosus CEO Bob van Dijk underscores a complicated few years for a firm seen riding on the coattails of its holdings in Chinese tech giant, Tencent . The South African Reserve Bank gave Naspers the greenlight to begin buying back more of its shares from Prosus. 'Getting rid' of the cross holdingPrior to the current structure, Naspers (headquartered in South Africa) owned a third of Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings. Van Dijk oversaw the decision to split off its holding of Tencent and other tech holdings into Prosus in 2019. But that crossholding offered little value to investors with van Dijk telling Reuters at the time: "They [shareholders] said we don't like this cross holding, it creates complexity.

Persons: Bob van Dijk, Naspers, Koos, Van Dijk, Prosus, crossholding, van Dijk, We've, we're, Erwin Tu, Tu, Goldman Sachs Organizations: Bob van Dijk Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Getty, South, Naspers, South African Reserve Bank, Tencent Holdings, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Euronext, Reuters, Citi, SoftBank Group Locations: Dutch, Prosus, South Africa, Johannesburg, Naspers

☆ China watchdog fines Tencent over illegal content on its messaging platform
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

A man rides an electric bike past the Tencent headquarters in Nanshan district of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China September 2, 2022. REUTERS/David Kirton Acquire Licensing RightsBEIJING, Sept 13 (Reuters) - China's cyberspace regulator has imposed a fine of 1 million yuan ($137,390.95) on Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) due to what it said was illegal and pornographic information on its messaging platform Tencent QQ, the regulator said on Wednesday. Tencent QQ's security center said it accepted the fine and would take actions to improve the platform. ($1 = 7.2785 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Beijing newsroom. Editing by Jane MerrimanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: David Kirton, Tencent, Jane Merriman Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Tencent Holdings, HK, Beijing, Thomson Locations: Nanshan district, Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, Rights BEIJING

A man walks past a logo of Alibaba Group at its office building in Beijing, China August 9, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang Acquire Licensing RightsSHANGHAI, Sept 12 (Reuters) - New Alibaba Group CEO Eddie Wu has told staff the tech giant's two main strategic focuses going forward will be "user first" and "AI-driven", according to an internal letter reviewed by Reuters. The new CEO, one of Alibaba Group's founders and long-time lieutenant of former chief Jack Ma, is laying out his strategic priorities at a key moment for Alibaba, which is undergoing the biggest organisational restructure of its 24-year history. Late on Sunday Alibaba also announced that Wu would concurrently serve as CEO of its cloud computing unit, replacing Daniel Zhang. The cloud unit is Alibaba's second-biggest revenue source after domestic e-commerce and houses the group's generative artificial intelligence model, Tongyi Qianwen.

Persons: Tingshu Wang, Eddie Wu, Wu, Alibaba, Jack Ma, Daniel Zhang, Zhang, ByteDance's Douyin, Casey Hall, Gerry Doyle, Stephen Coates Organizations: Alibaba Group, REUTERS, Rights, Alibaba, Reuters, Cloud Intelligence Group, PDD Holdings, Huawei Technologies, Tencent Holdings, HK, Baidu, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China

☆ China's Tencent debuts large language AI model, says open for enterprise use
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/David Kirton/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBEIJING, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) said on Thursday companies could now use its large language artificial intelligence (AI) model "Hunyuan" as it premiered the much-awaited product amid a race by tech firms race to become China's AI champion. Hunyuan's debut comes after several Chinese tech firms including Baidu Inc (9888.HK) and SenseTime Group (0200.HK) recently unveiled their own AI models. Tencent, China's most valuable internet company, said Hunyuan had more than 100 billion parameters and was trained with more than 2 trillion tokens, two metrics often used to measure AI models' power. OpenAI's GPT-3 AI model contained 175 billion parameters in 2020 and Meta Platform Inc (META.O)'s Llama 2 model had 70 billion parameters in 2023. AI experts often describe moments where AI models generate incorrect information but present it as if it was a fact as "hallucination".

Persons: David Kirton, Hunyuan, Jiang Jie, OpenAI's, Tencent, ChatGPT, Josh Ye, Christopher Cushing, Miral Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Tencent Holdings, HK, Baidu Inc, SenseTime, Meta, Beijing, Thomson Locations: Nanshan district, Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, Rights BEIJING, Hong Kong

☆ China's Tencent says large language AI model 'Hunyuan' available for enterprise use
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

A man rides an electric bike past the Tencent headquarters in Nanshan district of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China September 2, 2022. REUTERS/David Kirton/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBEIJING, Sept 7 (Reuters) - China's Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) said its large language artificial intelligence (AI) model "Hunyuan" will be available for enterprise use from Thursday. The AI model has more than 100 billion parameters, the technology major said. Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: David Kirton, Christopher Cushing Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Tencent Holdings, HK, Beijing, Thomson Locations: Nanshan district, Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, Rights BEIJING

☆ China's Tencent to unveil AI chatbot after Beijing clears hurdles
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A man walks outside the Tencent headquarters in Nanshan district of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China September 2, 2022. REUTERS/David Kirton/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsHONG KONG, Sept 6 (Reuters) - China's internet giant Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) said that it will unveil an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot on Thursday, according to a social media post it published on Wednesday. The post featured a demo conversation a user had with the AI chatbot, which helped the user write promotional materials. Tencent has been developing its own AI model named "Hunyuan" for months and the company said last month that it was expanding the test of the model internally. Reuters reported in February that the company formed a team to develop a ChatGPT-like chatbot named "HunyuanAide" at the time.

Persons: David Kirton, chatbot, Tencent, Josh Ye, Jacqueline Wong Organizations: REUTERS, Tencent Holdings, HK, Baidu Inc, SenseTime, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Nanshan district, Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, HONG KONG

☆ Tencent, others begin enforcing China's new oversight move on apps
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-04 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The moves comply with new rules introduced last month as Beijing tightens oversight of mobile apps in the country. "The Android app stores have confirmed that new apps require the app filings from Friday onwards, and existing apps must have it from March 31 onwards," Rich Bishop, CEO of app publishing firm AppInChina said. "It forces all global apps on these app stores to either establish a local entity or work with a local partner." As of Monday, it is not yet checking apps' filing status, AppInChina said, citing its own checks. The notice also said app stores will have to clearly mark each app's filing status on their platforms.

Persons: Aly, Rich Bishop, AppInChina, Vivo, Tencent's, MIIT, Josh Ye, Brenda Goh Organizations: World Internet Conference, REUTERS, Tencent Holdings, HK, Reuters, Tencent, Huawei Technologies, Apple, Ministry of Industry, Information Technology, Huawei, Xiaomi, Thomson Locations: Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, China, HONG KONG, Beijing

☆ Nvidia's market cap climbs amid tech turbulence in August
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A smartphone with a displayed NVIDIA logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. Nvidia's shares surged last month, boosted by its quarterly revenue forecast, which exceeded analyst expectations as the artificial intelligence boom fuels demand for its chips. The market capitalization of Apple (AAPL.O) and Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) shares declined 4.4% and 2.4%, respectively, while Meta Platforms Inc's shares fell 7.1%. Meanwhile, Berkshire Hathaway's (BRKa.N) market cap rose over 2% last month, as its shares touched a record high after the company's quarterly operating profit topped $10 billion for the first time. Reuters GraphicsIn China, Tencent Holdings'(0700.HK) market cap declined about 9% last month, as its core gaming business experienced weaker-than-expected growth in the quarter through June.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, behemoths, Apple, Johnson, Patturaja Murugaboopathy, Gaurav Dogra Organizations: NVIDIA, REUTERS, Nvidia, Reuters, Apple, Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway's, Reuters Graphics, Tencent Holdings, HK, Thomson Locations: Berkshire, China, U.S, Bengaluru

☆ Montana AG asks court to reject TikTok challenge to state ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A separate lawsuit has been filed by TikTok users in Montana. Knudsen said in a legal filing that Montana can ban harmful products, saying it does not violate free speech rights. The law does not impose penalties on individual TikTok users. TikTok estimates 380,000 people in Montana use the video service, or more than a third of the state's 1.1 million people. The American Civil Liberties Union this month called TikTok's ban unconstitutional and "a direct restriction on protected expression and association."

Persons: Dado Ruvic, China's ByteDance, General Austin Knudsen, " Knudsen, Donald Trump, Knudsen, David Shepardson, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: REUTERS, Tencent Holdings, Republican, HK, Biden, American Civil Liberties Union, Thomson Locations: Montana

☆ China's Tencent posts smaller than expected revenue growth; gaming falls short
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The world's largest video game company and operator of the WeChat messaging platform said revenue reached 149.20 billion yuan ($20.45 billion) for the three months ended June 30. That compared with the 151.73 billion yuan average of 21 analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv. Domestic gaming revenue stayed mostly flat at 31.8 billion yuan, while international gaming revenue rose 12% to 12.7 billion yuan, excluding the impact of currency movements. It grew 34% to 25 billion yuan as its TikTok-like short video service Video Accounts experienced increased demand. Revenue from fintech and business services grew 15% to 48.6 billion yuan which the company said reflected expansion in both offline and online payment activities.

Persons: David Kirton, HONG KONG, Tencent, Shawn Yang, Josh Ye, Himani Sarkar, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: REUTERS, Tencent Holdings, HK, Refinitiv, Blue Lotus Capital Advisors, Inc, Thomson Locations: Nanshan district, Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, HONG, fintech

The logo of China's Tencent Music Entertainment Group is seen next to an earphone in this illustration picture taken March 22, 2021. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File PhotoAug 15 (Reuters) - China's Tencent Music Entertainment Group (1698.HK), said on Tuesday second-quarter revenue rose 5.5% from a year ago, driven by growth in paying users on its Spotify-like music streaming platform and a recovery in the advertising market. The number of paying users of its online music streaming service rose more than 20% to 100 million, a milestone for the company. Net profit attributable to equity holders rose to 1.30 billion yuan from 856 million yuan a year earlier. To attract more users and stave off competition from the likes of NetEase-owned Cloud Music and ByteDance's short-video sharing platform Douyin, Tencent Music has been aggressively adding original content in recent quarters.

Persons: Florence Lo, Cussion Pang, Pang, Josh Ye, Samrhitha, Maju Samuel, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: Entertainment, REUTERS, HK, Spotify, Tencent Holdings, Wall, Cloud Music, Thomson Locations: Hong Kong, Bengaluru

☆ China's Tencent says it is expanding testing of 'Hunyuan' AI model
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Aly SongHONG KONG, Aug 3 (Reuters) - China's Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) said on Thursday that it has started internal testing of its self-developed artificial intelligence (AI) model, which is now being integrated with a number of internal services and products. In a statement sent to Reuters on Thursday, Tencent said its foundation AI model named "Hunyuan" has been integrated with a range of products such as Tencent Cloud, Tencent Meeting and Tencent Docs. "The Tencent Hunyuan large model, completely developed by ourselves from scratch, has now entered the application testing phase within the company," the company said. Reuters first reported the company's effort to develop the Hunyuan model in February. On Thursday, Tencent also listed Tencent Games, Tencent Advertising, QQ Browser, WeChat Search and Tencent Fintech as lines of business that have been testing the Hunyuan model recently.

Persons: Aly, HONG KONG, Tencent, Josh Ye, Jason Neely, Kim Coghill Organizations: Artificial Intelligence, REUTERS, Tencent Holdings, HK, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, Shenzhen

☆ China looks to limit children to two hours a day on their phones
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Youngsters check mobile phones during a dinner time at a cafeteria in Shanghai, China September 3, 2021. Users aged 16 to 18 would be allowed two hours a day, children aged eight to 16 would get one hour while children under eight would be allowed just eight minutes. But the CAC said service providers should allow parents to opt out of the time limits for their youngsters. Xia Hailong, a lawyer at the Shanghai Shenlun law firm, said the rules would be a headache for the internet companies. The proposed rules come after signals from Beijing that a years-long regulatory crackdown on its technology industry has ended.

Persons: Aly, Hong Kong, Xia Hailong, ByteDance's, Josh Ye, Liz Lee, Jacqueline Wong, Robert Birsel Organizations: REUTERS, Cyberspace Administration of China, CAC, HK, Tencent Holdings, Authorities, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, Hong, Hong Kong, Beijing

☆ China's video game player population rises to a record at end-June
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, July 27 (Reuters) - China's video game player has grown to a record of 668 million, a government-run game industry association said on Thursday, as the world's biggest gaming market returns to growth after a bruising crackdown. "Against the backdrop of a sluggish global gaming market, China's gaming industry is gradually emerging from a trough and showing an upward trend," Zhang Yijun, a director at the CGIGC, told the conference. The crackdown wiped out significant revenue and market value for many domestic gaming giants including Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) and NetEase (9999.HK). However, gaming revenue has yet to return to a pre-crackdown level. "We remain confident about a steady domestic game approval process heading into (the second half of this year)," Yap wrote.

Persons: Zhang Yijun, ”, Alicia Yap, Yap, Josh Ye, Christian Schmollinger, Robert Birsel Organizations: Industry, Tencent Holdings, HK, Regulators, Citi Bank, Securities, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, Shanghai, Hong Kong

☆ Alibaba's cloud unit brings Meta's AI model Llama to its clients
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] 3D printed clouds and figurines are seen in front of the Alibaba Cloud service logo in this illustration taken February 8, 2022. “Today, Alibaba Cloud has launched the first training and deployment solution for the entire Llama2 series in China, welcoming all developers to create customised large models on Alibaba Cloud,” Alibaba Cloud said in a statement on Tuesday published on its WeChat account. The U.S. has been actively looking to restrict Chinese companies' access to many U.S.-developed technologies related to AI, particularly in the area of AI semiconductors. Alibaba Cloud did not respond to a request for comment. Alibaba and its peers such as Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) have been aggressively developing their own AI models in recent months.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Meta, Llama2, Alibaba, Google's Bard, Josh Ye, Muralikumar Organizations: REUTERS, OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, “, Meta, Tencent Holdings, HK, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, HK, China, U.S, Beijing

HONG KONG, July 12 (Reuters) - China's major tech companies have shed more than $1 trillion in value -equivalent to the entire Dutch economy - since the government's regulatory crackdown on the sector began more than two years ago, according to Refinitiv data. Reuters GraphicsTechnology stocks (.HSTECH) in Hong Kong have rallied 4.1% since Monday as investors bank on an easing regulatory environment to boost earnings, but some analysts have sounded a note of caution. "Mega-cap tech companies will allocate increasingly large amounts of capital expenditure towards developing generative AI technologies and products in a hostile external environment, potentially impacting profitability," said Redmond Wong, Saxo Markets strategist in Hong Kong. Steven Leung, UOB Kay Hian sales director, said current valuations would last "until we see more supporting policies from authorities". Reporting by Donny Kwok in Hong Kong and Scott Murdoch in Sydney; Editing by Kevin LiffeyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Tencent, Redmond Wong, Steven Leung, UOB Kay Hian, Donny Kwok, Scott Murdoch, Kevin Liffey Organizations: People's Bank of China, Tencent Holdings, HK, Alibaba, Baidu Inc, Reuters Graphics Technology, Saxo Markets, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, Hong Kong, Sydney

That represents a steep 75% discount to the $315 billion valuation in 2020 for what was set to be the world's largest IPO had it not been derailed at the last minute by Chinese regulators. "China needs to resolve the Ant IPO to restore investor confidence," said Wang Qi, chief executive of China-focused asset manager MegaTrust Investment. For the broader technology sector, Ant's fine marks a key step towards the conclusion of China's bruising crackdown on private enterprises, which began with the scrapping of Ant's IPO in late 2020 and subsequently wiped billions off the market value of several companies. "At the same time, initiating a stock buyback also indirectly informs investors that the possibility of a short-term IPO recovery is unlikely." On Friday, Chinese authorities also announced fines against two Chinese banks, an insurer, and Tencent Holdings' (0700.HK) online payment platform Tenpay.

Persons: Ant, Zhang Zihua, Wang Qi, Jack Ma, Hanyang Wang, Julie Zhu, Josh Ye, Brenda Goh, Zhang Yan, Scott Murdoch, Shri Navaratnam, Kim Coghill Organizations: Saturday, Ant, Hangzhou Junhan Equity Investment Partnership, Hangzhou Junao Equity Investment Partnership, Beijing Yunyi, MegaTrust Investment, Fidelity, Reuters, Tencent Holdings, HK, People's Bank of China, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, Hangzhou, Hangzhou Junhan, Beijing, China

☆ Ant's share repurchase plan values firm around $79 bln, down sharply before crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

It marked a sharp fall in the $300 billion-plus value ascribed to the company in mid-2020, before its IPO planned for later that year was pulled. Ant said it had proposed to all of its shareholders to repurchase up to 7.6% of its equity interest at a price that represents a group valuation of approximately 567.1 billion yuan. The repurchase proposal will also provide a liquidity option for the company’s investors," it said. Ant's major shareholders, Hangzhou Junhan Equity Investment Partnership and Hangzhou Junao Equity Investment Partnership, have voluntarily decided not to participate in the repurchase, the company added. "At the same time, initiating a stock buyback also indirectly informs investors that the possibility of a short-term IPO recovery is unlikely."

Persons: Ant, Hanyang Wang, Jack Ma, Brenda Goh, Zhang Yan, Josh Ye, Shri Navaratnam Organizations: Saturday, Ant, Hangzhou Junhan Equity Investment Partnership, Hangzhou Junao Equity Investment Partnership, Tencent Holdings, HK, People's Bank of China, Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Hong Kong

☆ Ant Group's share repurchase plan values firm at nearly $79 billion, down sharply before crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

HANGZHOU, CHINA - OCTOBER 27: A logo of Ant Group is seen at the company's headquarters on October 27, 2020 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China. Ant Group on Saturday announced a share repurchase plan that values the fintech giant at 567.1 billion yuan ($78.54 billion), as the management seeks to replenish its staff incentive pool and let some investors exit after regulators fined the firm. "The repurchased shares will be transferred into Ant Group's employee incentive plans to attract talents. Ant's major shareholders, Hangzhou Junhan Equity Investment Partnership and Hangzhou Junao Equity Investment Partnership, have voluntarily decided not to participate in the repurchase, the company added. On Friday, Chinese authorities also announced fines against two Chinese banks, an insurer, and Tencent Holdings' online payment platform Tenpay.

Persons: Ant, Jack Ma Organizations: Ant, Saturday, Hangzhou Junhan Equity Investment Partnership, Hangzhou Junao Equity Investment Partnership, Tencent Holdings, People's Bank of China Locations: HANGZHOU, CHINA, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China

China's central bank said that financial regulators would fine Ant and its subsidiaries a total of 7.12 billion yuan, require it to stop operations of its crowdfunded medical aid service Xianghubao and compensate users. Reuters reported earlier, citing sources, that Chinese authorities intended to unveil its fine on Ant as early as Friday. The sources had earlier said that the fine on Ant had been revised to at least 8 billion yuan. Reuters reported in April that Chinese regulators were considering fining Ant about 5 billion yuan, a lower sum than what they initially had in mind. Alibaba was fined a record 18 billion yuan in 2021 for antitrust violations.

Persons: China c.bank, Ant, Ping, Rukim Kuang, Jack Ma, Jeffrey Towson, Pan Gongsheng, Pan, Didi Global, Alibaba, Julie Zhu, Jane Xu, Jason Xue, Kevin Huang, Meg Shen, Twinnie Sui, Josh Ye, Ethan Wang, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Brenda Goh, David Holmes, Susan Fenton Organizations: Ant, Singapore FinTech Festival, REUTERS, Ant Group, People's Bank of China, Reuters, Ping An Bank, PICC, HK, Postal Savings Bank, Tencent Holdings, Alibaba, Hong Kong, Financial Regulatory Administration, State Council, Lens Consulting, Thomson Locations: Singapore, China, HONG KONG, Ant's, Hong, Beijing, CHINA

Reuters reported earlier, citing sources, that Chinese authorities intended to unveil its fine on Ant as early as Friday. The National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA), a new government body under the State Council, is now the primary regulator to grant Ant the license, they added. The sources had earlier said that the fine on Ant had been revised to at least 8 billion yuan. Reuters reported in April that Chinese regulators were considering fining Ant about 5 billion yuan, a lower sum than what they initially had in mind. Alibaba was fined a record 18 billion yuan in 2021 for antitrust violations.

Persons: China c.bank, Ant, Ping, Rukim Kuang, Jeffrey Towson, Jack Ma, China's, Pan Gongsheng, Pan, Didi Global, Alibaba, Julie Zhu, Jane Xu, Jason Xue, Kevin Huang, Meg Shen, Twinnie Sui, Josh Ye, Ethan Wang, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Brenda Goh, David Holmes, Susan Fenton Organizations: Ant, Singapore FinTech Festival, REUTERS, Ant Group, People's Bank of China, Reuters, Ping An Bank, PICC, HK, Postal Savings Bank, Tencent Holdings, Tenpay, Alibaba, Hong Kong, Lens Consulting, Communist Party, Financial Regulatory Administration, State Council, Thomson Locations: Singapore, China, HONG KONG, Ant's, Hong, Beijing, CHINA

☆ Mark Zuckerberg reportedly wants to follow in Elon Musk and Tim Cook's footsteps, and sell products in China — but his past criticisms of China could haunt him
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Meta is in talks with Chinese tech company Tencent to bring its VR headsets to the country, WSJ reported. But CEO Mark Zuckerberg's past criticisms of China's policies may pose a challenge to his plans. Mark Zuckerberg will likely not be getting a royal welcome in China — like the one Elon Musk got in May — anytime soon. Meta is reportedly in talks with Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings to bring its Quest virtual-reality headsets to the country, The Wall Street Journal first reported. In that same speech, Zuckerberg said he was worried that China's values could spread to other parts of the world.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg's, Zuckerberg, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Meta, Tencent didn't Organizations: Morning, Elon, Holdings, Street Journal, Apple, Georgetown University, Facebook, Quest Locations: China, —, Hong Kong, TikTok

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