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☆ Alibaba to decide on control over new business units after IPOs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Zhang's comments come two days after Alibaba announced its largest restructuring in the company's history, which will see it change into a holding company structure with six business units, each with their own boards and CEOs. The business units will have their own CEOs and boards, though Alibaba will retain seats on those boards in the short-term, Zhang added. Alibaba began laying the groundwork for the restructuring a few years ago, Zhang told investors during a conference call, adding the business units could pursue public listings on their own in the future. After these units go public, Alibaba "will continue to evaluate the strategic importance of these companies" and "will decide whether or not to continue to retain control," Alibaba CFO Toby Xu said on the call. Alibaba, however, will decide whether the group wants to keep strategic control of each unit after they go public, Xu said.

With Alibaba shares down 30% in one month, enthusiasm for China's return to normalcy is peaking early. The Alibaba chief executive also cautioned that January was a "challenging time" and that the company is keeping an eye on how the reopening develops. Alibaba has hit the limits of the reopening boon. Reuters GraphicsFollow @mak_robyn on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSAlibaba on Feb. 23 reported revenue of 248 billion yuan ($35.9 billion) in the three months to December, an increase of 2% year-on-year. Adjusted earnings rose 12% to 40 billion yuan.

☆ Chinese people fed up with the rat race are calling themselves 'huminerals' — human resources to be relentlessly exploited and discarded
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The post's author, a user named Zhang Wanzhi, listed various aspects of a humineral's life. A humineral's life is divided into three stages, wrote Zhang, per CDT. The first is a Chinese person's formative and schooling years, which exist so the person can be "mined" and made available for usage, Zhang's post read. Then, the next few decades are a stage of "consumption" where the worker is exploited, the post read, according CDT. The origins of the term "humineral" are not immediately clear.

☆ CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang plans to 'break open the barrier' facing gene editing after raising $193 million for his secretive new startup
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Feng Zhang, Aera's founder and a CRISPR pioneer, spoke with Insider about his vision for the firm. Aera wants to "break open the barrier" of tech through methods like gene editing, Zhang said. The CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang spoke with Insider about Aera Therapeutics, his Boston-based biotech. "The goal is to break open the barrier that's facing genetic medicine," Zhang told Insider in his first interview about the company. In starting another company, Zhang said he felt it was important to have a dedicated team focused on delivery.

BEIJING, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Hundreds of retirees took to the streets in the Chinese cities of Wuhan and Dalian on Wednesday to protest cuts to medical benefits, according to residents and social media posts, following widespread demonstrations last year over COVID curbs. Reuters could not immediately verify images from Dalian and some others from Wuhan widely shared on social media. The retirees were protesting local reforms including a recent cut to the monthly personal medical benefit allowance for retirees, from 260 yuan ($38) per month to 83 yuan, according to Wuhan residents. In China's health benefit system, some money goes to a personal medical allowance and other funds are pooled. Wednesday's protests in Wuhan and in Dalian in China's northeast attracted a heavy security presence, according to videos and pictures on social media.

☆ CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang's secretive gene-editing startup has hired ex-Alnylam leaders as CEO and chair
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The gene-editing startup Aera has hired biotech vets Akin Akinc as CEO and John Maraganore as chairman. CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang's newest gene-editing venture has attracted two longtime leaders of the biotech giant Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Insider has learned. Former Alnylam CEO John Maraganore is chairman of Aera. The SEND technology could allow gene-editing technology to treat more diseases. Based on Zhang's SEND research, Aera hopes to deliver gene-editing tools to more organs, ultimately expanding the number of diseases CRISPR can impact.

☆ China funds with energy bets stand out in a bleak year
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SHANGHAI, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Chinese fund managers who made big bets on energy companies are celebrating a year that was brutal for many of their peers. Huang Hai, who manages three funds for Wanjia Asset Management, far outperformed the market by wagering on energy stocks such as CNOOC , China Shenhua Energy (601088.SS) and Shaanxi Coal (601225.SS). Energy companies including Shaanxi Coal, Shanxi Lu'an Environmental Energy (601699.SS), Guanghui Energy (600256.SS) and Shenhua Energy are among her fund's top 10 holdings. A Chinese index fund that tracks the Dow Jones U.S. The Lion Oil and Gas Energy Equity Fund, which invests in global energy funds under China's outbound QDII scheme, delivered a return of 53% for domestic investors.

☆ One of China's biggest retailers is cutting executive pay to create a fund to help lower-level employees buy homes
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The e-commerce titan will allocate $1.4 billion to help rank-and-file employees buy homes. The move comes amid China's "common prosperity" campaign to reduce economic inequality in the country. The billionaire's philanthropy is part of China's "common prosperity" campaign to close the income gap and bolster social equality in the country. He brought up the slogan "common prosperity" multiple times in his opening speech, Insider reported. ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming donated 500 million yuan, or $77.3 million, in June of 2021 to Fangmei Education Development Fund, named after Zhang's grandmothers in his hometown of southeastern Longyan city.

☆ China reopening hope puts wind in Alibaba sails
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Just ask China's $220 billion e-commerce giant Alibaba (9988.HK), whose New York stock has rallied by a third this month despite tepid performance from its annual Singles Day shopping festival and so-so quarterly results. Revenue from the domestic commerce unit, accounting for nearly two-thirds of Alibaba's top line, fell 1% year-on-year, to $19 billion. Boss Daniel Zhang's cost cuts are paying off, though: the overall adjusted EBITDA margin improved three percentage points to 21%. Zhang's messaging on China's gradual reopening probably resonated with investors more. Shares of Alibaba, rivals JD.com (9618.HK) and Pinduoduo (PDD.O) and other Chinese stocks jumped, too.

☆ Analysis: Need for speed: China Xi's new generals offer cohesion over possible Taiwan plans
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Greg Torode | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Although the Politburo's seven-man Standing Committee would make the ultimate decision on any Taiwan action, the Central Military Commission would forge and execute the battle plan, eight Asian and Western military attaches say. "If Xi Jinping is going to the pull the trigger on Taiwan, then he can't afford any dissent from the Central Military Commission," said Singapore-based strategic adviser Alexander Neill. That has always been Chinese thinking on Taiwan, and the Ukraine stalemate has confirmed the need to avoid getting bogged down in a slow logistical build up." Crucially, Li has experience with the People's Liberation Army's digitised strategic support forces, a body that covers electronic, cyber and space warfare. He was promoted to the position after his command of the reformed Eastern Theatre Command, which is responsible for Taiwan operations.

☆ Inside Facebook, WhatsApp is now an 'urgent' growth valve with 'superapp' ambitions taking shape
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

This has become something "we have to do," said Matt Idema, vice president of business messaging. Messaging throughout Facebook, led by WhatsApp, generated a relatively paltry $218 million in the most recent quarter. "It's a really big challenge," Matt Idema, promoted last year to vice president of business messaging for Meta, told Insider. Now it's time to bring together WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram Messaging and "treat it like one messaging strategy," Idema said. It held in May its first-ever conference dedicated to its messaging business.

☆ CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang is building a secretive new startup to solve gene-editing's biggest problem — getting into more parts of the body
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang is building a new gene-editing startup, Insider has learned. CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang is in the process of launching yet another ambitious gene-editing startup, backed by approximately $200 million from some of biotech's biggest investors, Insider has exclusively learned. Aera was incorporated in September 2021, shortly after Zhang's research was published in Science. Aera is at least the seventh startup Zhang has cofounded, joining a list that includes base-editing biotech Beam Therapeutics, CRISPR company Editas Medicine, and gene-editing startup Arbor Biotechnologies. While the ARC protein seems tailored for brain delivery, Zhang's suite of proteins could reach other organs, Shepherd said.

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