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He used to be boss of a tech giant. Now he’s studying fish and rice. The peregrinations of Jack Ma , co-founder of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., over the past year have included a visit to a Japanese lab specializing in farmed tuna—where the staff didn’t recognize him—and a Dutch university to learn about sustainable food production.

☆ Alibaba to Split Into Six Groups and Explore IPOs in a Departure From Jack Ma Era
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Raffaele Huang | Clarence Leong | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. said it plans to split itself into six independently run companies that could seek separate IPOs, effectively dismantling a business empire built over two decades by charismatic entrepreneur Jack Ma just as the tycoon reappeared in China. The reorganization of one of China’s largest private companies, once valued at more than $800 billion but now worth about a quarter of that, comes after Chinese authorities signaled in recent months they were winding down a sweeping regulatory clampdown aimed at reining in the country’s powerful tech sector.

☆ Alibaba to Split Into Six Separate Groups in Biggest Shake-Up
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Clarence Leong | Raffaele Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Alibaba plans to split itself into six independently run entities. Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. plans to split its business into six independently run entities, the biggest structural overhaul in its history—announced a day after co-founder Jack Ma was seen back in mainland China after almost a year overseas. Alibaba Group will become a holding company overseen by current Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel Zhang , the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The 19-billion-euro tranche is related to the 55 targets and milestones in Italy's pandemic Recovery Plan that were supposed to be reached in the second half of last year. The extra time means Italy has now until the end of April to persuade Brussels to release the funds, a government source told Reuters. Rome has so far secured almost 67 billion euros of the roughly 200 billion it is due to receive through 2026, dependent on it achieving Brussels' policy prescriptions. Rome is eligible for a further 34 billion euros in 2023, split into two tranches, provided it can meet all 96 objectives set for this year. The initial timetable set out in 2021 envisaged spending more than 40 billion euros of them by 2022, but this goal was repeatedly revised down and was most recently set at around 20 billion euros.

The concern around TikTok in Washington is drawing fresh attention to how Chinese apps have woven themselves into the fabric of young Americans’ lives—and what makes them so popular. Four of the five hottest apps in the U.S. in March were forged in China. Algorithms are often cited as their secret sauce. An often overlooked facet is how cutthroat competition for users at home has given Chinese firms a leg up over Western rivals.

☆ China Hits Back on TikTok, Says It Doesn’t Ask Companies for Foreign Data
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Raffaele Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SINGAPORE—China’s Foreign Ministry criticized the U.S. for targeting TikTok and said Beijing would never require companies to illegally gather data and intelligence from overseas, escalating the debate over the popular app a day after its chief executive was grilled in Congress. The U.S. has presumed TikTok’s guilt and unreasonably suppressed the app, even though the government has provided no evidence that TikTok threatens its national security, Mao Ning, a ministry spokeswoman, said Friday.

☆ Tencent Returns to Revenue Growth With Digital-Ad Recovery
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Raffaele Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

In the past few months, Tencent has secured government licenses for several blockbuster videogames in its pipeline. SINGAPORE—Chinese internet conglomerate Tencent Holdings Ltd .’s quarterly revenue rose 0.5% from a year earlier, backed by rising demand for digital advertisements, as executives said businesses were shaking off the impact from Beijing’s tough pandemic controls. October-December revenue rose to the equivalent of $20.8 billion, the company said Wednesday, after two quarters of contractions.

☆ Tencent Posts Surprise Profit Growth Despite Economic Slowdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Raffaele Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

In the past few months, Tencent has secured government licenses for several blockbuster videogames in its pipeline. SINGAPORE—Chinese internet conglomerate Tencent Holdings Ltd. posted a surprise 12% rise in its quarterly profit from a year earlier, even as China’s weak economy and Beijing’s tough Covid-19 controls during the period dented demand for videogame and advertising markets. October-December net profit was the equivalent of $15.3 billion, boosted by a one-time gain of $12.46 billion from the disposal of food-delivery company Meituan stocks, the company said Wednesday. Revenue rose 0.5%. Both beat expectations of analysts polled by FactSet.

☆ Tencent’s Sales Growth Lifted by Digital-Ad Recovery
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Raffaele Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ China Cites Chip Conglomerate’s Former Chief in Corruption Probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Raffaele Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SINGAPORE—China’s top antigraft watchdog said it uncovered evidence of corruption on the part of the former chairman of chip conglomerate Tsinghua Unigroup Co. and was handing his case over to prosecutors. Zhao Weiguo , 55, was found to have illegally delegated family members and friends to operate Tsinghua Unigroup during his tenure and improperly procured goods and services from companies managed by his associates, China’s National Supervisory Commission said Monday.

☆ Chinese Antigraft Watchdog Lodges Corruption Allegations Against Ex-Head of Chip Conglomerate
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Raffaele Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SINGAPORE—China’s top antigraft watchdog leveled corruption allegations against the former chairman of computer-chip conglomerate Tsinghua Unigroup Co. and referred his case to prosecutors. China’s National Supervisory Commission on Monday accused Zhao Weiguo, 55 years old, of improperly buying goods and services from companies managed by his associates and of illegally involving family members and friends in Tsinghua Unigroup’s operations.

☆ TikTok’s Chinese Parent Has Another Wildly Popular App in the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Raffaele Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

One of the hottest apps in the U.S. right now is TikTok’s lesser-known sibling that is also owned by Chinese parent ByteDance Ltd.App trackers show that CapCut, a video-editing tool that helps people quickly create online videos and memes, has been downloaded more in recent weeks than TikTok, the short-video sharing app that has faced rigorous scrutiny in the U.S. over ByteDance’s access to user data.

Baidu CEO Robin Li speaks at the company’s Ernie Bot launch in Beijing on Thursday. BEIJING—At an intimate event space in Baidu Inc.’s Beijing headquarters on Thursday, the Chinese search giant’s Chief Executive Robin Li sought to wow an in-person and online audience by introducing its AI-powered chatbot, Ernie Bot. Over half an hour, Mr. Li showed a series of prerecorded videos of the chatbot—the first real Chinese contender to ChatGPT, developed by San Francisco-based firm OpenAI—answering questions about Chinese literature, solving math problems and generating images and videos.

SINGAPORE—The failure of Silicon Valley Bank reverberated through startups and venture-capital firms from China to Singapore and India during a roller coaster few days that shook confidence in Asia over reliance on U.S. tech financing. After frantic efforts trying to secure their money, some startup executives said the incident served as a warning despite U.S. authorities stepping in Sunday to shore up the bank’s customers.

☆ Baidu Scrambles to Ready China’s First ChatGPT Equivalent Ahead of Launch
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Raffaele Huang | Karen Hao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Baidu plans to roll out Ernie Bot in stages, first opening it up for public testing to a restricted pool of users. A week away from the March 16 launch of Baidu Inc.’s ChatGPT equivalent, employees at China’s biggest search-engine operator said they are racing to meet the deadline with the chatbot still struggling to perform some basic functions. To develop the artificial-intelligence-powered chatbot, dubbed Ernie Bot, hundreds of people have been working around the clock, people familiar with the project said. Other teams have been asked to lend their staff and their powerful computer chips, which Chinese companies can no longer buy because of U.S. sanctions, they said.

☆ Baidu Hurries to Ready China’s First ChatGPT Equivalent Ahead of Launch
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Raffaele Huang | Karen Hao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Tesla Rival BYD Plans Big Commercial-Vehicle Push
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( River Davis | Raffaele Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

China’s BYD, which has a factory in Lancaster, Calif., is North America’s largest electric-bus manufacturer. China’s BYD Co., having risen over the past decade to become one of the top global sellers of electric passenger cars, is now plotting a big push into battery-electric commercial vehicles. Over the next three years, BYD plans to introduce new commercial-vehicle models in markets including China, Europe and Japan, according to people familiar with the company’s plans. It has mapped out a budget of more than $20 billion for its commercial-vehicle unit through 2025, with major outlays planned for research, product development and expansion of production capacity, the people said.

☆ American Firms Race to Meet China’s Data Rule Deadline
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Raffaele Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Some companies operating in China must pass a security review by the country’s internet regulator before they can transfer users’ personal data abroad. SINGAPORE—Multinational companies doing business in China raced to submit their data practices for Beijing’s review ahead of a Wednesday deadline as the country seeks to identify national security and cybersecurity risks from the increasingly global flow of data. In September, Beijing gave companies operating in China six months to seek approval before allowing some locally-generated data to be exported outside its borders, part of a broader tightening of data security as geopolitical tensions rise between China and the West.

☆ China Data-Transfer Law Adds to Strains on Multinationals
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Raffaele Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Meta in Talks to Reboot China Business With VR Headsets
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Raffaele Huang | Newley Purnell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Tencent Holdings Ltd. is in talks to sell Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc.’s popular virtual-reality headset in China, home to the world’s biggest pool of internet users. Tencent, China’s biggest videogame company, has proposed to Meta that it become the exclusive seller of Meta’s Quest 2 headsets in China, people familiar with the discussion said. Tencent has also sought to publish Chinese versions of existing videogames for the device, they said.

☆ Tencent in Talks to Sell Meta’s Quest 2 VR Headset in China
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Raffaele Huang | Newley Purnell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ TikTok Parent’s Work-Collaboration Tool Feishu Hit $100 Million in Revenue
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Raffaele Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Consumers learned about ByteDance’s platform Feishu at an exhibition Beijing. SINGAPORE—ByteDance Ltd.’s Slack-like work-collaboration tool Feishu said its subscription revenue hit $100 million last year, as the Beijing-based parent company of TikTok seeks new sources of growth. Xie Xin, the chief executive of Feishu, told staff in a virtual meeting Thursday that the product’s annual recurring revenue—a metric that software-service companies refer to—jumped around 270% from 2021, according to employees who attended the meeting.

☆ TikTok’s Talks With U.S. Have an Unofficial Player: China
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Liza Lin | Raffaele Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SINGAPORE—As TikTok pushes for an agreement with U.S. officials over its operations, an unofficial force at the negotiating table is the Chinese government. TikTok has been negotiating with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., an interagency government panel, for more than two years on a way to wall off the company’s data and operations from the Chinese government.

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