iQiyi IPO & more news

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iQiyi

Baidu Plans $1 Billion IPO for Video-Streaming Site iQiyi.com – WSJ – (paywall) value nominally at $5bn – inflated value of the iQiyi media brand especially in the mercurial regulatory environment for online media in China around what might be construed as sensitive content. Secondly, China’s Tencent with QQ Video offers a real threat for iQiyi and a host of live streaming platforms. Finally, it is hard to build scale when you’re optimising for just one market like iQiyi is. So comparisons of iQiyi with Netflix aren’t that helpful. More related content here.

China

Britain’s view of trade with China sounds fanciful | FT – TL;DR version – UK will get fucked by China due to Brexit. Asset stripped, no negotiating power in any trade agreement,  expect nominal sovereignty in return for expected compliant behaviour. The Chinese may load up on UK treasuries for use as a financial cosh if necessary. Expect lots of Chinese immigrants

Economics

U.S. companies want to play China’s game. They just can’t win it. – The Washington Post – “When I think about Facebook in China, I think, ‘What’s their advantage?’ ” said William Bao Bean, a Shanghai-based partner at SOSV Ventures and the managing director of Chinaccelerator, which invests in start-ups. “Their product is so outpaced by the local companies.”

Suddenly, Corporate Values Might Come With A High Price – Paul Holmes on corporate and social responsibility in a populist political environment

Gadgets

A Turntable Reborn Turns Its Back on Its Hip-Hop Legacy – The New York Times – The biggest competition is second hand 1200s because they are so robust and user serviceable. Technics need to do a lot of work to get hifi afficandos on board so if they want to grow the market and let it scale, you put your money on the hifi buffs and let the product be the marketing for the turntablist fan base. I am just glad to have it back

Indonesia

Indonesia and India set to ‘steal the show’ as APAC tipped to lead global ad growth in 2017 – Mumbrella Asia

Indonesian puppets

Security

How Russia Recruited Elite Hackers for Its Cyberwar – The New York Times – the bit that I found most interesting is how Russia now relies on a series of private military contractors, rather like the US

Software

WeChat Update: Add Stickers To Your Pics – it will be huge, but that doesn’t mean I can’t shake my head and go tut-tut

Thailand

What’s really behind Thailand’s hostility to Chinese tourists? | South China Morning Post – instructive article on what happens when Chinese culture goes abroad

Technology

Japanese white-collar workers are already being replaced by artificial intelligence | Quartz

Web of no web

Quanta to make next-generation Apple Watch, says paper | DigiTimes – battery efficiency focus but little consumer-facing innovation apparently

Wireless

2G or Not 2G | CCS Insight – on GSM network shutdown