Media group Future buys Barcroft Studios as results beat expectations November 15, 2019 Media company Future has acquired production company Barcroft Studios for £23.5m, in a deal announced alongside the group’s annual results, which beat analysts’ expectations. Future, which owns brands including Techradar and PC Gamer, reported an operating profit of £26.7m for the year ending 30 September, a 404 per cent increase. The company’s revenue jumped 70 [...]
UK adtech startup Mirriad signs deal with Chinese behemoth Tencent | City A.M. July 26, 2018 London-based video-advertising technology startup Mirriad has today signed a deal with Chinese media giant Tencent. The deal will utilise Mirriad’s in-video tech to place ads in online video content, even once its in post-production. City A.M. understands that staff from Mirriad will join and pitch with Tencent’s advertising teams as part of the deal, from [...]
Alibaba to raise up to $12.9bn in landmark Hong Kong listing November 20, 2019 Alibaba is set to raise up to $12.9bn (£10bn) from its record-breaking second listing in Hong Kong, pricing its shares at a 2.8 per cent discount to their New York close. The Chinese e-commerce giant is set to officially announce the terms of the deal later on Wednesday, but investors have been told 176 Hong [...]
World reserve currencies: Is the US Dollars’ days numbered? June 30, 2020 “Every dog has its day” is an expression believed to have come from 405 BC when a Greek playwright, Euripides, was mauled and killed by a pack of dogs. An analogy to this tale could be the US Dollar. Is the end nigh? Has the mighty Greenback ‘had its day’? Having been on the boards [...]
China’s Nasdaq rival Star Market see shares surge on first day of trading July 22, 2019 Shares shot up on the launch of China’s new Nasdaq rival – the Star Market – today. Shanghai Stock Exchange’s tech-focused stock market aims to use Shanghai’s credentials as a global financial hub as a springboard to success, with 25 firms listed on it already. Read more: Google terminates Project Dragonfly, its censored Chinese search [...]
Investors underwhelmed by Aviva’s restructuring plans November 20, 2019 Shares in Aviva slipped on Wednesday after the insurer announced plans to restructure its business and sell off its Hong Kong division in a bid to revive investor interest in the group. The insurance company will simplify its business structure into five operating divisions and sell its stake in Hong Kong business, called Blue, to co-investor [...]
Social media ad spend growth plummets amid decline in trust July 2, 2019 Growth in advertising revenue for social media firms declined by roughly a half in the first three months of the year, in a sign of possible cooling in the digital ad market. Social media giants remain dominant in the online advertising sector, with ad spend rising 26 per cent year-on-year to just under $18bn (£14.2bn), [...]
First-hand account: my observations on China’s return to work May 1, 2020 Emerging markets analyst Shuyu Gao provides a personal account of virus containment measures on her return to China, and reviews the recovery in activity. Amid the global spread of Covid-19, with lockdowns necessitating working from home more broadly, I decided to return to China and work from my family home in Nanjing. At the time, [...]
Alibaba poised to launch record-breaking $13.4bn Hong Kong listing November 13, 2019 Alibaba has launched the share sale for its Hong Kong listing, in a $13.4bn (£10.4bn) fundraising effort that’s set to be the biggest cross-border secondary listing ever. The Chinese online retail giant opened the books for institutional investors looking to buy the shares during trading in New York on Wednesday after winning approval for the [...]
China’s new digital currency will be similar to Facebook’s Libra, officials say September 6, 2019 China’s proposed new digital currency would be similar to Facebook’s Libra and be able to used across major payment platforms, a senior official from Beijing’s central bank has said. “Why is the central bank still doing such a digital currency today when electronic payment methods are so developed?” said Mu Changchun, deputy director of the [...]