BY LAURIE BURKITT BEIJING—Fresh off what promises to be the biggest-ever purchase of a U.S. company by a Chinese buyer, property and entertainment tycoon Wang Jianlin plans to make similarly ambitious moves in global industries ranging from film to retail to hotels. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Wang said his Dalian Wanda Group Corp. hopes to invest in the luxury hotel business as well as in film production. He also said he hopes Wanda will become the world's largest retailer by space by 2015, reaching 25 million square meters (269 million square feet) from its current nine million. By ...BY LAURIE BURKITT BEIJING—Fresh off what promises to be the biggest-ever purchase of a U.S. company by a Chinese buyer, property and ... Continue reading →
BY DOW JONES NEWSWIRES HONG KONG—Developer Chinese Estates Holdings Ltd. said late Wednesday its chairman, billionaire Joseph Lau, will face prosecution in Macau over charges of bribery and money laundering linked to a land deal in the gambling enclave. Mr. Lau earlier denied allegations that ...BY DOW JONES NEWSWIRES HONG KONG—Developer Chinese Estates Holdings Ltd. said late Wednesday its chairman, billionaire Joseph Lau, will face prosecution in Macau over charges of bribery and money laundering linked to a land deal in the gambling enclave. Mr. Lau earlier denied allegations that ... Continue reading →
BY TOM ORLIK Smartphones are making the giants of China's telecom and Internet sectors look a little slow. The number of 3G subscribers rose to 159 million in April, more than three times the level at the end of 2010. Affluent consumers accessing the web through their mobile phones threaten to disrupt revenue flows across China's telecom, search and social-networking sectors. Among the biggest losers could be the telecom companies. ...BY TOM ORLIK Smartphones are making the giants of China's telecom and Internet sectors look a little slow. The number of 3G subscribers rose to 159 million in April, more than three times the level at the end of 2010. Affluent consumers accessing the web through their mobile phones threaten to disrupt revenue flows across ... Continue reading →
BY HARSH JOSHI How low can the rupee go? India's currency is trapped in a vicious cycle. The lower it falls, the harder it is to get turned around again. Wednesday was the sixth straight trading day when the rupee touched a record low against the dollar, breaching 56 rupees to a dollar early in the day in Mumbai. The trap is that the weak currency hits ...BY HARSH JOSHI How low can the rupee go? India's currency is trapped in a vicious cycle. The lower it falls, the harder it is to get turned around again. Wednesday was the sixth straight trading day when the rupee touched a record low against the dollar, breaching 56 rupees to a dollar early in the day in ... Continue reading →
BY ANDREW PEAPLE Cove Energy is proving a hard fish to catch. State-owned Thai oil company PTT Exploration & Production has trumped Royal Dutch Shell's bid for the oil explorer, with a 240 pence ($3.78) a share agreed-on offer worth $1.92 billion, made just before Shell's deal was due to go unconditional. Cove may only have a small 8.5% stake in gas resources off the Mozambique coast. But the estimated size of the resource keeps expanding. Shell may not be ready ...BY ANDREW PEAPLE Cove Energy is proving a hard fish to catch. State-owned Thai oil company PTT Exploration & Production has trumped Royal Dutch Shell's bid for the oil explorer, with a 240 pence ($3.78) a share agreed-on offer worth $1.92 billion, made just ... Continue reading →
BY CYNTHIA KOONS Australia's national slogan could easily be "No worries, mate." Its people are rested and joyful and the happiest in the developed world, according to a survey from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Perhaps that's because they're not working as hard as most of their OECD counterparts. Australians are currently benefiting from a resources boom. That is driving gross domestic ...BY CYNTHIA KOONS Australia's national slogan could easily be "No worries, mate." Its people are rested and joyful and the happiest in the developed world, according to a survey from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Perhaps that's because they're not working as hard as most of their OECD counterparts. Australians are currently benefiting from a resources boom. That is ... Continue reading →
BY JAMES SIMMS Just like Facebook, Japanese social-networking firm Mixi debuted its shares to much fanfare. Since then though, investors have unfriended the company in a big way. Mixi listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in late 2006. Its stock soared to a peak a little over a year later, but then went into steady decline. Today, Mixi's shares trade at less than one-tenth their historic high. What went wrong? Net profit has fallen steadily since 2008. Earnings dropped ...BY JAMES SIMMS Just like Facebook, Japanese social-networking firm Mixi debuted its shares to much fanfare. Since then though, investors have unfriended the company in a big way. Mixi listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in late 2006. Its stock soared to a peak a little ... Continue reading →
By David Winning Reuters A traditional Mongolian tent. Mongolia is finding it far harder to get its biggest mining companies listed overseas than to dig the raw materials out of the ground. Nicknamed ‘Minegolia’ for a resources boom and the billions of dollars that overseas companies are investing to pull out vast deposits of copper and coal, the country had been expected to account for several major initial public offerings this year. But many of the share-sale timetables are slipping as commodity and stocks sink around the world, and partly because lawmakers won’t consider vital legislation needed for some of the biggest shares sales ahead of next month’s general election. The long-awaited US$3 billion listing of state-owned miner Erdenes-Tavan Tolgoi Co., which controls one of ... Continue reading →
BY MIRIAM GOTTFRIED There is a long history of foreigners investing in Hollywood, lured in by movie-business glitter and glam. But the reasons behind a Chinese company's decision to buy the second-largest chain of U.S. movie theaters in terms of screens—a business largely based on popcorn and soda—are still shrouded behind the red-velvet ...BY MIRIAM GOTTFRIED There is a long history of foreigners investing in Hollywood, lured in by movie-business glitter and glam. But the reasons behind a Chinese company's decision to buy the second-largest chain of U.S. movie theaters in terms of screens—a business largely based on popcorn and soda—are still shrouded behind the red-velvet ... Continue reading →
