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Time of India
22-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Baidu says domestic tech will shield AI push from US curbs
HighlightsBaidu reported a first-quarter revenue of 32.45 billion yuan ($4.50 billion), exceeding analysts' expectations, driven primarily by its growing AI cloud services. The company emphasized that domestic alternatives to advanced semiconductors would mitigate the impact of U.S. export controls on its artificial intelligence development. Baidu has intensified its focus on artificial intelligence, launching new models and eliminating fees for its premium chatbot services in response to competition from startups like DeepSeek. China's Baidu s ai d on Wednesday U.S. export controls on semiconductors would not significantly impact its AI development, citing access to domestic alternatives. The dominant search engine in China also reported first-quarter revenue that exceeded analysts' expectations, boosted by growing demand for its AI cloud services . "Domestically developed chips and increasingly efficient homegrown software will form a strong foundation for long-term innovation in China's AI ecosystem," Baidu Vice President Shen Dou told analysts on a conference call. The comments come as U.S. export restrictions on advanced semiconductors took effect last month, effectively blocking sales of Nvidia's H20 chips designed for the Chinese market. The stance echoes comments from rival Tencent Holdings, whose executives said existing stockpiles of AI chips would shield the company from U.S. export controls. Total revenue in the first quarter rose 3% to 32.45 billion yuan ($4.50 billion), beating analysts' average estimate of 30.9 billion yuan, according to data compiled by LSEG. Revenue at Baidu's online marketing business, which contributes the majority to the company, fell 6% to 17.31 billion yuan. Analysts had estimated 17.39 billion yuan. However its non-online marketing revenue reached 9.4 billion yuan, up 40% year-over-year, mainly driven by its AI cloud business. The company reported profit of 21.59 yuan per American Depositary Share, compared with profit of 14.91 yuan per share a year earlier. Baidu has intensified its focus on AI in recent years to reduce its dependence on advertising revenue from its core search engine business. In early 2023, the company was among the first to launch a chatbot following Microsoft-backed OpenAI's release of ChatGPT in late 2022. Despite this early advantage, Baidu's Ernie large-language model faces fierce competition from Chinese firms such as startup DeepSeek, which shook up the AI landscape earlier this year. In response, Baidu eliminated fees for its premium chatbot services in April and introduced two new AI models in March - the reasoning-focused Ernie X1 and Ernie 4.5. The company upgraded these offerings to "Turbo" versions the following month. Baidu's CEO Robin Li said last month that its cluster comprising 30,000 of its self-developed, third-generation P800 Kunlun chips can support the training of DeepSeek-like models.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Chinese Retailer Vipshop's Stock Sinks as Q1 Sales, Active Customers Fall Short
Vipshop Holdings stock tumbled in premarket trading Tuesday as the Chinese retailer's first-quarter revenue and active customers fell short of estimates. Gross merchandise value and adjusted earnings beat expectations. The company's U.S.-listed shares fell 8.5% in premarket Holdings' (VIPS) U.S.-listed shares tumbled on Tuesday morning after the Chinese retailer's first-quarter results largely fell short of estimates. The discount shopping platform reported revenue of 26.27 billion Chinese yuan ($3.64 billion), down 5% from a year ago, on 167.2 million total orders placed by roughly 41.3 million active customers. All three metrics came in below analysts' estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. However, Vipshop's adjusted earnings per American Depositary Share (ADS) of CNY4.43 ($0.61) and gross merchandise value sold on its platform of CNY52.38 billion ($7.26 billion) came in better than expected. The quarter came in "broadly in line with our expectations," CEO Eric Shen said, adding that the company "continued to make progress on the strategic actions we have set out to return to growth." The company said it expects second-quarter revenue of CNY25.5 billion to CNY26.9 billion, with the midpoint of CNY26.2 billion below the analyst consensus of CNY 26.33 billion. The projections "reflect the Company's current and preliminary view on the market and operational conditions, which is subject to change," Vipshop said. U.S.-listed shares of Vipshop were down 8.5% in premarket trading Tuesday. They entered the day up about 15% since the start of the year. Read the original article on Investopedia
TimesLIVE
08-05-2025
- Automotive
- TimesLIVE
Geely offers to take Zeekr unit private in $2.2bn deal
Chinese carmaker Geely Automobile on Wednesday offered to pay $2.2bn (R40.18bn) to privatise its unit Zeekr just a year after it took the EV brand public in the US, saying it wanted to consolidate its business to fend off competition. Geely offered to pay $25.66 (R468) per Zeekr's American Depositary Share, a premium of 13.6% to the stock's closing price on Tuesday. As of May 7, Geely held about 65.7% of the total issued and outstanding share capital of Zeekr. Its offer-per-ADS values Zeekr at $6.52bn (R119bn) and it would need to pay $2.2bn for the remaining 34.3% share, according to Reuters calculations. Zeekr's ADSs jumped 11.11% to $25.10 (R458) in US premarket trading. Zeekr will be fully merged into Geely Auto on completion of the transaction, Geely said. 'In the face of fierce market competition and an increasingly complex economic environment, we will assess the situation and, in accordance with the spirit of the 'Taizhou Declaration,' continue to promote the integration of our automotive business,' Geely chair Li Shufu said on WeChat. Geely Holding, which owns multiple automotive brands including Geely, Zeekr and Volvo, has pivoted away from its history of aggressive acquisitions to streamlining operations and cutting costs amid a brutal price war in China's car market. Li, also the founder of Geely, announced the so-called 'Taizhou Declaration' last year, urging a greater strategic focus at Geely, better synergies and elimination of internal competition. It has since been restructuring its brands into two units — Geely Auto and Zeekr Group — targeting the mass market and premium segments, respectively. In March, it also merged three existing units employing nearly 2,000 engineers to develop digital cockpit systems into a single unified team.
New Straits Times
07-05-2025
- Automotive
- New Straits Times
Chinese carmaker Geely offers to take Zeekr unit private in US$2.2bil deal
KUALA LUMPUR: Chinese automaker Geely Automobile on Wednesday offered to pay US$2.2 billion to privatise its unit Zeekr just a year after it took the EV brand public in the US, saying it wanted to consolidate its business to fend off competition. Geely offered to pay US$25.66 per Zeekr's American Depositary Share, a premium of 13.6 per cent to the stock's closing price on Tuesday. As of May 7, Geely held around 65.7 per cent of the total issued and outstanding share capital of Zeekr. Its offer-per-ADS values Zeekr at US$6.52 billion and it would need to pay US$2.2 billion for the remaining 34.3 per cent share, according to Reuters calculations. Zeekr's ADSs jumped 11.11 per cent to US$25.10 in US premarket trading. Zeekr will be fully merged into Geely Auto upon completion of the transaction, Geely said. "In the face of fierce market competition and an increasingly complex economic environment, we will assess the situation and, in accordance with the spirit of the 'Taizhou Declaration,' continue to promote the integration of our automotive business," Geely chairman Li Shufu said on WeChat. Geely Holding, which owns multiple automotive brands including Geely, Zeekr and Volvo, has pivoted away from its history of aggressive acquisitions to streamlining operations and cutting costs amid a brutal price war in China's auto market. Li, also the founder of Geely, announced the so-called "Taizhou Declaration" last year, urging a greater strategic focus at Geely, better synergies and elimination of internal competition. It has since been restructuring its brands into two units - Geely Auto and Zeekr Group - targeting the mass market and premium segments, respectively. In March, it also merged three existing units employing nearly 2,000 engineers to develop digital cockpit systems into a single unified team. US LISTING Zeekr was founded in 2021 as a premium EV brand of Geely whose cars featured the group's flagship in-house technologies from EV architecture to batteries. Sales of the brand reached 41,403 units in the first quarter with six models, increasing 25 per cent from a year ago and outselling BYD's premium brand Denza. It went public in the US in May last year at a valuation of US$6.8 billion, the first major listing by a Chinese company in the country since 2021. Geely's announcement also comes after Zeekr was named in a letter by two Republican lawmakers to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that called for 25 Chinese companies to be delisted from US exchanges, saying they had military links that put US national security at risk. Zeekr did not respond to a request for comment on the letter. More than 100 Chinese companies are listed on US exchanges and have a collective market cap of around US$1 trillion. Investor concerns over the possible forced de-listing of Chinese companies from US exchanges have reemerged since the tit-for-tat trade war between the world's two largest economies. China is evaluating a US proposal to resume trade talks over the latter's 145 per cent tariffs and has created a list of US-made products for exemption from its 125 per cent retaliatory tariffs.
Business Times
07-05-2025
- Automotive
- Business Times
Geely plans bid to take Zeekr private at value of US$6.4 billion
[HONG KONG] Billionaire Li Shufu is ramping up a push to streamline his sprawling business empire, with his Hong Kong-listed Geely Automobile Holdings offering to take premium electric vehicle brand Zeekr private. The proposal would see Geely buy all shares in US-listed Zeekr Intelligent Technology Holding that it does not already own for US$2.566 per share, or US$25.66 per American Depositary Share – a premium of about 13.6 per cent to its last closing price. The deal, should it go ahead, would value Zeekr at about US$6.4 billion. Investors may elect to receive either cash or 1.23 newly issued shares, based on the volume-weighted average price of the shares of HK$16.14. Li has charted a new strategy for his Geely group, with a focus on consolidation, synergies and cost cutting to stem the losses at several of his carmakers. After more than a decade of expansion that saw Geely acquire brands such as Volvo Car and the UK's Lotus Cars, the Chinese automaker is shoring up resources to catch up to domestic rivals like BYD. 'The continued integration of Geely's automotive business gives rise to greater technological synergies, improve innovation capabilities, and increase profitability for all its holdings,' Li said in a statement on Wednesday (May 7). The move will strengthen Geely as a world-leading smart EV group, he said. The move comes just a year after Zeekr had listed in the US and follows the recent merger of the EV maker with another of Geely's smart car brands, Lynk&Co. Geely holds about 65.7 per cent of the total issued and outstanding share capital of Zeekr. Zeekr shares have slumped about 20 per cent this year as tariffs against Chinese EV and auto exports, and uncertainty over US President Donald Trump's trade policies weigh on the sector. BLOOMBERG
