Latest news with #BaiduInc.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
China's Baidu Plans Robotaxi Expansion to Europe and Turkey
(Bloomberg) -- Baidu Inc. is planning to test and eventually launch autonomous ride-hailing service Apollo Go in Europe and Turkey, joining a growing number of Chinese self-driving technology companies in embarking on a global expansion. As Coastline Erodes, One California City Considers 'Retreat Now' A New Central Park Amenity, Tailored to Its East Harlem Neighbors What's Behind the Rise in Serious Injuries on New York City's Streets? How Finland Is Harvesting Waste Heat From Data Centers Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration Policy on Migrant Children The company is in talks with Swiss Post unit PostAuto to roll out a robotaxi service in Switzerland, according to a person familiar with the matter. Baidu plans to start testing in Switzerland by the end of this year, the person said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. The Wall Street Journal first reported the plan on Wednesday. Baidu's Apollo Go is one of a handful of Chinese autonomous driving technology companies ramping up their international presence. US-listed WeRide Inc. was one of the first to go overseas, operating in more than 30 cities across 10 countries such as China, the UAE, France and Singapore. Uber Technologies Inc. has partnerships with WeRide and two other Chinese companies, Inc. and Momenta Technology Co., with plans to offer robotaxi services on the platform in markets such as the UAE and Europe. In China, Apollo Go runs one of the largest fleets of robotaxis, operating in cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Wuhan. Its operation in Wuhan drew complaints from residents and taxi drivers concerned that the self-driving cars were taking over their jobs. Cartoon Network's Last Gasp DeepSeek's 'Tech Madman' Founder Is Threatening US Dominance in AI Race Trump Has Already Ruined Christmas Why Obesity Drugs Are Getting Cheaper — and Also More Expensive The Recession Chatter Is Getting Louder. Watch These Metrics ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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Business Standard
29-04-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Hong Kong's 1967 lesson: Move fast to win Asia's rich in dollar turmoil
Although the dollar's free fall may have stopped for now, Donald Trump's trade war has left many analysts skeptical of its long-term viability as a haven. The first question in Asia is, how will the wealthy respond? The second: Where will they park their capital, Singapore or Hong Kong? A previous generation of the affluent Chinese diaspora, which had made its money in resources like rubber, sugar, palm oil, and tin before and during World War II, stormed out of the British pound after its 1967 devaluation, choosing to leave behind a fading imperial master to embrace the preeminent post-colonial superpower. Trump's policies have thrust a similar decision on their progeny and the nouveau rich: real-estate moguls, startup billionaires, deep-pocketed dealmakers, and industrial tycoons. Singapore and Hong Kong extend generous tax breaks to family offices, or vehicles through which the uber-prosperous manage their investments. Both centers also offer cash-for-residency pathways. To see which one of them may have an upper hand, consider first the historical record, before taking into account what's different now. In 1968, Singapore emerged as the No. 1 choice for Asian tycoons to execute their currency shift. That's because the city-state, eager to chart an independent economic destiny after its separation from Malaysia, quickly set up an Asian dollar market with the help of Dick van Oenen, a Dutch trader at Bank of America. It was essentially a separate set of ledgers in which banks recorded cross-border transfers into dollar-denominated assets during Asian trading hours. A more laissez-faire Hong Kong should have been the preferred venue for this business, but as Oxford historian Catherine Schenk has shown, it entered the contest too late because of resistance from bankers and local authorities; they feared outflows of local liquidity. The Singapore market grew with the influx of petrodollars in the 1970s. Even now, despite the huge wealth creation at Hong Kong's doorstep since China began to open up, intra-Asian movement of personal assets remains almost equally divided between the two financial centers. Expect some of the inertia to carry on: Indian family offices' list of preferred locations will more likely continue to include Singapore, alongside London and Dubai — all cities with significant populations of nonresident Indians. But Hong Kong will offer a compelling investment case. Should the trade war intensify, and US-listed Chinese stocks such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Baidu Inc. are forced to delist, the only way to access them — as well as automotive powerhouses like BYD Co. and promising AI startups like Zhipu — may be via Hong Kong and its links with onshore markets on the mainland. For similar reasons, Indonesian money, which has tended to favor Singapore over Hong Kong by 2:1, might also look more favorably toward the Chinese special administrative region. The yuan's limited convertibility is a hurdle, and a possibility of its devaluation a near-term risk. But these aren't showstoppers in the long run. As I wrote recently, the greenback's monopoly in payments is already threatened. Digital currencies may be able to bypass the dollar to settle cross-border financial claims where neither party has a direct interest in American money. Hong Kong, which has opened its securities-regulation tent to accommodate tokenized assets, may be able to lure the rich to keep their crypto in custody with the city's banks. Trump's trade policies, even if substantially reversed, have sent a loud message to the Asian affluent classes. For all its post-World War II prosperity, America is no longer keen to continue with a system in which it habitually buys more goods from the rest of the world than it sells, and pays for the difference by hawking assets. If Washington doesn't want its money to be a haven, then Asians have to look for alternatives. Despite the recent bounce, bearish dollar moves are 'structural,' according to Bloomberg Intelligence. 'Highly uncertain tariff policies and the associated question marks hovering around US economic exceptionalism are contributing to an acceleration of de-dollarization,' note analysts Audrey Childe-Freeman and Thinh Nguyen. A corollary for Hong Kong as a financial center is that it will need to give plenty of yuan-denominated options to those parking their assets in the city. A deep pool of liquidity in the Chinese currency will be its advantage over Singapore. It may also be time, as my colleague Shuli Ren has argued, to start behind-the-scenes preparations to bring an orderly end to the local currency's dollar peg. In the late 1960s, the then British-run city was slow to latch on to the switch away from the pound; six decades later, the greenback mustn't come in the way of its fight for flows.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Baidu Seeks $2 Billion in Bonds Exchangeable Into Trip.com Shares
(Bloomberg) -- Chinese technology firm Baidu Inc. is offering as much as $2 billion in bonds that are exchangeable into Hong Kong shares of online-travel company Group Ltd. Trump Administration Plans to Eliminate Dozens of Housing Offices NJ College to Merge With State School After Financial Stress Republican Mayor Braces for Tariffs: 'We Didn't Budget for This' How Upzoning in Cambridge Broke the YIMBY Mold NYC's Finances Are Sinking With Gauge Falling to 11-Year Low The exchangeable bonds are due in 2032, Baidu said in a statement Friday. The Beijing-based company said it plans to use proceeds from the offering to repay debt, pay interest and spend on general corporate purposes. The bonds have a 0% coupon, according to terms of the deal seen by Bloomberg News. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. are arranging the deal, the terms show. Snack Makers Are Removing Fake Colors From Processed Foods An All-American Finance Empire Drew Billions—and a Regulator's Attention The Mysterious Billionaire Behind the World's Most Popular Vapes Rich People Are Firing a Cash Cannon at the US Economy—But at What Cost? Greenland Voters Weigh Their Election's Most Important Issue: Trump ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
07-03-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Baidu Seeks $2 Billion in Bonds Exchangeable Into Trip.com Shares
Chinese technology firm Baidu Inc. is offering as much as $2 billion in bonds that are exchangeable into Hong Kong shares of online-travel company Group Ltd. The exchangeable bonds are due in 2032, Baidu said in a statement Friday. The Beijing-based company said it plans to use proceeds from the offering to repay debt, pay interest and spend on general corporate purposes.
Bloomberg
07-03-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Alibaba's Sudden ADR Discount Shows Fear of US-China Decoupling
Donald Trump's push to restrict US investments in China is testing what in theory should be an ironclad financial relationship — the tight link between Chinese shares trading in New York and Hong Kong. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s US shares traded at an average 2.1% discount to those in Hong Kong last week — at one point reaching the widest since 2022. A similar pattern appeared for Baidu Inc. and NetEase Inc., with their American depositary receipts trading at their cheapest against Hong Kong peers in five months.
