China Digital
Alibaba Establishes San Francisco Office
Alibaba has opened a new office in San Francisco in order to invest in US companies. The Chinese e-commerce behemoth will be looking for companies in “internet commerce and emerging technologies.” The San Francisco team will be led by the newly-appointed Chairman of US Investments, Michael Zeisser. The US team has actually already gone through with a few investments in US companies, including ShopRunner and Quixey.
Source: Tech In Asia
China Digital
Baidu Looks to Acquire Dianping for $2 Billion
Baidu has reportedly been in talks to acquire Chinese restaurant review site Dianping. Such an acquisition for Baidu would mean adding Dianping’s listings to Baidu’s own review app and access to Dianping’s daily deals and group buying services. The addition to Baidu’s already dominating search and maps services would make Baidu even more of an Internet powerhouse.
Source: Tech In Asia
China Digital
WeChat has Surpassed 600 Million Users
From 300 million registered users in January of this year, WeChat’s user base has essentially doubled to 600 million, with 100 million of those users located overseas. With an overwhelming share of the mobile messaging market, WeChat seems unbeatable – but that doesn’t mean the other major marketing apps will give up without a fight. Alibaba is heavily promoting its Laiwang app, with hopes of achieving 30% market share.
Source: Tech Node