China :: Business :: Deals

Perfect World Acquires Cryptic Studios from Atari PR Newswire Asia, 5/31/11 Chinese online game developer and operator Perfect World (Nasdaq: PWRD) today announced that it has acquired a 100% equity interest in Cryptic Studios, a California-based online game developer, from global game developer and publisher Atari. Under the stock purchase agreement, Perfect World will pay an aggregate purchase price of approximately EUR 35.0 mln in cash, subject to working capital and other adjustments as provided in the agreement. Cryptic Studios previously developed MMORPGs City of Heroes, Champions Online, and Star Trek Online. In addition to supporting Champions Online and Star Trek Online with new updates and content, Cryptic is now developing Neverwinter Nights and other unannounced projects

Tencent to Officially Launch QQ Open Platform in July Oriental Morning Post, 5/31/11 Tencent (0700.HK) CTO Jeff Xiong said today that the Shenzhen-based internet company would officially launch its Q+ open platform in July, and would have several dozen partner companies at launch. Xiong said that Tencent would evaluate prospective third-party partners' capabilities, including carrying out stress tests and security tests, before allowing them to connect to Q+. Several hundred companies have contacted Tencent to express interest in the platform. When asked about the company's profit model for Q+, Xiong said that Tencent would gradually explore possible models. According to incomplete figures from Tencent, there are more than 1,000 third-party applications available through the company's various open platforms. The greatest amount of revenues any partner has realized in a single month reportedly surpassed RMB 10 mln. Editor's Note: For more information on this topic, pleas...

Beijing Telecom Offers RMB 3 Per Month Mobile Calling Plan Sina Tech, 5/30/11 Beijing Telecom recently announced the launch of the new RMB 3 pre-paid E-Surfing UIM card and calling plan package. For RMB 3 per month, subscribers will get local calling rates of RMB 0.11 per minute, and long-distance rates of RMB 0.14 per minute, with free local incoming calls. For a RMB 20 fee, subscribers receive a UIM card with RMB 20 worth of talk time. The offer is only open to new subscribers at present; existing pre-paid accounts can not be transferred to the RMB 3 plan.

What's Happening AB InBev to increase Chinese investment Tainted sports drink scandal hits beverage companies in Taiwan Taiwan beverages recalled in China over DEHP scandal Diageo Wants China to Order a Scotch Noodles And Teas Hutchison unit enters China's premium infant milk market Nestle plans expansion in China Analysis: World craves ever more coffee despite soaring price Coffee maker Illy banks on China Chinese wine in numbers Chinese wine market an awakening giant China Resources says eyes overseas assets acquisition China's state liquor producer to open five offices abroad

Source : Macau Daily Times The Chinese are increasingly replacing beer with wine on their dining tables and are learning how to appreciate the taste of wine, said the head of wine for China Simon Tam at auction house Christies. The current annual per capita wine consumption in China is a mere 0.35 litres, however the Chinese domestic wine market is projected to become the largest in the world in a few decades. In anticipation of the optimistic business prediction, Christies appointed Tam early this year as its first ever head of wine for China to tap into the new market. The primary role of the head of wine is to educate and nurture Chinese wine lovers and provide them with information so that they can understand the differences between wines and more importantly the pricing, now, tomorrow and perhaps also in the future, the Hong Kong wine expert said on the TDM Talk Show. Its very important to see how much the wine costs today versus tomorrow and future trends in order to make some pr...

Taobao Mall Launches Home Furnishings Store in Beijing BiaNews, 5/27/11 Hangzhou-based C2C & B2C e-commerce site Taobao's Taobao Mall has opened its first "Ai Feng Chao" offline home furnishing experience store in Beijing. The interior of the store was furnished using goods available in Taobao Mall's furniture channel, and the building itself was constructed by Taobao partner Beijing Aifengchao Technology. Local delivery and installation service will be provided by a third-party company. The store currently occupies 25,000 sqm, and contains 270 separate sample and display rooms. All furniture and other decorations on display in each sample room come from different Taobao Mall furniture channel vendors, who in turn source their goods from nearly 300 manufacturers. Once visitors make their selections from within the Taobao Mall furniture channel, they can experience the goods in person at the store. When visitors are ready to make their purchase, they can log in at ...

Qihoo 360 to Offer Cloud Computing Services Sina Tech, 5/27/11 Zhou Hongyi, chairman of Chinese online security software developer Qihoo 360 (Nasdaq: QIHU), recently disclosed that the company plans to release new services, including cloud computing services, to boost revenues. Zhou said Qihoo 360 is in the process of developing a cloud-based data storage service, but gave no specific launch date for the service. He added that Qihoo 360 has begun offering technical support and maintenance services to PC users.