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SoftBank to buy Ola, Flipkart shares; AppLovin tweaks Chinese deal

TOP NEWS

* New York-based Tiger Global Management is set to cash in about US$1 billion from its investments in Ola Cabs and Flipkart India Pvt. Ltd. by selling a portion of its shareholdings to SoftBank Group Corp., two people familiar with the development told The Economic Times (India).

* U.S. mobile marketing company AppLovin Corp. abandoned plans to sell a majority stake in Shanghai-based Orient Hontai Capital for US$1.4 billion and opted to accept a US$841 million debt investment instead after the U.S. government pushed back the deal, Reuters reports.

PAN-ASIAN NEWS

* 21st Century Fox Inc.'s Fox Networks Group Asia is adding Chinese period drama "Queen Dugu" and fantasy series "Martial Universe" to its content offerings, World Screen reports. Both shows will air on STAR Chinese Channel and FOX+.

JAPAN

* Dentsu Aegis Network agreed to acquire Oxyma Group B.V., a performance marketing agency in the Netherlands and Dubai. Post-acquisition, Oxyma Group will be rebranded as Merkle, and all agencies as a Merkle company.

* Sony Corp.'s unit Sony Computer Science Laboratories Inc. will team up with Japanese artificial intelligence developer UEI Corp. and U.S. startup World Innovation Lab LLC, The Nikkei reports. The companies seek to launch a new joint venture to fund companies to collect data and develop programs for artificial intelligence, according to the report. Financial details were not provided.

* Japanese telco KDDI Corp. announced that it has sealed a capital-and-business partnership with Inagora Inc., an e-commerce venture selling Japanese goods to the Chinese market via its Wando platform. Under the deal, KDDI's users will be able to expand businesses to China via Inagora's Wando and vice versa.

* In other Inagora news, Japanese major general trading company Itochu Corp. announced that it will invest ?4.25 billion in the Tokyo-based e-commerce operator, Jiji Press reports. With the move, the company seeks to expand its business in the Chinese market.

* KDDI Corp. said it will acquire AEON Holdings, which operates language schools across the country, and enter into an education business. KDDI will acquire all the shares of AEON Holdings by January 22, 2018, and make it a wholly owned subsidiary. Financial details were not provided.

SOUTH KOREA

* Samsung Group's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. plans to establish an artificial intelligence research center under Samsung Research, a new joint research unit of the home appliances and mobile businesses, as part of its recent organizational changes, News 1 reports. The AI Center will be led by senior vice president of software center Lee Geun-bae.

* South Korean game company PUBG Corp., a developer of "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" and a subsidiary of South Korean publisher Bluehole Studio Inc., signed a deal with Tencent Holdings Ltd. for the official release of the game in China, ET News reports. Backed by the deal, the company plans to expand the game servers and enforce stronger control over cheating programs to provide a more stable service.

CHINA, HONG KONG AND TAIWAN

* Baidu Inc.'s iQiyi launched an AI-backed open platform to connect content providers and audience through big data and AI mind-reading, Tencent News reports. The Chinese video sharing site will be analyzing clients' behavior to improve effectiveness on personal recommendations and targeted materials.

* Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer ZTE Corp. supplied base stations and 4.5GHz band core network equipment to Japanese operator SoftBank for its substantial 5G network testing in Tokyo, The Securities Times reports. SoftBank obtained an experimental license Nov. 20 and plans to launch 5G commercial services in 2020.

* PAG, an alternative investment management firm, acquired a majority stake in popular Chinese online dating site Zhenai, which is 20% owned by U.S.-based Match.com LLC. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, according to China Money Network.

* Lu Wei, former head of the Cyberspace Administration of China, is being investigated for allegations of corruption, China Money Network reports, citing Chinese statements.

INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA

* Bharti Airtel Ltd. said Tata Teleservices Ltd. customers will start transitioning to the Airtel mobile network under an Intra Circle Roaming arrangement. Both companies recently announced an agreement to merge the consumer mobile businesses of Tata Teleservices Ltd. and Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Ltd. into Airtel.

* Walt Disney Co. promoted Amrita Pandey to the newly created role of regional head for media distribution and OTT in South Asia, Television Post reports. The new position will see Pandey managing Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam, in addition to her current position of vice president of Disney India's Studios.

* Facebook Inc. introduced its digital training and startup training hubs in India, which aim to teach digital skills to small businesses in the country, The Economic Times (India) reports.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

* Indonesian Minister of Communication and Informatics Rudiantara stated that Alipay, the digital payment service of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., has started operating in Bali, Indonesia, news site Detik reports. In response to that, Indonesian motorcycle ride hailing application Go-Jek has launched digital payment service Go-Bills to allow customers to pay for their daily bills.

* Singapore fiber broadband operator MyRepublic Ltd. has postponed the launch of its mobile services in Singapore to early 2018, newspaper The Straits Times reports. MyRepublic's CEO Malcolm Rodrigues has confirmed that the company has signed a deal to buy airtime from one of the three Singapore-based telco companies, but he did not confirm which one.

* MyRepublic also announced a S$70 million investment by Singapore-based private equity fund Makara Innovation Fund. The investment decision was supported by intellectual property advisory firm IP ValueLab's assessment of MyRepublic's intellectual property portfolio.

* iFlix Sdn. Bhd. appointed John Saad CEO for MENA. Nader Sobhan, who previously served in that role, will become the company's strategic adviser. He will work closely with iFlix co-founder and CEO Mark Britt.

* Tencent's mobile payment system WeChat Pay will soon be available in the Philippines through a license agreement with Asia United Bank, BusinessWorld reports.

* An ad-hoc committee set up by Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission ruled that LINE Mobile is not a service of a mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, but simply a part of Dtac, a mobile service brand operated by Dtac Trinet Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Total Access Communication Public Co. Ltd., Prachachat reports. The ruling is not yet final, since the decision rests with the commission itself.

* In other NBTC news, the telecom watchdog will summon state-owned telco TOT Public Co. Ltd. to elaborate its plan to develop 4G services on the 2300 MHz band Nov. 27, RYT9 reports. The commission will meet Dec. 6 to decide whether to approve the plan.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

* The recent Uber Technologies Inc. data breach has affected hundreds of thousands of Australian Uber riders, as well as thousands of Uber drivers, an issue that the U.S.-based ride hailing company has reportedly kept hidden for over a year, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

* Spark New Zealand Ltd. and TVNZ are putting in a joint bid for broadcasting rights to the 2019 Rugby World Cup, New Zealand Herald reports, citing unnamed sources.

* Christian Fricke, managing director of Bauer Media KG's digital arm Bauer Xcel Media in Australia, resigned from the company, Mumbrella (Australia) reports.

FEATURED NEWS

Analysts question DOJ's 'must-have' content argument in AT&T/Time Warner lawsuit: The success or failure of the Justice Department's lawsuit to block the AT&T/Time Warner deal may depend on proving that the combined company produces "must-watch content," something that may be difficult in today's fragmented entertainment landscape.

CAPITAL Letters: Media, communications entrepreneurs are giving back: Media and communications executives are giving back. The charitable initiatives are diverse, meaningful and global. Blogger Bishop Cheen reviews who topped the list in giving.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Economics of Internet: US digital ad projections, 2017-2027: The U.S. digital ad sector is poised for more robust gains in 2017, with strong results from Facebook and Google likely boosting total revenues to new highs.

Economics of Internet: Mobile viewing contributes, but desktop still ruled for many cable nets in Q3'17: There was a lot of variety in mobile versus desktop content viewing for the leading cable network entities tracked by Kagan, according to third-quarter data from comScore Video Metrix.

Multichannel Trends: Broadband focus pushes Q3 cable CapEx toward $5B mark: Cable operators increased third-quarter scalable infrastructure spending 39% year over year to $1.44 billion.

Nozomi Ibayashi, Myungran Ha, Emily Lai, Wil Hathaway and Ed Eduard contributed to this report. The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 7 a.m. Hong Kong time. Some external links may require a subscription.