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Baidu's iQiyi seeks US$2.3B in US IPO; Tencent sets up robotics lab

TOP NEWS

* Chinese video streaming platform iQIYI Inc., a unit of Baidu Inc., is seeking to raise US$2.3 billion in its upcoming initial public offering in the U.S. The company said it plans to offer 125,000,000 American depositary shares priced at US$17 to US$19 apiece. IQiyi plans to use 50% of the net proceeds from the IPO to expand and enhance content offerings, 10% to strengthen technologies, and the balance for working capital and other general corporate purposes.

* Tencent Holdings Ltd. announced the establishment of Robotics X, a laboratory to support the company's push into robotics and artificial intelligence. The new lab, to be based in Shenzhen, will be affiliated with the Tencent Technology Engineering Group, according to Tech Node.

JAPAN

* NTT DOCOMO announced the launch of an artificial intelligence engine that analyzes items in stores and warehouses using smartphones and other devices. The image recognition system, part of NTT Group's core AI technology, is said to identify products with over 95% accuracy by matching them with images stored in a database.

* Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. is introducing a monthly stock ownership plan for employees in a bid to bolster corporate performance, The Nikkei reports. Employees of the game developer who lay out at least ¥5,000 per month for three years will receive an extra 50 shares from the company.

* A survey by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications found that Japan's average household landline and cellphone bill in 2017 came to ¥122,207 — which accounts for 4.18% of household expenses, The Mainichi reports. Cellphone fees rose ¥3,944 to an average of ¥100,250 per household, while the average spend on landlines was ¥21,957, falling ¥2,129 from the previous year.

SOUTH KOREA

* CJ E&M's over-the-top service TVING launched TVING Kids, a new children's service which comes with 26 live streaming channels and over 4,000 video-on-demand programs, iNews 24 reports.

* LG Uplus Corp., during its annual shareholders' meeting, reaffirmed a plan to foster the drone business as its new growth driver, Yonhap News Agency reports.

CHINA, HONG KONG AND TAIWAN

* Chinese news and video aggregator Qu Toutiao secured US$200 million in its series B funding round led by Tencent, giving the platform a valuation of over US$1.6 billion, half of what the Shanghai-based company is reportedly aiming for through an IPO in the U.S., DoNews reports. Xiaomi, Shunwei Capital and Advantech Capital also participated in the round.

* Didi Chuxing Technology Co. Ltd. unit Dirun (Tianjin) Technology Co. Ltd. filed an application to the Shanghai Stock Exchange to raise 10 billion Chinese yuan through an issuance of asset-backed securities, Reuters reports.

* Shares in Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp. Beijing dropped 10% on March 16, after Chairman Sun Hongbin's resignation. According to Reuters, Sun also asked to leave Leshi's board and quit all roles.

* Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. aims to raise its market share in India to over 10% from a previous 2% through expanding its manufacturing plants and increasing partnerships with local original equipment manufacturers, Huanqiu.com reports, citing Chinese media. The company also plans to produce the Honor series and some of the high-end models in India.

* Huawei will test its 5G network in Brazil in the second half of 2019, Tencent News reports.

* Xiaomi Inc. launched the Redmi Note 5 in China, a replica of the Indian version of Redmi Note 5 Pro with some upgrades, Sina reports. The phone supports various artificial intelligence features, including an AI camera and a face unlock function.

INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA

* Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. said it has withdrawn from an October 2017 agreement to acquire 9X Media Pvt. Ltd. and INX Music Pvt. Ltd. due to non-completion of certain material conditions precedent.

* The Securities and Exchange Board of India is considering tighter regulations of privileged company information in the wake of unpublished financial results finding their way into WhatsApp Inc. groups, two people aware of the development told Mint.

* Reliance Communications Ltd. has approached the Supreme Court after the Bombay High Court dismissed its appeal against an arbitration court's order, which restrained the company from selling or transferring its assets without prior permission, India's The Economic Times reports.

* SoftBank Group International GK is hiking its shareholding in Grofers to as much as 40% by investing US$40 million into the Indian online grocery startup. According to The Times of India, New York-based Tiger Global and Russian tech billionaire Yuri Milner also participated in the latest financing round, which seeks to raise 4 billion rupees.

* Vodafone India-owned You Broadband is allocating 6 billion rupees for capital expenditure in the next two fiscal years, with plans to fund the CapEx by a vendor financing arrangement with a one-year credit period, Television Post reports.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

* Netflix Inc. secured the streaming rights to "AMO," a show mirroring the Philippine government's war on drugs, The Manila Times reports. Produced by TV5 Network Inc., "AMO" is the first miniseries from the Philippines to be available on Netflix.

* Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd. is teaming up with iQiyi to offer customers access to Chinese premium content, including drama series and entertainment shows "Hot Blood Dance Crew" and "Meet Me@1006," The Edge Markets reports.

* Amazon Web Services Inc. opened a consultancy office in Indonesia, Liputan6 reports. The establishment of the office is expected to support the company's cloud services business in the country.

* Intel Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding with AI Singapore, a government-backed AI program, to boost the adoption of artificial intelligence in the city-state. The agreement will provide skills-based training to about 2,000 students and developers in the next three years.

* Singaporean video platform Viddsee is partnering with film agency Badan Perfilman Indonesia to promote Indonesian short films to international audiences.

* Xiaomi launched an official store on the Southeast Asian e-commerce platform Shopee, Manager reports. Xiaomi ran an exclusive flash sale of its Redmi 5 handset on March 16, which aimed to sell about 2,000 units in one day.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

* FOXTEL will shut down its cable services and move subscribers to satellite connections, claiming the shift will provide better high-definition programs, according to Mumbrella.

* Nine Entertainment Co.'s Nine Network and CBS Corp.'s Network Ten are in discussions to submit a joint bid for Cricket Australia's broadcast rights, The Australian reports.

FEATURED NEWS

Q&A: Fox exec: Studios have a 'new interest' in developing shows for social: Scott Norville, Fox's vice president of digital audience development, said in an interview that while monetization and infrastructure issues remain, traditional media companies are taking the range of possibilities on social media seriously.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Wireless Investor: 28 GHz spectrum currently the most popular for global 5G trials: With the pace of new 5G trial announcements for both fixed and mobile deployments picking up, the spectrum ranges being used for those trials are also proliferating.

Technology: iPhone X sales lower than expected while Apple Watch proves popular in Q4'17: The highly anticipated Apple iPhone X, released in November 2017, does not seem to be meeting Apple's sales projections and production targets have reportedly been halved for the first quarter of 2018.

Joji Sakurai, Myungran Ha, Kevin Osmond, Emily Lai and Patrick Tibke 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.