H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (24 January 2019) – Why stock-plunges happen so often in HK

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (24 January 2019) – Why stock-plunges happen so often in HK

Companies

• Cyber security giant Trend Micro has launched its new Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa (AMEA) headquarters in Singapore. (ST)
• Pinduoduo got “fleeced” through a loophole which enabled users to get unlimited online coupons worth approximately US$15 each; these kind of schemes have become widespread in China, where many tech companies compete for users by handing out cash Incentives (AN)
• Koh Young Technology to Highlight Next-Level Connectivity at IPC APEX EXPO 2019 (iconnect)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Samsung, Softbank

• Chinese KOL proclaims the death of Baidu as search engine; The KOL claims Baidu’s strategy to direct search results to its own services is like drinking poison to quench the thirst. (KRA)
• Tencent no longer allows users to create an account on Bytedance’s Douyin via WeChat (KRA)
• Why Tech Giant Samsung Will Start Earning Less Money (Forbes)
• China’s Internet Watchdog Closes Hundreds of Websites, Criticizes Tencent App; Regulator targets what it calls harmful and vulgar content (WSJ)
• TSMC’s Outlook Underscores Foundry Market Challenges (EE Times)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• YouTube TV is officially becoming available nationwide (TC)
• Microsoft’s Bing blocked in China: FT report (Reuters)
• Amazon’s Pitch to Woo Shippers: Fewer Fees Than FedEx, UPS; New seven-day delivery service offers to pick up parcels and bring to residences, without added fuel or weekend surcharges (WSJ)
• ‘They offered us everything but the kitchen sink’: DTC brands are mostly spurning Amazon (DD)
• Amazon debuts its adorable delivery robot called Scout (CNBC)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Chinese tech giant WeBank poised to disrupt Australian banking sector (AFR)
• Online Forums Give China’s Investors Market-Moving Intel (Bloomberg)
• Goldman, Citi Drop Chinese Peer-to-Peer Lenders After Crackdown (Bloomberg)
• Big Brother startups offer white knuckle returns (Reuters)
• Latest trick for Sony’s Aibo robotic pooch: Acting as watchdog (Japan Times)
• KDDI in talks for near-50% stake in online brokerage Kabu.com (Nikkei)
• Poll apps: Giving power to the people; From helping citizens register into the electoral rolls to analysing data on candidates and their performance, technology platforms are reshaping political conversations to give voters a stronger voice (Forbes)
• Millennials in India Are Turning to Algorithms for Love (Bloomberg)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• ‘It’s Frankly Great for Us’: MongoDB CEO Welcomes Amazon Rivalry (Bloomberg)
• Adobe acquires Allegorithmic, makers of the Substance texture tools (TC)
• Sherpa, a Spanish voice assistant, expands Series A to $15M as it passes 5M users (TC)
• Wynd raises $82 million for its store management service (TC)
• 3-D Printing Unicorn Desktop Metal Grabs Another $160 Million As It Prepares To Ship Its Mass-Production Printers (Forbes)
• Open-Source Unicorn: Confluent Reaches $2.5 Billion Valuation Three Years After Hiring Its First Sales Rep (Forbes)
• A Dot-Com Era Survivor Is Back With Minted, A $700M Stationery Startup For The Instagram Generation (Forbes)
• Boeing’s first autonomous air taxi flight ends in fewer than 60 seconds (CNN); Boeing’s flying car lifts off in race to revolutionise urban travel (Reuters)
• As Google races ahead, German carmakers look to go faster on autonomous driving (Reuters)
• Is Spotify’s Model Wiping Out Music’s Middle Class? Fans may assume the $10 they pay for a monthly streaming subscription goes to the artists they listen to most. That’s not the case. Now, a growing number of musicians and industry players want change (Ringer)
• Ebay/Elliott: mother knows best: The core marketplace business already quite large (FT)
• BuzzFeed to Cut 15% of Its Workforce; BuzzFeed has raised about $500 million and was valued at about $1.7 billion following its last funding round in 2016. (WSJ)
• Patreon is on track to reach $1 billion in total payments to creators; Millions of fans are delighted to make an ongoing financial commitment to the people whose work they love-and there’s more to come. (FastCo)
• Meet the New Payment Champions, Same as the Old Ones; New ways to pay for things still lead back to Visa and Mastercard (WSJ)
• Not All Marketplaces are Created Equal: Tales of a Marketplace Founder (Medium)
• Machine learning is a sweet way to tell if your honey is fake; One of the world’s most adulterated foods could get a new authenticity test, thanks to software that has “learned” to recognize certain grains of pollen. (FastCo)
• Boosting mall revenues through advanced analytics (McKinsey)
• com Introduces Only Automatic Solution to Auto-Populate Options and Features Data for All Dealer Listings (GF)

Life

• Why stock-plunges happen so often in HK (Webb)
• Feeling “Weird” is a Necessary Step to Reaching Success (Medium)