After Release From Detention, Dangdang Co-founder Li Guoqing Vows to Retake Throne
Li Guoqing, the co-founder of B2C e-commerce platform Dangdang, was released on Sunday after a week in police detention in Beijing after being held for his alleged illegal entry into Dangdang offices and "theft" of the company seal, and immediately vowed in a message posted on his Weibo account to get his throne back.
He said he had entered the offices and taken the seal because he wanted to ensure that the current chairman of Dangdang, his estranged wife, Yu Yu, would not misuse the seal to the company's detriment. However, on July 14, one day after Li was arrested, Dangdang announced on Weibo its return to regular business operations as the seal, a critical instrument for any business operating in China, and other important company files had been returned the police. Li said he had wanted to the police to keep the seal in their possession
On July 16, Dangdang posted details of the cofounder couple's divorce proceedings and claimed Li currently holds 22.38% of Dangdang's shares, placing him as a minority shareholder, while Yu Yu holds 52.23% and their children hold 18.65%. The management team holds an additional 6.74% of Dangdang's shares.
In the lengthy statement posted on Sunday, Li accused the company of improper HR management, including laying off 1,300 employees and delaying staff bonuses or cancelling them in instances where staff took leave for marriage, funerals or other valid family concerns, and then reporting these savings as revenue.
He claimed Yu Yu has refused to give bonuses to Dangdang's shareholders or allow them to cash out shares at reasonable prices. He said he would eventually retake control over Dangdang not for his own concerns, but to make it a socially conscious, sustainable enterprise.
Dangdang had no comments on Li's statement but claimed to reserve the right to have him prosecuted.
Virtual Retail Shopping The New Thing
With the coronavirus-related shutdown of brick and mortar retailers across China, virtual shopping had taken over as the leading consumption trend in the mainland.
China's national online retail sales reached RMB5.15 trillion (US$ 750 billion) in the first half of the year, a rise of 7.3% year-on-year, of which online retail sales of physical commodities topped RMB4.34 trillion, a rise of 14.3% year-on-year, according to the National Statistics Bureau.
The COVID-19 pandemic strengthened consumers' online purchasing and was the most outstanding highlight of consumption growth for the past half year, said Zhao Ping, the director of the International Trade Research Institute at the Academy of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
Up to 170 cities across China and a variety of e-commerce platforms such as Tmall，Pingduoduo, JD.com and suning.com have rolled out numerous coupons and incentives during the first half of the year, China Economic Network reported.
Meanwhile, express deliveries were estimated to reach 34 billion packages in the first half of 2020, a rise of 22% year-on-year, according to the National Post Bureau.
As of March this year, China's online shoppers rose to 710 million, accounting for 78.6% of netizens.
Cinemas Resume Business
Chinese cinemas are resuming business, with restrictive regulations attempting to prevent and control COVID-19, after 175 days of screening suspension.
Starting from Monday, cinemas in low-risk cities across China, except for Beijing and Urumqi, are allowed to resume business, according to a notice from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT).
Box offices on Monday are expected to bring in about RMB1 million (US$140,000) from 391 cinemas in 83 cities across China, according to maoyan.com, an online ticket booking platform.
During the suspension period, 83 movies had to delay their screenings. Of these, 73 were domestic films and 10 were imported films. The box office losses in the first half of the year amounted to RMB29 billion, according to cinema data firm topcdb.com.
Meanwhile, SARFT issued a request to cinemas for continuing the COVID-19 prevention and control efforts as the screenings resume for the first time since the national shutdown in January.
All moviegoers are required to make reservations online for ticket purchases, to wear masks and keep social distance of one meter during the screening, with the seat occupancy rate capped at 30% for each screening. Additionally, only movies shorter than two hours are allowed to be screened and interval sessions between screenings must be extended.
Following the notice, the Shanghai International Film Festival, which was initially scheduled to take place in the middle of June and was delayed due to coronavirus controls, announced its screening list for this year's festival. The SIFF will open on July 25 with a mix of online and offline events. Tickets are reportedly sold out for all live screenings.
10 Regions Above National Average In Per Capital Disposable Income
China's national average per capita disposable income for the first half of 2020 dropped to RMB15,666 (US$2,242), a decline of 1.3% year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, which said it took into account inflation.
Ten regions saw incomes that were above the average, including the coastal cities and provinces of Shanghai, Zhejiang province, Jiangsu province, Guangdong province, and Fujian province; the northern cities of Beijing and Tianjin; the midwestern city of Chongqing and the northeastern provinces of Liaoning and Shandong.
Megacities Shanghai and Beijing, which house key clusters of information technology services, financial industries, and scientific research and technical services, rank as the top two regions, with per capita disposable income of RMB36577 (US$5,233) and RMB34573 (US$4,946) respectively.
Zhejiang province ranks third and Jiangsu province replaces Tianjin in fourth. Chongqing municipality is the only region in China's middle-western area to be ranked on the list.
By 2019, the urbanization rate of Chongqing was up to 66.8%, as it has been attracting automobile and electronics industries to move from eastern coastal cities to relocate their plants, China Business Network reported.
In the first half of 2020, Chongqing exported 25.5 million units of laptops, a rise of 7.9% year-on-year – the highest volume nationally. Information-related electronics products accounted for 74.2% of Chongqing's total exports. Meanwhile, imported high-tech devices such as integrated circuits and hard-drives accounted for 70% of Chongqing's total imports.
Jack Ma's Private Fund Nets US$452 million in Alibaba Health Share Sales
Innovate Tech Limited, a subsidiary of Jack Ma's private equity firm Yunfeng Capital, has sold HK$3.5 billion (US$452 million) worth of shares in Alibaba Health Information Technology, according to Hong Kong Stock Exchanges and Clearing.
The information was revealed after the Saturday denial by Alibaba Health of the rumor that Alibaba Group Holding had sold 154 million shares in Alibaba Health Information Technology at an average of price of HK$22.65 (US$2.92) per share on July 14.
This sale was part of an ongoing reduction by Jack Ma of his stakes in Alibaba-related firms.
In Alibaba Holding's fiscal 2020 report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, it was revealed that Ma has had cut his stakes in the Chinese e-commerce giant to 4.8% from 6.2% last year, which increased his wealth to the tune of about US$8.2 billion.
Yunfeng Capital said its stake reduction in Alibaba Health wouldn't change its critical role as an Alibaba Health investor.
Founded in 2010 by Jack Ma (whose Chinese name is Ma Yun) and Yu Feng, Yunfeng Capital was named after the two founders. Through two subsidiaries, Perfect Advance Holding Limited and Innovate Tech Limited, Yunfeng Capital holds investments in Alibaba Health, following a 158% surge in the stock price this year.
