Technology Weekly｜"Black Myth: Wukong" sales exceeded 10 million; Alibaba added Hong Kong as its main listing place
2024-08-25
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Black Myth: Wukong officially announces sales of over 10 million copies
On the evening of August 23, the official Weibo account of Black Myth: Wukong posted that the sales of Black Myth: Wukong on all platforms exceeded 10 million copies, and the maximum number of concurrent online users on all platforms exceeded 3 million. The statistics are as of 21:00 on August 23, 2024, Beijing time. Feng Ji, founder of Game Science, also posted that "It was very fast, unexpected, high, and repected~ Although the journey has just begun, it is worth taking a good rest tonight."
Black Myth: Wukong was launched on August 20, and its sales exceeded 10 million in just 4 days. It is also probably the most praised game by players this year: 270,000+ reviews on Steam, 96% of which are favorable. This achievement has undoubtedly rewritten the history of the industry and broken many records of domestic stand-alone games.
Comments: As the first domestic 3A game, the significance of Black Myth: Wukong lies in the fact that 3A games (high-quality, high-cost, high-volume games) used to belong only to foreign companies, and to some extent also represent the game production level of a country. As the world's second largest game market power on par with the United States, China has never had a product that can truly be called a 3A game masterpiece. This is why Black Myth: Wukong has attracted the attention, respect and admiration of players and the industry. Goldman Sachs believes that Black Myth: Wukong is a major turning point for the Chinese console game industry and a key step for Chinese games to go global, which may stimulate investment in the Chinese game industry, especially 3A games.
Hon Hai Chairman responds: The yield rate of iPhones produced in India is only 50%, which is fake news
Earlier, there were reports that Apple would assemble the high-end iPhone 16 series models iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max in India through its partners this year. Later, there were rumors that the yield rate of iPhones made in India was only 50%, and Foxconn returned to Henan. Hon Hai is the parent company of Foxconn. According to the latest news on August 23, Hon Hai Chairman Liu Yangwei responded, saying, "If (the yield rate of iPhones made in India) was only 50%, I would have withdrawn long ago. If I didn't withdraw, my customers would ask me to withdraw." Liu Yangwei said that there is no difference between Indian manufacturing and mainland China manufacturing, and many rumors surrounding iPhone manufacturing are untrue.
Comment: Recently, there have been many market news about Foxconn assembling iPhones in India, with the background that Apple has transferred part of its production capacity overseas. Liu Yangwei also said that Foxconn has never left Henan, which is the company's largest factory in mainland China. The number of Foxconn employees in Henan reached more than 400,000 at its peak, and it is impossible to withdraw from such a large factory. In addition, in Henan, in addition to assembling mobile phone products such as Apple phones, Foxconn is also planning other businesses, including new energy vehicles and solid-state batteries.
Alibaba adds Hong Kong as primary listing location
On August 23, Alibaba Group issued an announcement, announcing that it would add Hong Kong as its primary listing place, and would be listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on August 28, becoming a company with dual primary listings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. The announcement also showed that Alibaba's dual primary listing in Hong Kong does not involve new share issuance and financing.
Alibaba Group Chief Financial Officer Xu Hong said in a conference call on Alibaba's earnings this month that after the shareholders' meeting passes the proposal, Alibaba expects to complete the conversion of its main listing in Hong Kong by the end of August 2024. "As for how to access the Hong Kong Stock Connect in the future, we still have to fulfill some procedures under the different rules of each exchange. We should follow the procedures and it can be achieved."
Comment: This also means that Alibaba is getting closer to being connected to the Hong Kong Stock Connect. If Alibaba is connected to the Hong Kong Stock Connect, it will create more convenience for mainland investors to directly invest in Alibaba.
Alibaba is now in the "secondary listing" status on the Hong Kong stock market. Morgan Stanley analysts believe that if Alibaba completes its primary listing by the end of August, it is expected that the inclusion of Hong Kong Stock Connect will be confirmed on September 4, announced on September 6, and effective when the market opens on September 9.
Dong Mingzhu again mentioned that she might retire next year
Dong Mingzhu, chairman and president of Gree Electric Appliances, mentioned again at the Henan Gree 2025 Annual Marketing Summit on August 22 that she might retire next year, and revealed that Gree's channel reforms are basically in place in all provinces across the country. Wang Ziru, the former head of Gree's digital channel reform, who was rumored to have resigned last week, did not show up. Dong Mingzhu said that Gree's channel reforms need to be further improved. Dong Mingzhu said that there are many old friends among Gree's Henan dealers, and many dealers have handed over their business to the second generation. "I am also an old man. I have not retired at the age of 70. You have to take over the baton."
Comment: After the mixed ownership reform of Gree Electric, Dong Mingzhu and Mingjun Investment, the current largest shareholder of Gree Electric, are acting in concert. Therefore, even if Dong Mingzhu retires next year, she will still have a say in important decisions of Gree Electric. Moreover, Gree Electric is currently in a critical period of diversified business expansion and channel transformation. Dong Mingzhu's retirement next year is just a possibility. Dong Mingzhu's implication is to remind the original beneficiaries of Gree's old sales model to know when to advance and when to retreat.
NetEase Cloud Music crashed
On August 19, "NetEase Cloud Music crashed" became a hot search. Many netizens reported that "Server error occurred" appeared on the NetEase Cloud Music page, and music playback and loading were abnormal. The failure lasted for nearly two hours. At around 17:00 in the afternoon, NetEase Cloud's online music playback returned to normal. "Hello everyone, there was no deletion of the library, no running away, and the failure has been repaired one after another. As compensation, from 0:00 to 24:00 on August 20, you can search and listen to music on Cloud Music, and you can receive 7 days of membership benefits to your account (see the event page for specific rules). I'm sorry to say it again, please calm down." After the failure was repaired, NetEase Cloud Music responded.
Comment: NetEase Cloud Music said that the cause of the failure had nothing to do with the computer room, and that the failure of NetEase Cloud Music terminals was due to an infrastructure failure. Recently, various APPs have been experiencing failures one after another, testing the platform's infrastructure, technical capabilities, and repair speed. At the same time, how to do a good job in user operations has also attracted attention.
Meituan’s organizational structure is adjusted again
On August 23, a reporter from China Business News learned that Wang Xing, CEO of Meituan, released an internal email announcing that "the company's organization continues to iterate" and announced new progress in the organizational structure adjustment. According to the email, Meituan's SaaS, cycling, power bank and other businesses have been merged into "software and hardware services", which will be managed by Zhang Chuan; Kuaidi, Xiaoxiang, Youxuan and other businesses have been merged into "grocery retail", which will be managed by Guo Wanhuai; the overseas business has been officially renamed Keeta, which will be managed by Qiu Guangyu; and the rest remains unchanged. This organizational iteration is a continuation of Meituan's business integration since this year.
Comment: Currently, Meituan's competitors are increasing in the local life field. In this regard, Zhang Yi, CEO of iMedia Consulting, told China Business News that in the past, Meituan's business was similar to that of other Internet companies, all of which were developing incremental markets. But now it has become a stock market, and Meituan is facing the iteration of new products and formats, and new consumption habits and entertainment habits are being formed. For example, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Kuaishou, etc. have had an impact on the original local life consumption habits. At present, Douyin is the biggest threat and challenge, especially in the field of group buying and takeout.
B station CEO Chen Rui: Games are no longer an industry that makes quick money
On August 22, Bilibili released its unaudited financial report for the second quarter. In the second quarter, Bilibili's total revenue was 6.13 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16%, mainly driven by advertising and games; in the second quarter, Bilibili's net loss was 608 million yuan, a year-on-year reduction of 61%. In the second quarter, Bilibili's game revenue increased by 13% year-on-year to 1.01 billion yuan. In the first half of the year, Bilibili successfully launched its first SLG strategy game "Three Conspiracies", which remained in the top ten of the list for a month.
In the conference call, Chen Rui, chairman and CEO of Bilibili, mentioned that many people asked why Bilibili was able to make "Three Stratagems". "I think it is a result of the younger game categories we have been working on in the past two years." He said that the internal goal for the "Three Stratagems" publishing team is to make it a high-quality game that can continue to operate for more than 5 years. "We must realize that the game industry is no longer an industry that makes quick money. It must be an industry that focuses on long-term optimization of operations and optimization of user experience. So we at least strive to be the company in the industry that listens to players the most and respects players the most."
Comments: Dolphin Research believes that although the ranking of "Three Kingdoms" fluctuates, it is still at the top, and will still significantly boost the growth of revenue scale of B Station. In the next three quarters, with the high advertising investment in the game "Three Kingdoms: Conquering the World" ("Three Kingdoms") and the summer game war, it is expected that B Station will turn losses into profits.
Sharp shuts down 10th-generation LCD panel production line in Japan
On August 21, Sharp shut down its last large-scale LCD panel factory in Japan, and its 10th generation LCD panel production line, which was the first in the industry, stopped production. Sharp's Japanese 10th generation line was once separated from Sharp's listed company due to losses, and was put back into the listed company in recent years, but it was eventually shut down because it could not get rid of the dilemma of losses and dragged down Sharp's overall performance.
Comment: The leader of the LCD panel industry has shifted from Japan to South Korea, and then from South Korea to China. With the closure of Sharp's 10th-generation LCD panel production line in Japan and the sale of LGD's 8.5-generation LCD panel production line in Guangzhou, research institutions predict that in 2025, the share of Chinese mainland companies in global LCD TV panel shipments will exceed 70% again.
TCL Electronics and Hisense Visual Technology show different growth rates in first half of the year
On the evening of August 23, China's two leading color TV companies released their semi-annual reports. In the first half of 2024, TCL Electronics achieved operating income of HK$45.494 billion, a year-on-year increase of 30.3%, and net profit attributable to shareholders of HK$653 million, a year-on-year increase of 106.6%; Hisense Visual achieved revenue of RMB 25.461 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.36%, and net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 834 million, a year-on-year decrease of 19.56%.
Comment: From the perspective of the global color TV market in the first half of the year, the domestic color TV market declined, while the overseas color TV market grew. The common strategy of the two major color TV companies in the first half of the year was to upgrade domestic color TV business products and expand sales of overseas color TV business. Under this circumstance, TCL Electronics strengthened its dual-brand strategy this year. The sub-brand Thunderbird launched cost-effective products, which made its domestic sales grow faster. Coupled with the rapid growth of photovoltaic business, TCL Electronics' revenue growth rate was higher. In terms of profit, Hisense Visual's profit was affected by the increase in panel prices and the increase in international shipping costs. TCL Electronics strengthened its collaboration with TCL Huaxing on panel resources and improved operational efficiency. However, Hisense Visual's net profit attributable to its parent company was still higher than that of TCL Electronics.
Weibo's Golden Orange V authors' income increased by 55% in the first half of the year
Weibo announced at the V Influence Summit Forum that as of June, the advertising revenue of Microtask Weibo reached 880 million in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 22%, of which the income of Gold Orange V authors was 650 million, an increase of 55%, and the income of Gold V was 430 million, an increase of 59%. Weibo expects that by the end of 2024, the proportion of Gold Orange V income in the advertising revenue of Microtask Weibo will increase to 85%, and the proportion of Gold V will reach 55%. Weibo will promote the concentration of income capacity on Gold V authors.
In the first half of the year, games, automobiles, mobile phones, healthcare, and food and beverages were the top five industries with the highest growth in advertising on Weibo.
Comment: A phenomenon worth noting is that under the competitive pressure from platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin, Weibo's commercial solutions are further concentrated in vertical fields and "big V marketing" to differentiate Weibo in the customer purchasing market. Weibo CEO Wang Gaofei said that Weibo's main marketing service model has shifted from the previous brand + performance marketing service to a marketing service model driven by hot IP/celebrity KOL/performance advertising. The advertising revenue directly brought by these three types of products accounts for more than 50% of the total advertising revenue.
Venture Capital Trends
According to Qichacha data, there were 2 financing events in the artificial intelligence track this week (August 17-August 23), which was 2 fewer than last week (August 10-August 16). Among them, the space-time intelligent infrastructure company Qianxun Location completed its B round of financing with the participation of Beijing Guoguan, Beijing Dongcheng State-owned Assets, Jili Venture Capital, and Zhonghe Yuanliang. The robot company Jitai Intelligent completed a RMB 60 million A+ round of financing with the participation of Donghai Investment Control.
There were a total of 5 financing events in the semiconductor sector, 16 fewer than last week. Chip design company Shanghai Lisuan completed 200 million yuan in equity financing, semiconductor device manufacturer Weiqing Semiconductor completed its angel round of financing, semiconductor material manufacturer Deyi Semiconductor completed its A round of financing, and fabless semiconductor R&D manufacturer Sutong Semiconductor completed its A+ round of financing.
There were 3 financing events in the biopharmaceutical sector, 2 more than last week. Renjing Biopharma, a drug developer, completed its Pre-A+ round of financing. Insect, which focuses on providing biopharmaceutical CMC with integrated solutions from upstream and downstream processes to laboratory analysis, completed its B+ round of financing with the participation of China Merchants Capital. Tongyuankang Pharmaceutical, a high-tech biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of best-in-class/first-in-class new drugs for anti-tumor small molecules, completed an IPO round of financing of approximately HK$510 million.
(This article comes from China Business Network)
