Pandaily's Digest #20220107
A-Bite Technology, founded by former chairman of Luckin Coffee Charles Lu, is incubating a new precooked dishes project called “A-Bite Workshop.”
Former Chairman of Luckin Coffee Charles Lu Enters Precooked Dishes Market
A-Bite Technology, founded by former chairman of Luckin Coffee Charles Lu, is incubating a new precooked dishes project called “A-Bite Workshop.” A-Bite Workshop is the second catering-related project pursued by Lu following his departure from Luckin. Before this, he founded the Quxiaomian brand.
ByteDance Launches “Douwen Novel” App
ByteDance is reportedly testing the paid novels market. The company had recently launched the “Douwen Novel” App which is meant to be a small scale version of a potentially larger business push later on.
“Douwen Novel” will focus on high-quality and ad-free novels. In terms of functionality, the app will support a variety of custom settings such as font size, background color and page turning methods. Different from other reading applications, Douwen Novel is mainly divided into male and female categories in an effort to create an exclusive reading space for users.
Indian Ministry of Finance Claims $88 Million in Tax Recovery From Xiaomi
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Indian Ministry of Finance said it had sent three cause notices to Xiaomi Technology India Pvt. to recover 6.53 billion rupees ($88 million) in taxes from the company.
The ministry stated that Xiaomi India remitted royalties and license fees to Qualcomm USA and Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd, which were not included in the transaction value of its imports. The statement also said Xiaomi and its contract manufacturers failed to include the royalties of imported Mi mobile phones and their components in the assessable value of the products.
Alibaba Fully Connects Online Marketplaces Taobao and Tmall, Establishing “China Digital Business Sector”
Chinese media outlet LatePost has learned that on Thursday – just six days after Dai Shan officially took charge of Alibaba‘s “China Digital Business Sector” – she issued an internal email to announce key business adjustments. This is the first step of alterations to the newly formed sector since the Hangzhou-based e-commerce giant announced its organizational strategy of upgrading to “diversified governance” at the end of 2021.
Meituan Waimai Opens Digital RMB Payment Channel
A new App exclusively designed for the Chinese electronic yuan can now be downloaded on major mobile Android app stores and Apple’s AppStore. Residents of pilot cities in China can pay for meals with the digital RMB while taking food delivery on Meituan.
Tencent’s WeChat Mini Program Hits 450 Million Daily Active Users in China
On Thursday, the 2022 WeChat Open Class PRO officially opened in Guangzhou. Several of Tencent‘s business divisions responsible for mini programs, video accounts, WeChat Pay, Souyisou and WeCom, all shared the programs’ updates.
Entering in 2022, the WeChat mini program is about to celebrate its fifth anniversary. Zeng Ming, the person in charge of the WeChat platform, said that the previous year saw the daily active users of the platform’s mini programs exceeded 450 million. Further, the number of active mini programs increased by 41% year-on-year, and the average daily use times of these mini programs increased by 32% year-on-year.
Alibaba Vice President and Head of Autonomous Driving Lab of DAMO Academy Leaves Company
Chinese media outlet Tech Planet reported on Wednesday that Wang Gang, Vice President of Alibaba and head of the autonomous driving lab of DAMO Academy, recently left the job. Alibaba confirmed the report on Wednesday. Sources said that Wang has chosen to start a business in the field of cleaning robots, and has already obtained financing.
Charlie Munger Nearly Doubles Stake in Chinese Internet Giant Alibaba
Daily Journal Corp, the newspaper and software company owned by Charlie Munger, a close business partner of Warren Buffett, disclosed on Wednesday that it had increased its stake in Alibaba in the US stock market.
According to the 13F filing submitted by Daily Journal Corp to the US Securities and Exchange Commission in the fourth quarter of 2021, by the end of 2021, the company held 602,060 American depositary shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, almost double the 302,060 shares it had at the end of September.
Beijing City to Incorporate Bike-Sharing Companies Meituan Bike, Hello Inc. and DiDi Bike Into Transport Credit System
Beijing will bring bike-sharing enterprises into the national credit supervision system in order to better regulate the industry, protect user rights, promote bike scheduling and data security, Beijing Evening News reported on Wednesday. In 2022, Beijing’s transportation industry will achieve full coverage of credit evaluation and supervision within the city.
China VC Weekly: Chips, Cars and Robots
In last week’s VC news, several prominent chip makers raised considerable funds, toy robot maker Robosen bagged nearly $100 million and more.