Technology

Lenovo wants to buy IBM server unit

Lenovo Group Ltd, the world's second-largest personal computer manufacturer, said on April 19 it is in "preliminary negotiations" to acquire International Business Machines Corp's server unit to beef up its enterprise hardware sector.

The Beijing company is in talks with IBM to acquire the x86 server business, said information technology industry news website Crn.com.

IBM is seeking $5 billion to $6 billion, the website said, citing an anonymous source familiar with the matter.

Yahoo China: you will have no new mail

Yahoo China has announced on April 18 it will shut down its e-mail service by Aug 19, another sign of the brand's shrinking presence in the Chinese market.

The Chinese division has been run by China's e-commerce leader Alibaba since 2005 after the two firms agreed on a $1 billion deal.

Closing Yahoo Mail, one of the earliest e-mail service providers in China, will leave the brand with only its web portal business in the Chinese market.

Yahoo China told users on April 18 that they have to register a mailbox with AliCloud, a core business unit under Alibaba, to make sure their e-mails and other information will be kept when Yahoo Mail ceases its operations.

Apple told to cut obscene content

Apple Inc, which apologized in April in China after being criticized by State-run media for poor customer service, was ordered by the government to remove obscene content accessed through its online applications store. The National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications did not provide any details of the material that provoked it to order Apple and 197 other websites to remove content, Xinhua News Agency reported on April 17. Carolyn Wu, an Apple spokeswoman in Beijing, declined to comment.

Alibaba vows to tackle fakes

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, China's biggest e-commerce company, plans to step up efforts to fight counterfeiting, which the company head says is the biggest obstacle for its development.

The Hangzhou company will spend "as much as it can" to tackle counterfeiting problems on its e-commerce websites, said Shao Xiaofeng, Alibaba's chief risk officer.

The effort came after the company was removed from the United States' yearly list of the world's most "notorious markets" last year because of its improvement in reducing counterfeits.

Investment

Queries raised on survey of foreign firms

An official with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said on April 17 that a recent survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in China has under-represented foreign businesses in China, making the survey results debatable.

According to the group's annual business climate survey, which was released on March 29, 28 percent of respondents said they saw China's investment environment improving, down from 43 percent the previous year.

The report also said more than a quarter of respondents said they had experienced data breaches or theft in their China operations.

China Construction buys office in US

China Construction America Inc, a unit of a Beijing-based developer, bought a suburban New Jersey office building for $71 million as it expands in US real estate. The building, at 445 South St in Morris Township, New Jersey, is the company's first property purchase in the state. It is close to the US unit's headquarters in Jersey City as well as its construction projects in and around New York, said Phillip Gesue, who joined China Construction last year to lead its US real estate operations. Gesue previously oversaw real estate for Orient-Express Hotels Ltd, based in Bermuda. China Construction may occupy part of the building, which is leased mainly to insurance companies, Gesue said.

Hertz partners with China Auto Rental

The Hertz Corp and China Auto Rental announced on April 16 that Hertz, the global car rental leader, has agreed to invest in CAR, China's domestic market leader in short- and long-term car rentals. Hertz will acquire a stake of about 20 percent on a fully diluted basis in CAR and hold a seat on CAR's board of directors.

Hertz and CAR will be co-branded at the latter's full service rental locations countrywide, and Hertz's car rental locations and operations in China, which will provide premium rental services in key cities, will contribute to CAR's bottomline. Hertz will continue to manage its outbound sales team in China. Its equipment rental business in the country is unaffected by the move.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 04/26/2013 page14)